Following Moccasin Steps

The “grinding rock”--a 173-foot length of bedrock indented with 1,185 mortar cups--is something to behold when you are in the foothills of the High Sierra. If you let your imagination go a bit, you can conjure a whole Native American village at work.

The Miwok gathered acorns when they ripened in autumn and stored them in large granaries. The acorns were cracked and shelled, then ground with stone pestles in the mortar holes, or chaw’se, into flour. The acorn meal was then cooked on hot rocks.

Evidence of the Miwok, whose ancestral territory centered on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada and ranged over to the San Francisco Bay Area, has been discovered in numerous locales--and in such state parks as China Camp and Olompali. But here around the grinding rock, in the Sierra foothills, it’s easiest to envision how they lived. Miwok crafts are on display in the park’s excellent Chaw’se Regional Indian Museum. On the grounds are replicas of the Miwok’s sturdy bark houses and a roundhouse, a traditional ceremonial gathering spot and now a meeting place for several Native American groups.

Two short trails explore the park. North Trail (one mile round trip) begins near the museum. It follows a low ridge and loops back to the reconstructed Miwok village.

At the village, you can join South Nature Trail or return to the museum via a more direct route past the ceremonial roundhouse.

South Nature Trail (a half-mile loop) is a self-guided interpretive path keyed to a park pamphlet. As you tour meadowland, oak woods, and stands of sugar pine and ponderosa pine, you’ll learn how the Miwok collected and used the bountiful local vegetation.

Directions to trail head: From California 49 in Jackson (northeast of Stockton), head east nine miles to the hamlet of Pine Grove. Turn left and travel 1 1/2 miles to Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park. There’s ample parking near the museum/visitor center.

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South Nature Trail WHERE: Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park, High Sierra foothills DISTANCE: 1 mile round trip TERRAIN: Pine and oak woodland HIGHLIGHTS: Grinding rocks and mortar cups the Miwok called chaw’se. DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY: Easy FOR MORE INFORMATION: Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park, 14881 Pine Grove-Volcano Road, Pine Grove, CA 95995; tel. (209) 296-7488.