| Mariposa Grove tips and photos posted by real travelers and Yosemite National Park locals.
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 giant sequoias, Mariposa
Grove by mrclay2000Leave a Comment
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 toppled sequoia by mrclay2000Leave a Comment
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Located less than 2 miles east of the south entrance to yosemite national park, mariposa grove is a must visit place in the park. With minimal hiking to do, there are several giant living fossil living in the grove. Approximately 500 giant sequoias are in the grove. These giant sequoias can live up to thousands of years.
One of the first you'll see is the "Fallen Monarch". It fell around 300 years ago and it still hasn't completely decayed yet. As you can see from the picture, these trees are HUMONGOUS! Hike a little east and you'll encounter the "Bachelor and three graces". After that it's the "Grizzly Giant" and "California Tunnel Tree". There are plenty more famous sequoias in the grove. It's about 1.6 miles from the parking lot to the Grizzly Giant and California Tunnel Tree. With an hour or two of hiking, you can enjoy and appreciate these living monuments!
When you think these giants are hard rock and deeply rooted, you're wrong! These are actually gentle and fragile creatures. Touch one and you know what I mean. The bark is very spongy, not as hard as I thought it would be. And the roots are very shallow. They require a lot of delicate balancing in their life time. Please take care and give them the respect they deserve.
If you're too lazy to hike, there are tram tours available in the grove.
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From the Galen Clark Tree, a sign reads "Wawona Point .5 mile". The trail leads gently up to Wawona Point, elevation 6810. The wide view from the point encompasses Wawona Meadow down below, as well as the South Fork Merced River, Wawona Dome, and the Chowchilla Mountains. Best of all, you'll probably be at this viewpoint alone, without the crowds. Most everyone else has either stopped at the end of the lower grove, or at the museum in the upper grove. Be sure to sit for a while and soak in the silence. Although the view here was not quite up to par with Glacier Point, it is still very wonderful and it is one of my favorite places in the park. Leave a Comment
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From the Mariposa Grove Museum, a short 1/4-mile nature loop trail leads through a meadow and many giant sequoias. This trail is often empty of people but full of sights. While walking this short path, take the time to appreciate your surroundings; the wildlife, the trees, the meadows, the streams flowing around you. Notice that the upper grove is basically confined in a small basin between two low ridges. Interpretive signs along the trail will tell much of the story of this sequoia forest; how it benefits from fire, the sequoia's weaknesses, and its strenghs. Leave a Comment
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 by sunnywongLeave a Comment Other Contact: For more pics, please visit my Y
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On an alternate trail from the Mariposa Grove Museum back to the Lower Grove parking area, you'll find two rarely visited trees: The Clothespin and the Faithful Couple. The Clothespin is a giant sequoia that has been badly burned many times, creating a natural tunnel in its trunk. The hole is actually large enough for a car to drive through (the size of the tunnel in my photo doesn't show how big the it really is). The Faithful Couple, about 0.2 miles away, is a pair of giant sequoias that began growing very close to each other and eventually merged at their bases. Leave a Comment
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Mariposa grove was so extraordinary. You rarely experience trees of this magnitude. Unfortunately, it was raining when we went and did not have alot of time to wander.
However, we got a good idea of the grove and will definately put this region first when we come back.
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 Galen Clark Tree by chewy3326Leave a Comment
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This was one of my favorite activities in Yosemite. You've heard of the famous sequoias and redwoods of California - giant sequoias are native only in isolated groups on the western slope of the central and southern Sierra Nevada. It's hard to appreciate their towering majesty until you stand among a forest full of such marvels of nature. They're really unbelievable. You'll feel Lilliputian at the foot of such a tree, looking up...simply surreal.
The easiest and most convenient way to reach the Mariposa Grove is by free shuttle from the Wawona Hotel. If you insist on driving there though, you should plan to arrive in early morning or mid-afternoon. The parking lot fills up quickly.
There is both an Upper and Lower Grove in the Mariposa Grove. All the trails in the Grove are uphill, so it's a good idea to consider riding the tram in between...tickets are around $10 and worth it. After exploring the Upper Grove, you can either reboard the tram, or hike down to the Grizzly Giant which is the famous 2,7000 year old sequoia - the oldest in the park and maybe in the entire country.
At this point, you can either reboard the tram at the Grizzly Giant, or hike down to the parking lot. The full hike from the Upper Grove to the parking lot is 2.5 miles - around 2 or 3 hours. The hike from the Grizzly Giant to the parking lot is just under a mile, and along the way you'll see all kinds of towering sequoias that comprise the Lower Grove.
If you have time for only one hike in the Grove, this is the one. Leave a Comment
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