Sequoia: General Sherman Tree, Tunnel Log & Crescent Meadow Day Tour

4.94

(145 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I’ll admit, I didn’t expect to feel small in quite this way. The first time our guide, Mike, stopped the van along Generals Highway and asked us to look up — really up — I nearly fell over craning my neck. There’s something about the air in Sequoia that smells like cold stone and sun-warmed bark, even before you get close to the big trees. We’d barely left Three Rivers when the landscape started changing — blue oaks giving way to those crazy-tall sequoias, and everyone got quiet for a second. Except for Mike, who kept tossing out little facts about the Kaweah River and yuccas flowering by the roadside (I still can’t pronounce “Kaweah” right).

The main keyword here is “General Sherman Tree” — but honestly, no one says it out loud at first. You just stand there under it, feeling your own heartbeat slow down because how else do you react to the biggest tree on earth? I touched its bark (rougher than I thought) while a couple from Fresno tried to take a selfie with their dog. Later we walked under Tunnel Log — it’s bigger than it looks in photos — and Mike told us stories about storms that knocked these trees over decades ago. Sometimes he’d pause mid-sentence if he heard a woodpecker or spotted a deer; it felt like he knew every inch of this place.

Lunch was simple but perfect: sandwiches and fruit near Crescent Meadow, where everything smelled green and alive. Someone brought hot chocolate (apparently standard in winter), which made my hands warm after the breeze picked up. We all sat around swapping stories — one guy had driven from LA just for this day trip to Sequoia from Three Rivers, said he needed “tree therapy.” It made sense to me by then. There’s something about eating outside with strangers-turned-friends while staring at wildflowers that makes you forget your phone for a while.

I still think about that view from Moro Rock — sky so wide you almost lose your balance looking out over the Sierra Nevada. If you’re wondering whether it’s worth booking this Sequoia day tour with lunch included… well, I’m not sure any photo or review really covers what it feels like to be there in person. But maybe that’s the point.