Today we ventured from our base in Angels Camp, CA heading North East up State route 4 toward the small town of Arnold. Located a mere 3 miles past Arnold is the Calaveras Big Trees State Park.
The entrance to the park is a little understated, with a simple sign. It lies directly off of State Route 4. All traffic is funneled to a entrance gate. Arriving at around 9:30 in the morning, we were pleasantly greeted by smiling and friendly Park Rangers. The admission fee for a day use pass is a mere $10 and only $9 if you happen to be a Sr. Citizen over the age of 62. (It’s good to see some of our California taxes at work).
Although our plan today was to hike the South Grove loop, which lies another 8 miles further into the park, we decided to stop at the North Grove where they have a Visotor Center. The North Grove trailhead is only a couple hundred yards past the entrance. I can only imagine that many visitors trek up to this beautiful park and never make it beyond this point.
Don’t get me wrong, the North Grove trail represents the genesis of the park and its 1.5 mile loop (both self guided and guided tours are available) has a lot to offer. The North Grove has over 150 mature Giant Sequoia trees that can be seen from this short trail. However, this large park has a lot more to offer if you venture past this first stopping point.
Shortly after parking our car we made our way to the Visitor Center. I stopped to read some of the well prepared informational displays outside of the visitor center. I was promptly greeted by a volunteer docent who began offering me a lot of information about the park. I talked to her about the benefits of the North Grove trail over the South Grove trail. She confirmed my understanding. The South Grove is a 5.5 mile trek, much longer than the 1.5 mile trail in the North Grove. Whereas there are over 150 Giant Sequoias on the North Grove, there are over 1000 on the South. The South is much less trafficked, so the hike will put you closer to nature. She did caution me that the grove is over a 1 mile hike from the parking lot, and many visitors start out on the trail, which continuously winds uphill and after 20 minutes of rigorous hiking they become discouraged having not seen a single Sequoia and they turn around; not realizing that they were 5 minutes away from the start of the South Grove.
I told her that we wanted to visit the Visitor Center before we headed off to our hike. She indicated to me that the Center doesn’t open until 10:00 am (another 20 minutes). She suggested that we head down and complete the hike before it got much hotter and visit the Center afterwards. It was great advice.
We jumped back in our car and drove the 8.5 miles farther into the park to get to the South Grove Trailhead. The road is well paved but narrow and winding in parts so it took us 25 minutes to get there. Along the way, there are other trailheads that can be seen (e.g. Lava Bluffs trail, which provides stunning views of the Stanislaus River that flows through the South Grove.
The Parking area for the South Grove is ample in size, but there weren’t that many cars indicating that this trail is much less traveled. There is a restroom at the parking lot and there are no other facilities on the trail, so you better “GO” before you “go”. If you know what I mean.
The trail itself starts off very nice with the first 1/2 mile being handicap accessible. Thereafter the trail is well marked but it is a rugged mountain trail. Although the hike into the South Grove winds continuously uphill, it is a gentle grade. Overall, I would rate this hike as easy to moderate and well suited to all hikers and most kids. There are several well constructed and well maintained bridges that cross over creeks and parts of the Stanislaus River. True to her word, we had hiked 1.1 miles until we reach the forked trail that denotes the beginning of the South Grove. You can take either side of the fork as it is a large loop that will take you back to the same place. It is probably less than 100 yards from the right fork of the trail that you come upon your first Giant Sequoia. When you stand at the base of this mighty tree, it is difficult to comprehend just how massive it is. Unlike the trees in Sequoia National park, where the trees are al fenced off and visitors must admire them at some distance, here you are face to face with the giant trees. This first tree has a diameter in excess of 20’ and it is not even one of the largest trees in the Grove. It is estimated that the tallest trees in the grove stand some 280 feet tall and are over 2500 years old. An interesting fact that we learned is that each of these giant trees had to start out from a single seed that is released from one of the giant pine cones that fall from the mature trees. The seed within that pine cone is about the size of a single flake of oatmeal. Take a look at the finger nail on your pinkie and imagine that a seed about 1/2 that size has gone on to become one of the largest living organisms on this earth.
The loop trail will take you past several other giants. After about 1.5 miles you will come upon another fork in the road. One fork is obviously the return leg of the loop trail and the other will lead you out another .6 miles to the two largest trees on the South Grove hike. Throughout our hike, we encountered very few people. There was a larger group of senior hikers that started out behind us but because they were doing a lot of talking, we allowed them to pass us as I was hoping to get some pictures of birds and wildlife. When we got to the far end of the loop road, the whole group of senior hikers had collected and they were contemplating the additional hike out to the larger trees, We didn’t relish the thought of being stuck behind them or having to hurry our way out in front of them. So, as they set out on the spur, we opted to head back on the return loop. Although this cut 1.2 miles off of our hike, we were satisfied with the energy it took us to get this far. Plus, the day was a bit of a bust from a birding standpoint. We saw a couple of Stellar Jays and some Dark Eyed Juncos but not much else. We could hear them out there, but they pretty much stayed high up in the trees.
The hike back is a much easier and faster walk since it is all down hill. But if your are old like me and plagued with some Achilles tendonitis, the downhill walk can be more difficult than the uphill ones. We were glad to get back to the car because it was beginning to warm up. We made our way back to the Visitor Center and learned more about the park. It became a park in 1931. This is almost 70 years after the grove of giant trees was discovered by Augustus Dowd in
1852. Dowd had been hunting bear, when he took a shot at one and missed and he tracked the bear deep into the woods where he had never been before. At one point, Dowd was stopped in his tracks and overwhelmed by the site of what became to be known as the “Discovery Tree”. This massive tree was almost 30’ in diameter and stood over 250 feet tall. Dowd would go back into town and tell the towns people what he had seen and initially they ignored him and chalked it up to yet another “tall tale”. Eventually, Dowd would lead a group out to the grove and they too were amazed by the giant tree. Unfortunately, the Discovery Tree that had sprouted from a seedling some 1300 years before its discovery, failed to survive a year after its discovery. Greedy opportunists decided to shave the tree of all of its bark up to 150’ above the ground so that they could “reconstruct” the massive tree in a traveling road show that would take the tree to New York and even on to London. The Discovery tree was then unceremoniously cut down. It took a large team of men over 22 days to cut down the massive tree. Today, one of the first things to greet visitors to the North Grove is the massive stump of the Discovery Tree. One other large tree was also hollowed out so that early visitors in wagons and later in cars could drive through the mighty tree. This unfortunately led to the demise of that tree. Today the base of that tree remains with its gaping hole as a reminder to our misguided past. Eventually the public began to look at these trees as something to be saved and protected. An initiative was launched in the 1870 to turn the grove into a park. Their effort were spurred on by the recent US Grant to protect the Yosemite valley. Unfortunately it wasn’t until 1931 when the State finally acquired the land and protected these giant trees. The South Grove would not be added to the park until the 1950s. The initial acquisition of the land was made possible in part with State funds but also through large grants of land that had been acquired by John D. Rockefeller Jr and his wife who were early philanthropic environmental preservationists. The South Grove would be acquired largely through public donations and funds raised by non-profit organizations.
Today, the park is still relatively undeveloped. The park hotel that was originally built in the early 1900s was lost to a fire in the 1940s and never rebuilt. There are several trails that offer hiking and backcountry camping and there are several campgrounds that offer both tent and rv camping. They are all relatively small compared to the large size of the park. Reservations must typically be made for spaces in these campgrounds at least 6 months in advance. There are numerous accommodations, including hotels and parks for RV and tent camping outside of the park starting in Angels Camp, where we are staying and further to the East beyond the park.