Travel Tips

When photographing sequoias, it's hard to represent scale. In a plain picture of just the trees, you can't tell exactly how big they are. It's best to have a person stand in front of one or if that's not available, do the next best thing! Just place any object that would give someone a sense of the tree's massive size next to the tree. In this picture, I used my backpack. Most people have a good idea how big a backpack is and this gives them a sense of how giant these trees really are. Have fun!

Mariposa Grove is the largest grove of Sequoias in Yosemite. You have several options for touring this area. You can hop a tram during the summer (for a fee) and take a guided tour of the grove, or you can hike. Technically the grove is two groves in one separated into the Lower Grove and the Upper Grove. I personally enjoy the upper grove better as it allows for solitude, more adventure, and the ability to walk right up to the sequoias. Most of the sequoias in the lower grove are far from the trail or fenced off. In the upper grove the trail is much narrower and twists around and right next to the sequoias. Starting from the parking lot, the first named tree we come to is the Fallen Monarch. This tree fell long before the park was even established. The entire Mariposa Battalion had it's photograph taken with the men and horses on top of this fallen giant. The picture has helped to immortalize the grove.

Continuing on the wide mostly level trail, we eventually come to the Bachelor and the Three Graces. Beyond them, we climb a short hill and round a corner to catch a breathtaking shot of monstrous Grizzly Giant. Appropriately named, this tree is today the main attraction in the grove. It's the largest tree in Yosemite and quite possibly the oldest at close to 3,000 years old. In fact some of it's lower branches are over 10 feet thick, almost as tall as a one story building! The tree towers close to 300 feet high and weighs an estimated 2 million pounds. Grizzly Giant is fenced off so you can't actually walk right up to it, but you still have to crank your neck. This must be how ants feel.

Just behind Grizzly Giant, we find California Tree. Fire scoured a hole in it so in 1875 someone decided it would be nice to make the hole bigger and allow stagecoaches to pass through it! The tree is still standing and still living. Although no vehicles of any kind are allowed through it, you can still walk through it. It is a rather cool experience, but still. What are you going to do, go home and brag that you walked through a tree? If you'd rather not go through it, there is a bypass trail around the side of the tree instead of through it.

We now leave the lower grove and most of the crowds behind and start a long ascent toward the upper grove. In the meantime we also leave any fanciful sequoias and amazing views behind as well. Follow the signs leading the way toward the Mariposa Grove Museum. Eventually the trail begins to level off a bit and we begin to wonder past a couple sequoias and notice in the distance a small building dwarfed by the surrounding giants. This is the Mariposa Grove Museum. If it's open, stop and look around. It's very enlightening if you're interested in learning more about the trees you've been walking through (literally).

From the museum, follow the trail east toward Telescope Tree. This amazing tree has been completely hollowed out by fire, but is still living and growing! If you step inside the narrow slit opening on the side of the tree you can gape straight up the trunk and see out the top! Beyond this tree, the trail keeps rising until meeting up with the Outer Loop Trail. Take a left on this trail and you'll notice below you the Fallen Wawona Tunnel Tree. We'll come back and see it later. As the trail descends toward the tram road, take a moment to view the Galen Clark Tree, and then follow the old steep road a half mile up to Wawona Point for a spectacular view of Wawona Valley and Wawona Dome. Down below you can see the park road, the Wawona Hotel, and it's neighboring golf course and meadow.

Head back down to the tram road and follow it the short distance to the fallen Wawona Tunnel Tree. This famous tree was the cause of many traffic jams in Mariposa Grove. A tunnel was built through the tree in 1881 to allow first stagecoaches and later cars to drive through it. The tree finally succumbed to gravity in the winter of 1969 at the age of around 2,200 years old. The hole cut into it made it too weak to withstand the brutal winter winds and heavy snows that year. Under where the tree lies, you can see the now abandoned road that used to run through it. Unfortunately, this same fate ultimately awaits California Tree in the lower grove.

Follow the trail across the tram road from the Tunnel Tree downhill now toward the museum. From the museum follow the signs toward the parking lot and Clothespin Tree. While not a miraculous encounter, Clothespin Tree is a fun sight to behold! True to it's name, fire has carved a giant hole into the middle of this tree, causing it to resemble a giant clothespin. From here continue to follow the trail back down to the parking lot.