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This page has additional photos of non-historic buildings at Grant Grove Village as well as a few photos taken of the surrounding area.
John Muir Lodge:
Porch on the John Muir Lodge. This is the first floor porch on the end of the building.
Porch on the John Muir Lodge. The 2nd floor porch, directly above the last photo.
Painting of John Muir in the lobby of John Muir Lodge.
Lobby of John Muir Lodge.
Lobby of the John Muir Lodge
John Muir Lodge Lobby, Christmas 2007
View from a guest room window at John Muir Lodge. Taken March 2013.
The New Grant Grove Village Restaurant:
Construction
of the New Grant Grove Restaurant and patio in Spring 2017.
Completed New Restaurant at Grant Grove Village, October 2017.
Meadow side of the new Restaurant at Grant Grove Village, 2017.
Dining room of new restaurant. Note that the roof beams are not curved, that is lens distortion from the panoramic photo. Photo October 2017.
Fireplace in the new Grant Grove Village restaurant. Photo 2017.
Panorama photo of new restaurant on right, patio center, and gift shop on left. 2017.
Miscellaneous Photos:
Panoramic Point. The narrow, winding, Panoramic Point Road leads 2.3 miles from
Grant Grove Village to a parking lot just below the park ridge. There is
a pit toilet and picnic tables at the Panoramic Point parking lot.
From the parking lot a short trail leads about one block up to Panoramic
Point. At the Point you will find this fantastic view of King's Canyon
and the snow capped mountains beyond it. The lake you can see just left
and below the photo center is Hume Lake, a former logging lake where
there are campgrounds, private cabins, and a huge Christian conference
center. In this photo the middle fork of the King's River extends toward
the snow capped mountains in the distance, directly behind Hume Lake.
The south fork of the King's River extends up the canyon to the right of
the photo, behind the tree covered mountain.
This photo was taken in the late fall, when the park and forest service
conduct controlled burns. Controlled burns are small fires intended to
mimic the forest fires common to this area, and burn away accumulated
debris on the forest floor- without endangering lives, property, or
historic cabins! If you look carefully you can see the smoke from a burn
in this photo.
Large glacial boulders dot the park ridge above Grant Grove Village. Several
trails lead from the Village up to the ridge, or for an easier hike take
the road to Panoramic Point where there is a parking lot just below the
ridge. There is a pit toilet and picnic tables at the Panoramic Point
parking lot. If you hike 2.5 miles along the Park Ridge Trail which
follows the ridge there are great views and at the end there is a steel
frame (active) fire lookout tower you can climb. In this classic
"tourist photo" Julie saves the Grant Grove Village below from sure
destruction by pushing a wayward boulder away from the edge of the
ridge.
This is the Buck Rock Lookout, in 2017. It is NOT the fire lookout on the park
ridge. It is located outside the National Park in Sequoia National
Monument and a high clearance vehicle is suggested (or long hike) to
reach it. (I have seen ordinary passenger vehicles make it to Buck
Rock, but I wouldn't want to risk busting an axle or loosing a muffler
on a rock myself.) Ask how to get there at the Grant Grove Visitor
Center. It takes about 1 to 1.5 hours to reach Buck Rock from Grant
Grove by vehicle, depending on how fast you are willing to bump over the
very rough one-lane dirt road that takes you the last few miles up to
it. Once at Buck Rock you can climb up to the fire tower and say hello
to the fire lookout on duty. The view is incredible but sadly I don't
have a photo to show you.
Winter is a great time to visit. You can rent X-country skis or snowshoes at the Grant Village Store. Photo from 2015.
The General Grant Tree at Grant Grove. Giant Sequoia.
Some park animals...
A Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel
A Western Gray Squirrel
Deer across Panoramic Point Road from the John Muir Lodge. They can be seen
here most evenings browsing for food in the creek bed. The deer
in the Village area tend to be a bit more cautious than most of the
park deer and are hard to get close to.
A little Black Bear, no sign of mom, so he may have been just weaned off onto
his own. This one I spotted at Lodgepole in Sequoia National Park but
they do show up at Grant Grove Village at times. Wouldn't you just like
to hug him? Not a good idea! I'm not as
close as it looks and obviously he has noticed me. I used both a telephoto lens and digital zoom to take this photo. 2016 photo.
Bobcats are found in the Park, but sightings are unusual in the Grant Grove
area. We considered seeing this one a fortunate event.
OK, sorry, my jokes are getting worse with each new photo.. I'll quit now.
Completed New Restaurant at Grant Grove Village, October 2017.
Meadow side of the new Restaurant at Grant Grove Village, 2017.
Dining room of new restaurant. Note that the roof beams are not curved, that is lens distortion from the panoramic photo. Photo October 2017.
Fireplace in the new Grant Grove Village restaurant. Photo 2017.
Panorama photo of new restaurant on right, patio center, and gift shop on left. 2017.
