Date: September 7, 2015
Place: Calaveras Big Trees State Park, Arnold, California
Coordinates: Coordinates: 38.279081, -120.307259
Length: 2 miles
Level: easy
Two years ago I took my chikas camping with friends at the Spicer Reservoir. After a beautiful weekend during which we got to hike around Lake Alpine too it was time to drive back home. Calaveras Big Trees State Park is on the way and I decided to stop there for a hike. It was Labor Day and the North Grove area was so jam-packed, there was no hope of finding any parking there. I drove to the South Grove area where we had an enjoyable hike at the Bradley Grove. However, that day we missed the North Grove of Giant Sequoia, which was our main objective of visiting this park.
Last year, after saying goodbye to our friends who hiked with us around Kirkwood Lake we arrived again at Calaveras Big Trees SP. Also on Memorial Day, the park was again full of visitors, but this time we had arrived early enough to find a parking spot. It was hot and Papa Quail wanted to get home earlier rather than later, so we chose the shortest loop trail, just to check out the main sights of the North Grove. Being there for the first time I didn't know what to expect (except for huge sequoia trees, of course). Little did I know the heart ache this hike would bring me.
Stump of the Mammoth Tree |
I have seen sequoia stumps before. They are found in the groves first discovered by the European-descent immigrants. They date back to the time before their protection. And the first of those groves was at the area where Calaveras Big Trees State Park is today. It was here in this park where the Giant Sequoia made its first impression on modern people, and they were these that became the first victims to modern man's greed.
But it is easy to get distracted from gloomy thoughts in a beautiful forest. Past the giant sequoia stump there is a little wooden bridge crossing a small creek that was bone dry at the time. There were excited shouts from people near and on the bridge and soon the source of excitement was identified: a small bat was flying circles in the area, looping its way back and forth between people. I raised my camera but all I got was a blur.It does show, however, how close to us that bat was flying.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a bat! |
The next tree that caught my attention wasn't a sequoia but one of the most beautiful Sierra broadleaf trees: a mountain dogwood. This small tree was just turning its leaves for fall.
Mountain Dogwood (Cornus nuttallii) |
As the story goes, the giant sequoia were seen by a member of a mining expedition that went hunting for food. When no one believed his report of giant trees he fabricated a successful bear hunt and called for help carrying the carcass. When the others went with him to carry the 'bear' he led them to the first grove of giant sequoia seen by western eyes.
Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) |
Indeed, we saw squirrels all over the place. Thankfully they didn't approach us and they weren't begging for food like I've seen so many do in other popular parks.
Douglas Squirrel |
Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) |
Spectators weren't the only people admiring the giant trees. So did loggers, who saw their fortune in turning these majestic beings into building materials. Fortunately it turned out that unlike its relative the coastal redwood, giant sequoia wood is really poor lumber. Sadly, quite a few giants were felled before this fact sunk in.
I didn't expect to see anything blooming in the park this late in summer, but I did find a lone straggler, and of course it grabbed my attention.
White-flowered Hawkweed (Hieracium albiflorum) |
Mountain Dogwood (Cornus nuttallii) |
Giant Sequoia fused at the base |
Facing the Mother of the Forest's remains I cried. I tear up still as I write these words.
Mother of the Forest |
Giant Sequoia isn't the only tree in the park. Not even the most common. Other conifers are there too, and they are quite tall as well.
Sugar Pine (Pinus lambertiana) |
Red Breasted Nuthatch |
The most common woodpecker there is the White-headed Woodpecker. On one tree we saw three of them - a male and two females. The male has a small red spot on the back of his head.
White-headed Woodpecker, male |
White-headed Woodpecker, female |
Date: August 8, 2016
Place: Calaveras Big Trees State Park, Arnold, California
Coordinates: 38.279081, -120.307259
Length: 2.6 miles
Level: easy
On the first week of August, while my chikas were at their annual 4-H Camp, I went backpacking at Mineral King. I returned back to a full house, including Grandma Quail and Papa Quail's two nieces who came for a visit. Within a day we were to embark on a week-long road trip and for some unknown reason the planning of this trip was left for me. I had one day to come up with a plan.
I decided to go east. To spend the first half of the trip in the Gold Country and during that time to figure out what's next.
I found us a place to stay in Murphys and, after being warned not to plan anything strenuous or even moderately challenging, I listed a few things we could do in the area. Calaveras Big Trees State Park topped the list and on our first morning there we went there.
Being a month earlier in season and following a good rainy year the place was much greener than I remembered from my previous visit there. The creek wasn't running, but the plants looked lush and healthy, and there was still much bloom to see. Like this wild rose I found right by the visitor center:
This time too we hiked the North Grove. It wasn't overly hotted we were morning-fresh so we took the slightly longer route of the Overlook Trail that connected later to the trail we hiked last year.
There were much fewer people in the park this time, but we were certainly not alone there. Still, I got to see the Mammoth Tree stump without any people on it.
We passed the mammoth stump and went on the Overlook Trail where the trees are, in fact, quite small, and many are of broadleaf species or small pines.
There was a lot of life moving about and making sounds. One of the common forest birds is the Dark-eyed Junco. Common as they are, it isn't easy to get a good photo of them because they are hyperactive and they prefer the shadows. This time Papa Quail got lucky.
Dark-eyed Junco |
There was color on the ground - fall is just around the corner.
Looking up I saw the beginning of fall.Mountain Dogwood (Cornus nuttallii) |
We were walking slowly but even so I managed to run into Papa Quail as he was trying to get a good shot of a chipmunk that was running around in the undergrowth. When he was satisfied and moved on the chipmunk settled on a tree near me and I had my chance.
Long-eared Chipmunk |
Douglas Squirrel, lactating female |
Hairy Woodpecker, male |
Hairy Woodpecker, female |
Black-tailed Deer |
that hanged in the undergrowth.
The main idea of the Overview Trail, however, is that from the somewhat higher hillside there was a good view of the giant sequoia below and there was no need to crane our necks to see their canopies.
Another common conifer in the area is the sugar pine, which can also get very tall although not nearly as big and massive as the sequoia. This tree scores on a different measure: the sugar pine produces impressively huge cones.
The cone of Sugar Pine |
We were getting back down to the main sequoia grove. Along the path, more wildflowers were on display. Some were clearly past their prime, like the lupines who were nearly all fruiting at the time with only a few stragglers still in bloom.
Lupine (Lupinus sp.) |
Others didn't seem in any hurry to set seeds before the onset of winter and they were still in full bloom, like the elegant Crimson Columbine.
Crimson Columbine (Aquilegia formosa) |
White-headed Woodpecker twisting in mid-air |
Once again I walked through the grove giants. I made sure to get everyone in my company to look on the Mother of the Forest and learn its story. I listened to the comments and wondered what impact would this sight have on them. What lasting message will they take from there, if any.
Near the end of the trail there is a tunnel tree. That is a tree that a pass was cut out in its base, large enough to let a carriage through. It was a common enough practice at the time before the trees' protection: to cut these passages through the trees in way of showing how huge they were. It was done to several giant sequoia and also to some coastal redwoods. Cutting these passages, however, injures the tree and significantly weakens it. The famous 'Tunnel Tree' of Mariposa Grove in Yosemite eventually died of it when a winter storm piled too much snow on its compromised frame.
The tunnel tree in the Calaveras Big trees SP was also seriously compromised. By a glance it is dead already. But looking up, there is one live branch there still, indicating that this tree is still alive, still and fighting.
And still people take their photos in the tree's man-made passage without ever looking up.
The Tunnel Tree |
The North Grove of Giant Sequoia at the Calaveras Big Trees State Park is impressive, readily accessible, and an easy and beautiful hike. And my next visit there I'll try to schedule to a different season. I hear this grove is absolutely spectacular when wearing winter-white :-)
The giant sequoia never fails to amaze... I cannot understand how people can look at it and think about destructing it for persnal gain. Bu then again, there is a lot I don't understand about people
ReplyDeleteI share your bewilderment here. People can be so depressing. I am glad they did wake up in time to save the rest.
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