The largest big tree in the park is known as the General Sherman Tree, which is thought to be 2,300 to 2,700 years old. Although the General Sherman Tree, 274.9 feet (83.8 metres) high, is not as tall as some of the California coast redwoods and its circumference at its base (102.6 feet, or 31.3 metres) is not as great as that of a cypress growing near Oaxaca, Mexico, it is, in terms of volume, the world's largest living thing. It stands in a section of the park called the Giant Forest, an area of about 5 square miles (13 square km) with many groves of big trees. Plants present in the park, besides the big trees, include such smaller trees as incense cedars, sugar pines, white firs, and ponderosa pines, as well as various shrubs and wildflowers in the meadows. Animal life includes black bears, mule deer, gray foxes, and squirrels and other small mammals.

The scenic Mineral King area in the southern part of the park was added in 1978. Its focus is the glacier-carved Mineral King Valley, which is bordered by high mountain peaks; a number of hiking trails radiate from the valley. The Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail traverses the eastern portion of the park from north to south; much of it also is the route of the John Muir Trail, which runs southward until splitting off eastward to terminate on Mount Whitney.