Generals Highway

File:2013-09-20 11 58 57 View from Generals Highway in Sequoia National Park north of Amphitheater Point.JPG

File:Generals Highway, Clover Creek Bridge, Spanning Clover Creek on Generals Highway, approxi, Three Rivers vicinity (Tulare County, California).jpg

It is named after two of the largest and most famous Giant Sequoia trees, the General Sherman and General Grant trees. The highway is notoriously steep, narrow, winding, and difficult to drive, especially its southern section from Hospital Rock to Giant Forest within Sequoia National Park. This section also consists of numerous switchbacks, and has a speed limit of 10 MPH. Regulations restrict the length of vehicles—they must not exceed {{convert|40|ft|m}}, although vehicles longer than {{convert|22|ft|m}} are not recommended to use the road {{cite web| url = https://www.nps.gov/seki/index.htm| title = Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks (U.S. National Park Service)}} between Potwisha Campground and Giant Forest Museum.

{{cite web

|url=http://home.nps.gov/seki/parkmgmt/upload/SuptComp%2709_8Roads,Vehicles%20Limits,%20etc.pdf

|title=Vehicles and Traffic Safety

|publisher=National Park Service

|access-date=2010-01-16

}}{{dead link|date=June 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} Furthermore, the highway north of Lodgepole campground generally closes due to snow conditions, and is not plowed between the Friday after January 1 and the third Friday in March.{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/road-conditions.htm|title=Sequoia and Kings Canyon Road Information|work=National Park Service|access-date=January 29, 2023}}

The Generals Highway begins as a continuation of SR 198, where the state highway legally ends at the southern boundary of Sequoia National Park, although some commercially produced maps may still show the Generals Highway as part of SR 198. The road travels northeast along the middle fork of the Kaweah River and enters Sequoia National Park through the Indian Head Entrance. Near the Hospital Rock turnout, the road turns north and goes through several turns before straightening out and continuing northeast, passing near the General Sherman Tree. At Lodgepole Bridge, the road turns west before later turning north. Generals Highway leaves Sequoia National Park through the North Entrance, entering Sequoia National Forest.{{Cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/hih/generals/generals8.jpg |title=Archived copy |access-date=2011-06-16 |archive-date=2012-11-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108091900/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/hih/generals/generals8.jpg |url-status=dead }} The road continues northwest through Giant Sequoia National Monument before traveling along the northern border of Kings Canyon National Park, briefly entering it before terminating at SR 180.{{Cite map| publisher=Thomas Brothers| title=California Road Atlas| year=2008}}

Two of the stone bridges on the highway are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

{{cite web

| url = {{NRHP url|id=78000284}}

| title = National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form

| publisher = National Park Service

| access-date = 2010-01-16 }}

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{{CAinttop|county=Tulare}}

{{Jctint

|location_special=Sequoia National Park

|lspan=2

|mile=0.00

|road={{jct|state=CA|SR|198|dir1=west|city1=Visalia|city2=Hanford}}

|notes=Continuation beyond the Sequoia National Park southern boundary

}}

{{Jctplace

|type=toll

|mile=0.30

|place=Ash Mountain Entrance Station; park fee or pass required for entry{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/fees.htm|title=Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park Fees & Passes|work=National Park Service|access-date=December 31, 2021}}

}}

{{Jctint

|location_special=Kings Canyon National Park

|mile=32.5

|road={{jct|state=CA|SR|180|city1=Fresno|location2=Grant Grove Village|location3=Cedar Grove}}

|notes=

}}

{{jctbtm|keys=toll}}

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• {{HAER |survey=CA-140 |id=ca1791 |title=Generals Highway, Three Rivers, Tulare County, CA |photos=127 |color=3 |dwgs=10 |data=40 |cap=9}}

{{Sequoia National Park}}

{{Kings Canyon National Park}}

Category:Roads in Tulare County, California

Category:Giant Sequoia National Monument

Category:Kings Canyon National Park

Category:Sequoia National Park

Category:Sequoia National Forest

Category:Historic American Engineering Record in California

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Tulare County, California

Category:Named highways in California