In order to make it easier to understand and understand how the entire park works, first of all, start with a sightseeing tour, which is carried out on small buses. During a spectacular trip throughout the very large territory of the park, you will learn how films are made, drive through the pavilions and film sets, which will give you a storm of unforgettable emotions.

The most exciting and popular are the attractions from the films:

“Earthquake”, here visitors can experience tremors up to 8.5. At the same time, burning helicopters are falling on their heads from above, the bus is falling somewhere, there are screams, noise and roar all around, how can you forget this!

Also go through the unforgettable water races from the movie “Waterworld”, which ends with the ship crashing right in front of the audience. Walk among the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park; the descent along the river will also remain in your memory for a long time.

“Flood”: a bus with tourists arrives in a small “Mexican village”, where it suddenly begins to rain, turning into downpour, the water rises and soon a real flood begins! Roaring streams of water quickly rush through the streets, threatening to wash away the bus, and sweep away everything in its path. But quite unexpectedly, the water turns to the side, and tourists, dumbfounded with fear, see how all the destruction immediately disappears and before their eyes is once again an idyllic picture.

Be sure to check out the new 3D King Kong pavilion; it was built to replace the old one, which was badly damaged during a fire. Today, it is the largest and only attraction of its kind in the whole world. Little visitors are always very interested in visiting the Shrek pavilion and meeting the animal actors who star in Universal Studios films.

Also of considerable interest are some of the secrets that the studio reveals to its fans, for example, how you can fall from the Statue of Liberty and not get injured, and many other secrets of cinema.

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In many ways, it is for the latter that you should go to Sequoia Park. The fact is that this is the closest real forest to Los Angeles with real big trees. Anything closer, such as the Angeles National Forest or Los Padres National Forest, is not at all like a forest in our usual sense. But Sequoia Park is a completely different matter. And the sequoias themselves, of course, have become a great addition to the forest.

On the eve of our departure, we rented a brand new Toyota Camry Hybrid to make our trip as comfortable and enjoyable as possible. On the morning of day “X”, we drove it on Interstate 5 in the direction of the park. The distance from Los Angeles to Sequoia Park is approximately 240 miles. The road is beautiful and very scenic, with many small towns and very authentic farms along the way. After Bakersfield and almost to the park itself, you will have to drive among endless fruit fields where oranges, lemons, almonds, and the famous California grapes are grown. The four hours of travel fly by in an instant, and here it is, the cherished, long-awaited Sequoia Park.

Entrance to the park is paid: for an ordinary car, regardless of the number of passengers inside, it costs $30; for motorcyclists, cyclists or hikers, a pass will cost $10. The ticket is not a one-time ticket, it is valid for 7 days. Upon entry, you are given a booklet and a detailed paper map. This is very important, as the Internet in Sequoia Park does not work at all, and there is no other communication there either.

The main attraction of the park is the giant sequoias, which grow mainly in a grove called Giant Forest. From the entrance to the park, it is about an hour’s drive along a narrow mountain road that constantly climbs up.
However, before talking about Sequoia, it is worth making a few clarifications. The fact is that from the point of view of biology, “sequoia” and “sequoia tree” are different species. Sequoias are slightly smaller and thicker and slightly taller, growing up to 110 meters, and their trunk diameter is no more than 7 meters. Sequoyadendron are the very giant sequoias that make up this park and grove. They are slightly lower – no higher than 95 meters, but significantly thicker – 11 meters or more in diameter. The fact that an ordinary sequoia is called redwood in English, but a giant sequoia or sequoia dendron is simply sequoia in English, adds to the confusion in this whole story. And despite the fact that the Giant Forest grove consists mainly of sequoias, we will call them sequoias for simplicity and brevity.

The grove itself is quite high: from 1800 to 2100 meters above sea level. And while in its lower part, where the park’s museum is located, you can walk and breathe quite freely, in the upper part, just where the largest tree General Sherman grows, it was already difficult to walk up and down the paths: the altitude and lower oxygen content affected. By the way, visitors to the park are regularly warned about this by signs hung in large numbers along the hiking trails.

In general, there are a lot of trails, as they say here, for hiking, in the park. There are 64 kilometers of them in the Giant Forest grove alone. There are comfortable-looking asphalt trails with benches on the sides, and ordinary ones without any amenities.

However, if you want real authenticity and unity with nature, you can walk right in the middle of the forest, not paying attention to the paths. But, of course, only at your own risk.

Although Sequoia Park is a fairly popular tourist destination, it still retains a real wilderness. Here you can easily meet harmless squirrels and chipmunks, as well as larger animals: deer and even baribals. The latter, by the way, are not above stealing. Therefore, the park management strongly recommends not leaving food unattended and always closing car windows.

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