Middle Fork and Hospital Rock.—The motorist first enters the park via Ash Mountain headquarters, and the road leads up the gorge of the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River.
Hospital Rock, tourist center and public campground, is 5 miles beyond Ash Mountain on the road to Giant Forest, at 2,700 feet elevation, and is an all-year-round center of park activities. The Buckeye store sells general supplies, photographs, films, curios, etc., and furnishes light meals and overnight accommodations.
At or near Hospital Rock are historical and scenic attractions of great interest. There are Indian pictographs, and a mammoth boulder marks the old headquarters of the Yokut Indians. Moro Rock towers 4,000 feet above. The Kaweah River gorge is full of pools, cataracts, and waterfalls. The fishing is excellent. Short-trail trips lead to the Giants Rock Pile, the Big Pool, Buckeye Flat, Red Rock Gorge, and other interesting walks. Deer are numerous and very tame in this vicinity.
A narrow 2-mile road above Hospital Rock leads to Moro Creek, where there is a public campground and point of departure for high mountain trail trips. Magnificent views of the Great Western Divide, with its 12,000- and 13,000-foot peaks, may be had from this road.
Buckeye Flat is a newly developed area on this road, half a mile above Hospital Rock. This is a delightful public campground, beside the rushing Middle Fork, with the usual accommodations. Though particularly beautiful in the spring, it is attractive throughout the year.
Paradise-Atwell Trail connects Atwell Mill Station on the East Fork with Hospital Rock on the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River. It joins the Atwell-Hockett Trail, permitting direct access to the Hockett Meadow country from the Middle Fork district.
Grant photo.
VIEW OF MORO ROCK FROM ROAD TO OLD COLONY MILL
Continuing up the Middle Fork, under the shadow of the Great Western Divide, is Redwood Meadow with its interesting grove of Big Trees. To its left, at Bearpaw Meadow, a hikers' camp is maintained during the summer season. The camp is within easy walking distance of Giant Forest and is a convenient base for trips to Tamarack Lake, Hamilton Lake, or Kaweah Gap.