Mariposa Grove
If you are an avid reader of the blog, you may have noticed my wife and I have not posted a trip report in quite a bit. We usually at least go to Yosemite National Park every winter for a back country snowshoe camping trip. But this last winter we had some other things on our minds.... We had our first baby arrive in March!
After we got the go ahead from our doctor we started hiking with our little one as soon as we could. Luckily for us he absolutely loved it! I love seeing his joy outside enjoying fresh air on the trail! Since our little guy loved hiking with us, we decided to plan our first road trip with him from San Diego to Yosemite National Park. Nothing like a family road trip with a newborn for some epic family bonding time! This article will be mostly about hiking Mariposa Grove, but if you are interested in tips for hiking or road tripping with a newborn I wrote another article that focuses on that. Check out that article here.
Having only been to Yosemite in the Winter, this would be a new experience for myself as well. I know all the back country winter routes in Yosemite but was by far not an expert of Yosemite in the Spring and I knew I had to reach out to some experts for some suggestions. There is an amazing Outdoor Community on Blue Sky called Park Chat, and they actually host weekly National Park chats every Wednesday night at 9PM Eastern time. One of the amazing members (MountainsCalling.me) recommended that my wife and I check out Mariposa Grove with our little one, and we are so glad we listened to the advice!
Mariposa Grove Overview
Mariposa Grove is a grove of Sequoiadendron Giganteum... also known as Giant Sequoia Trees which are the largest trees on earth! According to the Yosemite National Park website there are over 500 mature Sequoia Trees in the grove itself.
Mariposa Grove is also home to the Grizzly Giant, the oldest Sequoia in Mariposa Grove estimated to be around 3,000 years old!
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Mariposa Grove Road is not open all year round due to snowy weather conditions and when it is open it is only open to individuals with a disability placard. If you are like me and are not disabled there is a bus you can take to Mariposa Grove from the Mariposa Grove Welcome Plaza. Before planning your trip to Mariposa Grove make sure to check out the Yosemite National Park Website for current conditions and access.
Mariposa Grove Trail Map
Mariposa Grove has a lot of different paths and trails to explore, the main paths are:
- Big Trees Loop Trail
- Grizzly Giant Loop Trail
- Guardians Loop Trail
- Mariposa Grove Trail
With all the trails cris crossing and going in different directions you can kind of choose your own adventure here, just make sure you bring a detailed map so you don't get lost and turned around. For our trip we started off on the main Mariposa Grove Trail, then veered off to the Perimeter trail up towards. We took the Perimeter Trail north until we go to the Guardians Loop and went clockwise around the loop before heading back down towards where the busses dropped us off. Basically took the Mariposa Grove Trail most of the way back.
You can check out the app above for detailed viewing and or downloading on Caltopo here.
Mariposa Grove Hiking Gear List
For this hike my wife and I carried just over 40 pounds between the two of us, which is a lot for a day hike but we were also carrying a 2 month old baby, his diapers, some toys and I really like photography and that gear isn't super light.... basically it added up quickly!
Hiking Mariposa doesn't really take any special gear to be honest. The trails are in pretty good shape and a good section is actually like a board walk. Additionally there is a bathroom near the Giant Sequoia Grove so you probably don't need any bathroom tools either. One item I was glad I took was a 360 video camera. The trees are so big they can be hard to photograph and the 360 video footage was a lot of fun! As always pack layers for quickly changing weather!
You can check out our full packs at this link here.
Mariposa Grove Trail Guide
The night before our hike we stayed in Oakhurst California just outside the South Gate of Yosemite National Park. From Oakhurst it is about a half hour drive to the Mariposa Grove Welcome Plaza. If you are not disabled this is where you will have to park and board a bus to take up the road to the trail head.
Technically you do not have to take the bus up to the trailhead, you could take Washburn Trail to the Mariposa Grove Trail Head but this will add another 1.87 miles (1 way) with about 500 ft of elevation gain. So essentially an extra 4 miles to your day if you don't take the bus up. This would probably have been wonderful but with a newborn we took the bus, and saved our legs for another big hike we had planned the next day. We wanted to ease our new one into our multi day Yosemite Trip.
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If you plan to go to Mariposa Grove the parking is limited at the Mariposa Grove Welcome Center, so make sure to get there early! We were a bit early in the season, because Mariposa Grove was actually just opened the day we drove to Yosemite from San Diego! So we arrived on day 2 and were lucky enough to grab a parking spot.
Once in line for the bus we probably waited 5 -10 minutes and jumped and even got a seat on the bus! They do pack the buses full so once the seats are full its standing room only!
Once off the bus we were immediately amazed at the first Giant Sequoia tree that we saw and quickly had to go take a picture next to it. The sheer size and circumference of these trees is just unfathomable. Living in San Diego and my little guy only being two months old he hasn't exactly seen a whole lot of proper trees... so now Giant Sequoias are a "Normal" tree for him...
As we headed towards the main path which was extremely well taken care of towards the Grizzly Giant, I was in awe of all the greenery. Having only been to Yosemite in the winter, this was an entirely new side of the park for me to experience. At first I was a little skeptical of being around more people on the trail, but the deeper we got into the grove the more the crowds thinned out. Additionally we were fortunate that this was literally the second day Mariposa Grove was open this year so it was probably even less crowded then the heat of summer, so we were pretty fortunate.
As we continued walking we quickly came to the main attraction at Mariposa Grove which is the Grizzly Giant! A number of years ago I made it to Sequoia National Park, but I never actually explored their Giant Sequoias. I was starting my High Sierra Trail hike there and basically parked and jumped right on the trail. I always look back on that and wish I had made time to explore the gigantic Sequoias. Since I didn't explore much there, the Grizzly Giant here in Yosemite National Park is by far the biggest tree I have ever seen in my life!
As you approach the Grizzly Giant, the path is perfectly straight leading to its base so you have a perfectly straight view as you approach it. From afar it may look like a big tree but you are still so far for your brain to fully comprehend its size. Each step closer to the Giant Sequoia slowly brings it into perspective as your brain slowly starts to realize the sheer size of this living organism. Along the path everyone will be stopping to take pictures and a good crowd will be at the base all waiting in turn to take selfies with the giant tree.
As we approached the tree I noticed the gigantic circumference of the Grizzly Giant, but what really blew me away was the gigantic size of the tree's upper limbs and branches. To me it looked like the Grizzly Giant was a gym rat and worked out regularly, the circumference of its branches was insane! To me it looked like full sized normal trees were just popping out of its trunk almost defying gravity.
Being the shadow of this great tree with a 2 month old baby we didn't wait around in the line at the front to take a selfie at the base of the tree. We decided to look for a quiet place to change the little one and get him fed. As we walked around the base along the path, we noticed pretty much no one was at the rear of the tree. Everyone seemed to stop in awe at the front, take their pictures and move on. Towards the back there were a couple wooden benches that were a perfect spot to sit in the shade of the Grizzly Giant as we changed a diaper and fed our baby. It may not have been the front of the tree (Do trees even have fronts?) but it was a nice mostly private place to enjoy the beauty ourselves.
After a good break at the base of the Grizzly Giant we continued on towards the Guardian Loop via the Perimeter Trail. The Perimeter trail was definitely not the main more well traveled trail and was a nice break to get some alone time on the trail with our little family and nature. We saw pretty much just one other family on the trail the entire hike up to the Mariposa Grove Cabin.
As we followed the perimeter trail it dumped out right into Guardians Loop near the Mariposa Grove Cabin. We stopped here for another rest to eat some snacks, and feed the baby. While we were here we decided we had to measure our little one and see how his growth was going:
After a short rest and some delicious trail snacks we continued clockwise around the Guardian Loop. We originally wanted to make it out to Wawona Point before turning back but it was starting to get later in the day and we were moving a bit slower with our little one due to scheduled diaper changing and feedings. Instead we took the shorter trail towards Wawona Tunnel tree before starting to head back.
The Wawona Tunnel tree used to be a major attraction at Mariposa Grove which opened in the early 1900s and allowed tourists to drive their cars through a tunnel at the base of the gigantic tree. Sadly the tree fell in 1969 due to a heavy snowy winter. The tree now on its side is still quite the site to see!
This section of Mariposa Grove exploring the Guardian loop was my favorite area. I got the sense a lot of people quickly stopped at Mariposa Grove for a photo op with the Grizzly Giant and most were not making the trek past. Hopefully next time we make it out to Wawona Lookout ourselves!
Hiking beneath all the Giant Sequoia Trees you may forget to look down towards the ground. It is very easy to just strain your neck and continue looking up at these gigantic beasts. If you look down towards the ground hiking around here you may be lucky to catch the odd but beautiful looking snow plant. And no it's not white as snow, it's bright red!
The snow plant is pretty crazy. It can't convert sunlight to energy like most plant life and gets its nutrients by connecting to other plants' roots. What's cool is that it doesn't kill its "host" it actually takes a little sugar but in return helps protect it! The Wikipedia article is worth a quick read!
On our hike back towards the bus pick up location we traveled back along the Main Mariposa Grove trail instead of the Perimeter trail this time. Since we took the Perimeter trail on the wait out we missed a few of the main attraction Sequoia trees, like the Clothespin Tree, the Faithful Couple and the California Tunnel Tree. By this time those main attraction trees were slightly less crowded, except for the California Tunnel tree. There was always a line of hikers taking pictures with it!
