FWIW Shadow of the Giants still closed

[John Kasaian]

The Shadow of the Giants trail in Nelder Grove outside of Yosemite remains closed due to the destruction caused by the 2017 Railroad fire.
Possibly reopening in May 2019 possibly.

[Drew Wiley]

Oh Gosh. I was at my ole store employer last week as they were finally getting near completion of the massive remodel after a fire a year ago. Found out the framed print of the Bull Buck Tree at Nelder Grove from my 8x10 had survived and would have a second life on one of the walls. It's the world's biggest tree according to "Forest Service rules" - measured diameter eight feet above ground; in other words, disqualifying anything like a bay fig tree with a massive above-ground root structure but more modest trunk diameter. But this also differs from the National Park Rule of cumulative board footage per tree, which gives the General Sherman tree in SEKI the world heavyweight title. Sadly, the Bull Buck Tree is the only highly mature giant sequoia still standing in Nelder Grove. All the others were cut down. But this one particular tree was so thick that nobody had a crosscut saw long enough to do the job. And those were some lonnnnnnng saws!

[John Kasaian]

Oh Gosh. I was at my ole store employer last week as they were finally getting near completion of the massive remodel after a fire a year ago. Found out the framed print of the Bull Buck Tree at Nelder Grove from my 8x10 had survived and would have a second life on one of the walls. It's the world's biggest tree according to "Forest Service rules" - measured diameter eight feet above ground; in other words, disqualifying anything like a bay fig tree with a massive above-ground root structure but more modest trunk diameter. But this also differs from the National Park Rule of cumulative board footage per tree, which gives the General Sherman tree in SEKI the world heavyweight title. Sadly, the Bull Buck Tree is the only highly mature giant sequoia still standing in Nelder Grove. All the others were cut down. But this one particular tree was so thick that nobody had a crosscut saw long enough to do the job. And those were some lonnnnnnng saws!

Good news Drew, the Bull Buck loop trail remains open! But even the road to Nelder is dicey now with so many trees ready to keel over. The good Winter we're having will probably help nudge more than a few of them over.

[Drew Wiley]

Oh my, my ... Yeah, I noted that when coming back from the Granite Creek country a couple years ago. Things still looked pretty good above 7000 ft, however.