Giant Sequoias Bring Isolated Majesty to the Trails

California’s giant sequoias, reduced over millions of years by ecological and climatic changes, and further reduced by logging, survive today only in isolated groves on the Sierra Nevada’s western slope.

Isolated, that is, from their fellow sequoias, not from the thousands of travelers who come to see them in the summer. Autumn, however, when fewer travelers are on the road and even fewer are on the trail, brings back that sense of isolation to these magnificent trees, particularly those in Tuolumne and Merced groves in Yosemite National Park.

Tuolomne Grove: In days of old, Yosemite visitors drove Big Oak Flat Road right up to the towering sequoias of Tuolumne Grove. Now paved, six-mile-long “Old” Big Oak Flat Road is closed to vehicle traffic, and travelers must walk a mile to admire the grove.

Tuolumne Grove’s modern orientation to foot travelers extends to its most famed attraction: Dead Giant. This gargantuan sequoia stump was tunneled in 1878 so that horse-drawn wagons, and later automobiles, could drive through it. Nowadays Dead Giant is a “walk through” tree.

Travelers from around the world hike to Tuolumne Grove, and you may hear exclamations of wonder in many languages. However, the steep return climb from the grove is often more hike than these visitors expected, and the sentiments expressed on the way back are best left untranslated.

Hike through a mixed forest on the paved road. After descending for a mile you’ll be welcomed to Tuolumne Grove by a sign; two more minutes of walking bring you to the first giant sequoias.

A signed right fork leads to the Dead Giant. Walk on through and descend to a picnic area situated close to more huge sequoias. From the picnic area, a 0.25-mile-long dirt tail loops through the tall trees. Elevation gain is 500 feet.

Access: Tuolumne Grove is in the Crane Flat area of the park. The trail head is located off Tioga Road 0.5 mile north of its intersection with Big Oak Flat Road.

Merced Grove: Tucked into a remote western pocket of the park, Merced Grove is by far the least visited of Yosemite’s sequoia groves. By tree count (20 or so) it’s the smallest grove, and it requires the longest walk to reach it.

Thus the hiker looking for solitude among the sequoias might just find it in Merced Grove, or at least be assured that the trail will be shared with only a few kindred spirits.

The path to the grove is a dirt road, one of the first carriage roads created during the early horse-and-buggy days of the national park. In later years, grove visitors drove their autos down the road.

Now the road is only for hikers. Park rangers haven’t posted any interpretive signs or built any facilities in the grove, so a hiker comes away with the same feeling of wonder that the grove’s first visitors might have had.

Actually, the national park service did build one structure in the grove long ago--a log cabin. The Russell Cabin or Merced Grove Cabin, as it’s sometimes called, served as a ranger station and as an occasional retreat for the park superintendent. Though the cabin is in fine shape, it’s boarded up and not currently used.

The fairly level road travels through a mixed forest. At first, tree lovers are apt to cringe when they look to the west and see many fire-destroyed trees.

However, the tree vistas soon improve. At the half-mile mark you’ll reach a signed junction, fork left and begin a steep descent among an inspiring mixture of ponderosa pine, sugar pine, incense cedar and white fir.

After a mile’s descent from the junction (elevation gain 400 feet), you’ll reach the first sequoias--half a dozen fine specimens located to the right of the road. A tiny creek trickles between two of the giants.

Walk a few more minutes down the road to the old ranger cabin and more inspiring tall trees.

Access: From the junction of California Highway 120, Tioga Road and Big Oak Flat Road (also Highway 120), proceed west on the latter road 3.7 miles (that’s 3.5 miles past Crane Flat Campground) to the signed turnout for Merced Grove on the left (south) side of the road. The signed trail departs from the parking area.

John McKinney is the author of “Day Hiker’s Guide to California’s State Parks” (Olympus Press, $14.95).

Tuolumne Grove Trail, Merced Grove Trail

WHERE: Yosemite National Park.

DISTANCE: From Tioga Road to Tuolomne Grove is 2.5 miles round trip with 500-foot elevation gain; from Highway 120 to Merced Grove is 3 miles round trip with 400-foot elevation gain. TERRAIN: Isolated sequoia groves.

HIGHLIGHTS: Dead Giant, a walk-Through Tree, plus many memorable living giant sequoias.

DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY: Easy.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Yosemite National Park, P.O. Box 577, Yosemite National Park, CA 95389; tel. (209) 372-0200.