Every year thousands brave the trek to the eastern corner of the Sierra Madre Mountains in California and attempt the long hike to the top of Mount Whitney and neighboring Mount Gould. Visible from Gould's 13,000-foot peak are the largest trees in the world, the redwood sequoias.
People have occupied areas surrounding Mount Gould for approximately 7,000 years. The peak was conquered on July 2, 1890, by climbers Joseph LeConte, Hubert Dyer, Fred Pheby and C.B. Lakeman. Modern-day hikers traverse class 3 rocks, and are rewarded with views of Mount Cotter, Mount Clarence and Kerage Peak.
The first Spanish explorers venturing into the Sierra Madres were greeted with an awesome sight. Surrounding them were trees boasting trunks larger than 100 feet in circumference, towering more than 200 feet into the canopy above. The sequoia trees are the largest single living organisms on earth.
General Sherman and General Grant are the oldest tree specimens within King Canyon and Sequoia National Park. Estimates place them at around 1,800 to 2,700 years of age. As civilization encroaches on their shrinking territory, park officials fight back, hoping to protect the growth of these endangered giants for generations to come.
