Giant sequoia / redwood advice

[Ulophot]

A trip to Yosemite in the late spring -- probably the only time we'll get to the West Coast from VA -- offers a chance to see the big trees. However, we'll have a week, probably flying into SF or San Jose and rent a car, but not wish to head north from there to the old-growth forest at the top of the state. We have someone to visit briefly in Carmel. It's possible we'll go south as far as LA to see some folks, but that's a long poke.

I would like suggestions for the best place(s) to see some of the giants, considering our general whereabouts. I can't really tell from the park websites I find, other than a few that note their trees being much younger adn hterefore not what we're looking for. I will not be photographing, just taking in the wonders. I see Big Basin, Sequoia National Park, Calveras state park. Sequoia might offer a meandering trip down through wonderful country.

We may be too late to reserve a room in Yosemite. Drew W. here suggested El Portal or Mariposa. Any favorites in or out of the park, and/or favorite restaurants without loud music? We're not bar people.

Thanks.

[Drew Wiley]

Hi again. There are two completely different species of redwoods. The coastal redwoods are the tallest trees on earth. Most of the remaining old growth ones are in the far northwestern edge of the State, like in Redwood National Park. Unfortunately, most of Big Basin well to the south, and about two hours north of Carmel, is closed due to all the forest fire impact of the past few years. Likewise, there was quite a bit of damage to the Big Sur redwoods just south of Carmel, though a daytrip that direction is always worthwhile unless landslides have affected Highway 1. Pt Lobos is also there just south of Carmel, with its lovely cypress trees,tidepools, sea otters etc. It's less crowded in the mornings.

The roads to the two giant sequoia groves within Yosemite NP itself appear to have been repaired, and each are about half an hour's drive above the Valley itself; but what snow conditions will be like on those roads at the time is harder to predict. The Calaveras Grove is on a different highway well to the north (about a 4 hour detour at least), and again, subject to Spring snow conditions. The best chance would be in Sequoia National Park itself around Grant Grove, provided there isn't a major snowstorm there too. They generally keep the road open that far year-long; but some of the other roads are still under repair, with that activity closed for the Winter. The drive through the hills from Yosemite to Sequoia will be slow and winding up and down steep canyons, but beautiful that time of year. The quicker way is to simply drop down to the Central Valley and take freeway 99 south past Fresno until the Sequoia NP exit. I'd allow 2 extra days if you plan to visit Sequoia. Otherwise, on a tight schedule, just hope to visit one of the groves in Yosemite itself. The nearest one is near Crane Flat slightly north of Yosemite Valley. But the trees are not as immense as those in Sequoia - big enough, however, if you've never seen one.

[Mark J]

Having been in both areas, I'd put in another vote for Sequoia NP, which has more potential variety of shots and light conditions. The trees are just stupidly big of course !

[Mark Sampson]

Perhaps our friend Vaughn will see this, and add some of his deep knowledge of this subject.
I'd like to visit those trees too, but it won't be this year.

[Drew Wiley]

There are two notable groves in between Yosemite and Sequoia NF, within Sierra NF, both currently impacted by road damage from the harsh winter last year, or otherwise snowed in. The world's largest diameter tree is in one of them, and mostly known only to locals. The General Sherman Tree in Sequoia NP is the world's largest surviving tree in terms of cumulative board footage volume, but not according to diameter.

Many of the groves in the Sequoia NF area suffered serious impact from recent fires more extreme than anything evident in the past several thousand years. They survived many ground fires, but this past event had flames so high it ignited their crowns a couple hundred feet up, where they don't have thick fire-resistant bark. It is estimated that around 20% of all old growth Sequoias in existence perished in that single incident.

Over on the coast, many of the old redwoods in Big Basin survived, but much of the surrounding forest was devastated, and nearly all the Park infrastructure is gone and still needs to be replaced. So that has remained closed off. And right now, with strong Pineapple Express rainstorms coming in, there is significant mudslide risk. Just north of SF and the Golden Gate there are plenty of pretty redwood groves, but they're all second growth after 19th C logging. I know of exactly one local old growth tree still standing, so malformed that the loggers ignored it, but visible if you don't mind risking some poison oak to get to it. There are still giant stumps around too.

Coastal redwoods are exceptionally fast growing, so constitute lovely forest even when just a century old. Many are outright farmed for sake of timber. But if you have the opportunity, seeing some of the remaining true old growth forest way further north is certainly worthwhile. That area is a long full day's drive north of SF, or even slower if you take the more scenic route of Hwy 1.

Further south, in the Big Sur area, many redwoods were lost due to a deliberate fire, with a drug dealer burning down his cabin back in the woods when he heard rumors of the FBI about to raid it. He got caught. Thousands of years of tree growth down the drain in just a few days.

[John Kasaian]

The Tenaya Lodge and the Narrow Guage Inn in Fish Camp is an easy drive into Mariposa Grove. The iconic Wawona Hotel is even closer, and there are rental cabins available at Moores Redwoods, which is also in the 'hood. If you want to do Mariposa Grove during tourist season prepare to drive in at zero dark thirty, as last year the traffic backed up at the South Gate for miles even mid-week.
With the return of entrance reservations this year, it'll probably improve, but who knows?

I haven't been up to Nelder Grove in the Sierra National Forest recently so I don't know what survived in the fire, but Nelder is far less visited. A good base camp for Nelder would be in Oakhurst.

Seqouia and Kings Canyon are better options during tourist season.

[AnalogAngler]

Not much time but couple thoughts for you:

Calavaras Big Trees State Park which you mendioned is very good for a small park, and usually less busy than YNP, especially on weekdays. Interesting studies of "what not to do", but also still some grand trees and nice walks. Might be a good northernly starting point.

There are actually 3 groves of Sequioas in Yosemite NP - Mariposa is the biggest and most-visited, Tuolumne and Merced further north are a little smaller, less visited, with slightly longer walk to get to the trees, but still worth it in my opinion. Merced grove has had some work done recently which closed the trail/grove for a time, and which may be restarting this spring.

If you just want to see big trees, there is far more on offer at Sequoa National Park.

Strongly suggest checking the park websites (nps.gov/yose - or nps.gov/seki) for details before going, as besides the ongoing work, you never know what natural disaster might have recently happened - i.e. last year Big Oak Flat road (Hwy 120 through the park) was closed for weeks, and spring is traditionally rock fall season.

Happy Trails

[Vaughn]

Perhaps our friend Vaughn will see this, and add some of his deep knowledge of this subject.
I'd like to visit those trees too, but it won't be this year.

I am in the direction the OP does not want to head to. The redwoods I hang around under are 300 to 350 miles north of San Fransisco.

[Drew Wiley]

John - access to the Nelder Grove is a mess due to not only adjacent wildfire, but due to the hard winter last year tearing up much of the road and destroying the old nearby docent cabin. The giant sequoias themselves survived. I suppose one could get in there 4WD, but they don't want campers around. Since the majority of that grove was cut down in the 1880's, with some trees still lying on the ground too big for them to even transport out, the main draw would be the Bull Buck Tree itself, which was simply too thick to realistically cut down. But back on a damaged dirt FS road, I wouldn't recommend a visit there in this case, nor the Calaveras Grove way out of the way to the north. It does remind me, however, to reprint my own 8X10 shot of the Bull Buck, since someone already took the only print I previously made.

An awful lot of the Wawona area was ravaged by forest fire. The ambiance might not be the same. And who knows what snow conditions will be like this year. I generally advise against going in the southern entrance. It's has the longest drive into the Valley, and the biggest backup at the entrance gate.
I've been over it hundreds of times, commuting from my place over Tioga Pass to the east side. I knew how to time it, generally leaving at 4 AM. And in mid-spring the drive up the Merced River from Mariposa might be a lot prettier, especially if the redbud is still in bloom.

I generally photographed in the McKinley Grove just uphill from my house on the Dinkey road; but that would be out of the way in this case too.

[Drew Wiley]

Interestingly, tonite there was a half hour PBS segment on Nelder Grove, filmed after the big fire, but prior to last year's extreme winter. The current docent appears to be either a niece or daughter in law of someone I went to school with. As per the Bull Buck tree itself - approximately 250 ft tall and over 30 ft in diameter, estimated 3000 yrs old.