Pinewood Picnic Area — Attraction in Exeter

Way back in 1973, this place used to be the Main Employee Village for the Park Concessionaire ops in Giant Forest, before it was a Museum Complex (Giant Forest Village used to have several guest cottages, a grocery/deli combo, camping/backpacker's supply store, a gift store, a cafeteria, office facilities for the concessionaire ops,and two restaurants at opposite ends of the adjacent little Sequoia-adorned meadow, one of those a Top-Tier formal dining facility. From almost 100 years ago, to the 1960's, there was even a gas station and service garage there, too.), and Pinewood had about 75 2-person cabins, one of which was my home for that summer, plus a little 1 bedroom house for the Village Manager and his wife. Across from my cabin, was the dumpster in front of the latrine/shower house, and bears could be found in that dumpster, putting on a "Punch & Judy" show most nights--VERY FUNNY-- how this bigger bear would bully and swat at the smaller bears! One was so scared, that he shot up a 50-foot fir next to the guy's entrance, to about 30 feet, the bigger bear roaring at him for about 10 minutes. Big bear left after 15 minutes having his fill on "HIS" garbage, and little bear must have been up that tree for 30 minutes before scampering down. There were about 15 of us spectators, all cracked up over the antics. Pinewood was a nice little knoll to live on, during that summer. Such...

This is typically where my family and I meet in Sequoia. It's a perfectly adequate picnic area, has bathrooms. The bathrooms are typical of national parks, cold, no-flush toilets and a sink with no soap. Which obviously is done to minimize the impact on the environment. While it's not going to be a ritzy picnic, it is exactly what you should expect out of a...

Clean bathrooms, quiet location even on a Saturday. It's worth stopping if you want to enjoy a quiet picnic and a great view. Also, some large boulders in the area make for fun climbing for the kids. Haven't hit a bad spot in Sequoia...