Parker Group

Parker Group is a stand of eight giant sequoias beside Crescent Meadow Road. Its appeal is the close spacing: you can step among the trunks and take in their scale from the forest floor. Keep it on your list if you want a brief, close-up sequoia stop; if you are after the park’s biggest trees, General Sherman is the better-known draw.

This is a short stop with a little walking, not a substantial hike. Parking is reported along the road, but spaces can be hard to find and no capacity is published. In winter, reach the area on foot, snowshoes or skis. The grove is marked accessible, though the route surface and how far that access reaches among the trees aren’t described. No restroom or drinking water is listed for the grove, so plan to use facilities at another park stop.

Look for fire scars in the bark and notice how closely some of the trunks stand together. From among them, tilt your view into the canopy; a person between the trees also gives a photo a useful sense of scale.

The eight trees were named for members of Captain James Parker’s family. Parker served in Troop B of the U.S. Army’s 4th Cavalry and was acting superintendent of Sequoia National Park in 1893–1894. A wayside exhibit in the area covers the cavalry’s time in Sequoia.