"Least Visited of the MAJOR Redwood Groves" Calaveras Big Trees State Park by atufft

The Calaveras Grove was heavily logged for a long time, and was rescued almost by accident. At the grove, there's a "dance floor"--the stump of a tree that's nearly the size of a house. There are other novelties of this sort here, such as a drive through tree, which no vehicle is now allowed to even get close to. There's also a slice of a tree showing it's tree rings and important historical events, like the Alexander's invasion of Persia, the Birth of Christ, and toward the very outer rings, the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. No joke. These trees live a long time, so for loggers to pride themselves on bring them down was a real shame. The nice part about Calaveras Big Trees is that it's easy to get to from the Bay Area, uncrowded, and not at all touristy, like, for example Mariposa Grove is within Yosemite National Park. There's no tram here, no tour guides, just trails that wind through the groves. The trees are individually marked, and there's a substantial number of areas where seedlings are growing to produce a new generation, that hopefully will live another thousand or so years. My father-in-law, visited with us at age 90, and was able to hike around a bit, as shown in this photo. He was pretty impressed and gain some vitality in seeing things alive that are older than him.