Kevin by some "Big Trees"
Norvina and I set out for Calaveras Big Trees State Park early on Saturday, May 4. I was excited because I'd finally talked her into going camping with me (she's not big on camping). I was a bit nervous about not having reservations, but the ranger on the phone had assured me that would be no problem. After a short 3 hour drive through the Central Vally and up the mountain, we arrived at the park.
The first thing we did was go find a campsite at North Grove Campground. As the ranger had promised, there were plenty of spots available. We chose a site near one of bathrooms with flush toilets and showers (the bathrooms nearest the visitor center have plumbing, while the sites farther away only have pit toilets). It even had a water faucet. The campground is very nice...it forms a circle around a big meadow, and the sites are all in the trees. The one bummer is that the sites on the NorthWest side are near the highway, so car noise can be a bit annoying during the day. At night however, we didn't even notice it. The sites on the South side of the campground seemed to be the "family" area that weekend.
Anyway, after setting up the tent, buying firewood, and having lunch (BBQ hot dogs), we headed out on the flat, 1 mile North Grove Big Trees Trail, a self-guiding loop through the North Grove of trees. We'd barely started the trail before I stopped by some nice big trees for a picture.
A little further along the trail, we came to the Pioneer Cabin Tree. This tree is a prime example of mankind's thoughtlessness when it comes to nature, as you can see the nice big tunnel that had been bored out of the trunk. The sign nearby explains that this was done so people could drive cars through the tree to show off it's size. Nowadays, the tunnel is used for the trail.
We continued on the trail as it meandered through the grove. At the NorthEast end of the grove (and the farthest part of the trail) is the Mother-of-the-Forest Tree. Sadly, this is yet another example of stupid people... Years ago, the bark was stripped off the tree so that a travelling exhibit could be made. The bark was shipped to Europe, where it was reassembled (minus the actual tree) so people could see (and believe) how big the "Big Trees" really were. The tree still stands, but looks very odd.
As the trail turned and started heading back toward the campground, we came to a huge fallen tree, known as the Father-of-the-Forest Tree. The tree is so big that you can walk through it's hollowed-out center.
| Calaveras Big Trees State Park | Next |
| webmaster@muddybike.com | Northern Sierra Camping | Copyright © 2002 Kevin Sage |