Things To Do, Places To Go, Sights To See!
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Pierpoint
Nestled in the Sequoia National Forest about 16 miles east of Springville along Hwy 190, Pierpoint is a great place to stop and recharge at the Pierpoint Bar & Grille, or stay at the lodge and use as a starting point for the rest of your adventures in the forest. Also available at the general store are tourist maps, fishing licenses and supplies, and other sundries. There are also private cabins available as vacation rentals in the area.
Camp Nelson
Only a few miles farther up Hwy 190 from Pierpoint, Camp Nelson is another quaint mountain town offering a rich history as well as a beautiful lodge and many private cabins available as vacation rentals. Use Camp Nelson as your starting point for many adventures, including hiking or biking along the Nelson Trail.
Nelson Trail through Belknap
The Nelson Trail runs along the bottom of a lushly wooded canyon, starting just outside Camp Nelson and passing through the Belknap and Wheel Meadow groves on its way to Quaking Aspen campground. For the first few miles, there are some widely-scattered sequoias, mostly small to medium-sized, but with a few large trees. The woods are dense and lush and quite attractive. After a few miles, the trail breaks away from both the creek and the sequoias for the final climb to Quaking Aspen.
Belknap is a complex formed from the large sprawling McIntyre Grove, Wheel Meadow Grove and the smaller, compact Carr Wilson, or Bear Creek Grove. Beautiful trails through old-growth sequoias meander along Bear Creek and the Tule River. This grove is fairly easy to get to by driving paved roads in your car. You can visit this grove year round, but there may be snow and ice on the roads in winter so bring your tire chains. The grove is about 4,666 acres. There are several trails through this grove.
Photo Credit: Belknap – C. Capone
Black Mountain Grove
Located on a mountainside high above Camp Nelson, a little-used and mostly level dirt road winds for nine miles through the attractive Black Mountain Grove of giant sequoias. The road is well-maintained and can be explored by car, on foot, or any combination of the two.
According to a Forest Service inventory completed in 2009, Black Mountain Grove has the highest density of large sequoias (29 inch diameter and above) of any grove.