Popular sequoia trail to reopen

good look at what fire can do to an area,” Embrey said.

Forest Service officials say the heroic efforts of firefighters last year as well as the ongoing practice of clearing combustible vegetation by lighting prescribed burns largely spared the trail and its surroundings from the worst of the fire.

The trail, basically a 1.3-mile paved loop, has become a much-sought destination because of the unparalleled grandeur of the ancient forest it winds through. The grove is home to 125 giant sequoias that measure more than 10 feet in diameter.

The largest tree is more than 20 feet wide and stands 220 feet tall.

The area was designated a national monument, and given special protections within the national forest, in 2000 by President Bill Clinton. The former president made the designation while standing beneath one of the trees on the Trail of 100 Giants.

About 800,000 people visit the area annually.

Not far from the trail, in the southern Sierra Nevada, the Mountain Home Demonstration State Forest, also hit by fire and home to celebrated sequoias, is scheduled to partially reopen May 20.

Farther north, the burned Giant Forest in Sequoia National Park fully reopened to the public in March.

The 97,528-acre Windy Fire was one of two major lightning-started fires last year that killed thousands of sequoia trees in the region. The KNP Complex was the other.

A year earlier, the 174,178-acre SQF Complex tore through, an offshoot of the Castle Fire, also wiping out unprecedented numbers of the trees.