Hospital Rock is a large quartzite rock in Sequoia National Park

Sequoia National Park

Sequoia National Park is a national park in the southern Sierra Nevada east of Visalia, California, in the United States. It was established on September 25, 1890. The park spans . Encompassing a vertical relief of nearly , the park contains among its natural resources the highest point in the...

, located just off of the Generals Highway

Generals Highway

The Generals Highway is a highway that connects State Route 180 and State Route 198 through Sequoia National Park.-Route description:It is named after two of the largest and most famous Giant Sequoia trees, the General Sherman and General Grant trees...

, on the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River

Kaweah River

The Kaweah River in the U.S. state of California flows westward from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada into the Central Valley. It rises in forks in the southern Sierra Nevada inside Sequoia National Park, the longest of which is the Middle Fork, about long...

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History

Hospital Rock was once home to 500 Potwisha Native Americans

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

. Archaeological

Archaeology

Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...

 evidence shows settlement as early as 1350, and bedrock mortar

Bedrock mortar

A bedrock mortar is a anthropogenic circular depression in a rock outcrop or naturally occurring slab, used by people in the past for grinding of grain, acorns or other food products. There are often a cluster of a considerable number of such holes in proximity indicating that people gathered in...

 sites and petroglyphs remain. The Native Americans mostly used this site in the winter months.
The area was named when James Everton recovered from a gunshot wound at the site in 1873. He had been injured by a shotgun snare set to trap bear.

Visiting

Hospital Rock is a public archaeological site that now features a parking lot and picnic

Picnic

In contemporary usage, a picnic can be defined simply as a pleasure excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors , ideally taking place in a beautiful landscape such as a park, beside a lake or with an interesting view and possibly at a public event such as before an open air theatre performance,...

 area. A short trail was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps

Civilian Conservation Corps

The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...

 that leads to a waterfall nearby.

The rock can be used for rock climbing

Rock climbing

Rock climbing also lightly called 'The Gravity Game', is a sport in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling...

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