Generals Highway

[Max Rockatansky]

Made a return to the Generals Highway yesterday and complied all the information from the Colony Mill Road thread in addition to another one into a single Road Blog:

https://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2017/07/return-to-sequoia-national-park-and.html

Essentially the road blog covers the entire history of transportation in Sequoia National Park up to the Giant Forest along with a timeline.  Things have certainly changed over the years from a dirt track up the Colony Mill Road to the paved Generals Highway that goes all the way to Kings Canyon National Park in modern times.

[Max Rockatansky]

I wasn't too happy with the original two article that I did back in 2017 on the Generals Highway.  That being the case I did a brand new article that greatly expands on the history of the Generals Highway and it's precursor route; the Colony Mill Road.  The Generals Highway is an approximately 46 mile National Park/Forest Service Highway in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Tulare County which connects Grant Grove of Kings Canyon National Park through Sequoia National Forest to Sequoia National Park. 

The origins of road travel to the Giant Forest with the Colony Mill Road date back to the 1880s with the Kaweah Colony.  The Kaweah Colony was a logging operation which built the first 18 miles of the Colony Mill Road towards the Giant Forest.  The creation of Sequoia National Park in 1890 shuttered all attempts at logging operations in the Giant Forest.  In 1903 the Colony Mill Road was extended to the Giant Forest to allow for wagon and early automotive travel to reach the heart of Sequoia National Park.  In 1905 some of the water rights on the Kaweah River were given to the Mount Whitney Power Company which in turn improved road access through Sequoia National Park and built the Middle Fork Road. 

In 1919 Legislative Route 10 was extended east to the Colony Mill Road during the Third State Highway Bond Act.  Beginning in 1921 traffic would ascend the Colony Mill Road one-way to the Giant Forest and down one-way on the Middle Fork Road.  Between 1921 and 1926 Tulare County improved road access between the Colony Mill Road/Middle Fork Road which resulted in the construction of the 1922 Pumpkin Hollow Bridge (which is part of CA 198 today).  Between 1926 and 1935 the Middle Fork Road was improved and a road to Grant Grove of General Grant National Park (now Kings Canyon National Park) was constructed.  Upon completion the Generals Highway was open which connected the two National Parks.

The Generals Highway takes it's name from the General Grant Tree of Kings Canyon National Park and the General Sherman Tree of Sequoia National Park.  Through it's 46 mile course from Grant Grove south to CA 198 the Generals Highway winds through the terrain typically rising between 6,000-7,000 feet above sea level.  South of the Giant Forest the Generals Highway descends to the Middle Fork Kaweah River via a sustained 8% grade which takes it to an elevation of approximately 1,700 feet at CA 198 in Three Rivers.  The Generals Highway ranks up there with any of the more well known scenic state highways in California and well worth the effort to see.  Contained within the blog below are numerous historic maps, photos and other documents to go along with a photo log (with hiking destinations and other locales) on the Generals Highway. 

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/11/the-generals-highway-connecting-kings.html

[Max Rockatansky]

Revisited the Generals Highway for the first time since the KNP Fire last year.  Below are some of the more notable sections of the burn areas:

IMG_7215 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_7226 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Same spot last year:

0 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_7228 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr