Visiting Giants in Nature’s Stadium

These sequoias are off the beaten track. No roads come near. No tour buses, parking lots or crowds.

Maybe this isolation makes Muir Grove one of the most inspiring stands of big trees in Sequoia National Park. But it’s not that isolated. It’s an easy two-mile walk from the recently rehabilitated Dorst Creek Campground.

Still, because it’s a hike--not a highway--to the grove, few travelers take the time to walk to this magnificent stand of sequoias.

The sequoias, reduced over millions of years by ecological and climatic changes, and further reduced by logging, survive today only in isolated groves such as Muir Grove on the Sierra Nevada’s western slope. Certainly, sequoias are survivors. Some live 3,000 years or more, and many mature park specimens are 1,500 years old. A very thick (up to 2 feet) bark resists insects, disease and fire.

Beginning in 1860, people came to saw the big trees, not to see them. Grove upon grove of giant sequoias were toppled and milled into lumber. John Muir’s nature writing and newspapermen George Stewart, editor of the Visalia Delta, marshaled public opinion to form Sequoia and General Grant (the forerunner of Kings Canyon) national parks.

It’s altogether fitting that Muir Grove was named for the great naturalist. John Muir himself named the heart of the park “Giant Forest,” the area that preserves the greatest concentration of sequoias, and the one most familiar to park visitors.

Direction to trail head: From California 198 (Generals Highway) in the Giant Forest area of Sequoia National Park, drive northeast on the highway to Dorst Campground.

Locate the signed beginning of Muir Grove Trail near the Group Camp area of Dorst Campground. Look for a log bridge on the right side of the road.

The hike: Begin a mild descent through fir forest, soon following a tributary of Dorst Creek. The Dorst place names in these parts honor Capt. Joseph Dorst, leader of the cavalry troop stationed here to protect Sequoia and General Grant national parks after they were set aside in 1890.

Three-quarters of a mile out, the path ascends a quarter-mile up a rocky ridge. You’ll spot Muir Grove in the distance, then descend into and climb out of a canyon before reaching the grove.

The trail appears to continue but actually disappears a short distance after the grove.

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Muir Grove Trail

Where: Sequoia National Park

Distance: 4 miles round trip

Terrain: Hillside Sequoia forest

Highlights: Isolated grove off the tourist track

Degree of difficulty: Easy

For more information: Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, Three Rivers, CA 93271; (209) 565-3341.