Parking
Eight miles south of Grant Grove Village on Generals Highway; park in the indicated area at Big Baldy Ridge Trailhead. An orientation panel at the start shows a map of the trail area.
Overview
About Big Baldy Ridge Trail
Why go
- Wide summit views over Redwood Canyon and the Great Western Divide
- An orientation panel at the trailhead shows the route area
Heads up
- Several knolls add short descents before the final ascent
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Kings Canyon map
Full mapElevation7,597–8,209 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
8 active Kings Canyon alerts
- ClosureGrant Grove trails and areas closed for prescribed fireMentions Grant Grove, referenced in this guideSome trails and areas around Grant Grove and the General Grant Tree are closed during an active prescribed burn; stay out until crews clear hazards and reopen them.Official details
- CautionWeekday hazard-tree delays on Generals HighwayMentions Generals Highway, referenced in this guideHazard-tree removal is causing weekday traffic delays on Generals Highway between Highway 180 and Giant Forest, with up to 30 minutes of delay total. - Delays are expected weekdays, 8 a.m.–5 p.m.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Kings Canyon Tour Guide
Your drive to Big Baldy Ridge Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Kings Canyon National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Kings Canyon audio tourRecorded for this area
Kings Canyon Overlook and Buena Vista Peak0:00 / 0:28
“Kings Canyon Overlook is coming up, an easy stop for a few minutes looking across forested ridges and distant mountains.”
Plays on the road 2 mi from the trailhead in the Parkwolf Kings Canyon Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Redwood Canyon at Redwood Saddle
- The Pika's Winter Hay
- Redwood Mountain Overlook
- Dogwood’s White Leaves
- 55 audio storiesacross Kings Canyon’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Black Bear, Mule Deer, Marmot, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 77 trails, 61 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“…The kids and my husband and I all agree that the narration really added to our experience driving through the parks. We learned so much about the history and the flora & fauna.”
Trail guide
Hiking Big Baldy Ridge Trail
The hikeBig Baldy Ridge Trail is a 4.
Big Baldy Ridge Trail is a 4.4-mile out-and-back from Generals Highway to Big Baldy’s 8,209-foot summit, with about 600 feet of gain. Allow 2 to 3 hours. The route climbs and dips over a forested ridge before the final push. The 4.4 miles turns at the summit; it excludes the informal continuation south along the ridge described in some accounts. This is a day-use trail, and pets are not allowed on park trails.
Along the ridgeThe path begins nearly level, then climbs by long switchbacks through tall trees.
The path begins nearly level, then climbs by long switchbacks through tall trees. Over the first mile and a half it rolls across two knolls, each with a short descent before the next climb. Dirt tread and manzanita give way to more open stretches with partial views down toward Redwood Mountain Grove and the foothills. The total gain is modest, but the repeated ups and downs make the walk feel less even than a single steady grade.
The last climb and summitFrom the last saddle, the final climb is the longest sustained ascent.
From the last saddle, the final climb is the longest sustained ascent. The tread gets rockier and the west face opens onto broad views. Big Baldy’s top is a long, open granite fin, not a broad flat platform; trees partly screen the eastern view, while the west side drops steeply. Look toward Redwood Canyon below, the Great Western Divide to the east, and the high peaks around Kings Canyon to the north. For a summit photo, keep the granite ridge in the foreground with the forested canyon below to show the scale of the drop.
Stay on the ridge routeA side path from Montecito Lake Resort joins near the second knoll.
A side path from Montecito Lake Resort joins near the second knoll. Continue along Big Baldy Ridge toward the summit and return the same way. Some hikers follow an informal path farther south past the summit to another viewpoint; that extension is outside this mapped, 4.4-mile hike.
Redwood Canyon belowThe summit looks down over Redwood Mountain Grove, one of the largest old-growth sequoia areas.
The summit looks down over Redwood Mountain Grove, one of the largest old-growth sequoia areas. The 2021 KNP Complex Fire burned about 40 percent of the grove at moderate to high severity and killed many giant sequoias. In the burned patches, young sequoias are part of the next generation; from this high viewpoint, the forest’s mix of green and open ground is easier to read than individual trees.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Kings Canyon
227 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
385 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
188 sightingsMarmotMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
118 sightingsPikaMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
14 sightingsGolden TroutMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
32 sightingsRainbow TroutMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Kings Canyon. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
