Calaveras Big Trees State Park - South Grove

Date 2011-08-14
Distance 8.3 km5.1 mi
Duration 2h:25m
Photos 35

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This was a very pretty hike, 3 miles north of Arnold, CA.  We decided to try this after viewing chris' trip.
 The giant sequoias were amazing.  There were scenic streams and foot
bridges. The trail was a little dusty, but very well groomed.  Should be
great for hikers of all ages (and we saw them).  We arrived with a flat
tire and chose to do our hike first and then change tire after.  Turns
out that our spare needed air and we didn't have any cell phone
reception.  We were just deciding our next steps when a park ranger
drove up with a portable compressed air pump.  He said another park
visitor saw our flat and alerted them on their way out. Talk about
service!  I wasn't happy with my android phone (aka, GPS camera),
because it malfunctioned geotagging the photos.  So I had to manually
place about half of the pics, but you get the idea.

We tried to follow Google Maps to the coordinates of the trail start.
 This led to turn off of CA-4 on Moran Road.  That was a mistake.  This
route had us take an immediate left on Upper Moran Rd.  This turned out
to be a private road that was blocked off.  So we turned around and got
back on CA-4 East and drove a few miles more to the Park entrance. After
paying the $8.00 at the entrance it was an 8.3 mile drive to the South
Grove parking area.

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