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North Grove- Big Trees Trail

Big Trees with Big History

Trail on Big Trees Creek in Calaveras Big Trees State Park, Stanislaus NF, Sierra Nevada near Arnold, CA

The North Grove Trail, just off Route 4, is the main attraction of Calaveras Big Trees State Park. The grove has a low density of sequoias and is mostly a typical Sierra pine forest with a few sequoias scattered around. However, the pines are themselves fine-looking old-growth, straight and tall. The lodgepole pines, with their smooth tan-colored, perfectly cylindrical trunks, are especially attractive.

Typically for low elevation groves, North Grove has a very dense understory. Dogwood in particular is very common and tends to block the views at eye level, making the grove difficult to photograph; you have to look up above the understory to see the sequoias. Above the understory, though, the grove is actually quite open and bright.