VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS
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Calaveras Big Trees
Virtual Field Trip: 1
THE CALAVERAS BIG TREES: It is a journey to a different age. Upon entrance, you are instantly enveloped in an ageless, majestic cocoon. It is one of the most breathtaking spots in the world - This is The Calaveras Big Trees State Park. Join me for a Virtual Field Trip that examines the history of the Calaveras Big Trees, a legacy of wonder and sadness. A Virtual Tour Contemporary Photographs by Gary Noy The journey begins here. Located about twenty-five miles northeast of Angels Camp along California Highway 4, Calaveras Big Trees State Park is 6,000 acres of lush woodlands, the rapidly flowing North Fork of the Stanislaus River, and most importantly, two groves of majestic "Big Trees" - the Giant Sequoias. . The most spectacular specimens are located in two locations within the park. The first spot is the North Grove, which is just a few feet off the highway. Our virtual field trip will be here. There is also the South Grove which is not as easy to visit as the North Grove, but is well worth the walk. Much more primitive, the South Grove has some of the largest trees in the park and is much more of a "wilderness encounter." 2. Big Trees VFT 2 An excellent first stop is the Calaveras Big Trees State Park Visitors Center. It provides an informative introduction to the history and natural history of the park. Here you will find out a great deal about these massive trees, which are among the oldest living things on earth. The Big Trees may have been at this location since dinosaurs wandered the earth. Some of the present trees in the park are at least 3000 years old. These extraordinary trees range from 250 to 300 in height. The trunks often have girths in excess of thirty feet. 3. Big Trees VFT 3 Scholars and artists have been fascinated by the Big Trees for decades and commentators have often commented on the majesty and wonder of the Calaveras Big Trees. And with good reason. In 1876, John Muir wrote of the value of the site, "To the free mountaineer all the woods are accessible alike from the firs that girdle icy Shasta to the giant forests of the Tule; but the … timebound must follow ways and means, and I know of none better than those of Calaveras … a flowery glade in the very heart of the woods, forming a fine center for the student, and a delicious resting place for the weary." 4. Big Trees VFT 4 "A Guide to the Calaveras North Grove Trail" can be purchased at the park for 50 cents. The guide provides a comprehensive description of the history and natural history of the Big Trees North Grove. 5. Big Trees VFT 5 Credit for the first "discovery" of the Giant Sequoia groves is generally given to Augustus Dowd in 1852. However, an entry in John Bidwell's 1841 diary mentions "an enormous fallen tree." And a tree found in the park has the carved graffiti "L.M. Wooster June 1850." Of course, native Californians had most likely seen the trees long before these dates as well. Suffice it to say, the Big Trees have been an attraction for a long, long time. The park is considered the longest continuously operated tourist attraction in California history. This "Discovery Tree" was the first tree seen by Big Trees "discoverer" Augustus Dowd in 1852. This depiction of the tree was drawn from life by Joseph Lapham, an early owner of the grove. 6. Big Trees VFT 6 The Discovery Tree Stump marks a tragic episode in Big Trees History. In 1853, the first tree Augustus Dowd spied in his "discovery" of the Big Trees in 1852 was cut down. The tree was over 25 feet in diameter and more than 300 feet tall. It took 22 days to fell the tree, but the perfectly symmetrical tree did not fall for several days. The stump was leveled off and made into a dance floor. John Muir was so incensed by this outrage that he penned an article entitled The Vandals then Danced Upon the Stump! In 1900, Muir made a further comment: "The wrongs done to trees, wrongs of every sort, are done in the darkness of ignorance and unbelief, for when light comes, the heart of the people is always right. Forty-seven years ago one of these Calaveras king sequoias was laboriously cut down, that the stump might be had for a dancing floor. Another, one of the finest in the grove, more than three hundred feet high, was skinned alive to a height of one hundred and sixteen feet from the ground and the bark sent to London to show how fine and big that Calaveras tree was - as sensible a scheme as skinning our great men would be to prove their greatness." 7. Big Trees VFT 7 Another view of the Discovery Tree Stump. 8. Big Trees VFT 8 An early drawing showing the Discovery Tree Stump dance floor. The lithograph caption reads: The Stump and Trunk of the MAMMOTH TREE of Calaveras. Showing a Cotillion Party of Thirty-two Persons Dancing on the Stump at one time." 9. Big Trees VFT 9 In 1856, a pavilion was constructed over the stump and a ladder allowed a portion of the fallen tree (nicknamed "The Chip") to be scaled. 10. Big Trees VFT 10 This 1860s drawing of the Discovery Tree Pavilion also shows the saloon and bowling alley that were constructed on top of the fallen giant. 11. Big Trees VFT 11 The Big Trees Trail meanders for a mile through the majestic North Grove. The trail has wooden walkways and dirt paths. A separate trail called "The Three Senses Trail" allows the visitor to touch, taste, and smell the Big Trees. 12. Big Trees VFT 12 Edwin Markham, prominent 19th century poet and philosopher, once remarked: "Let us be reverent a little as we stand here in the hush of these leafy sanctuaries - be reverent a little, if reverence in this age is possible. These great trees belong to the silences and millenniums. Many of them have seen more than a hundred of our human generations rise, and give out their little clamors and perish. They chide our pettiness, they rebuke our impiety. They seem, indeed, to be forms of immortality standing here among the transitory shapes of time." 13. Big Trees VFT 13 Sometimes the Big Trees Trail can be very dusty, particularly in summer. Here this huge log, estimated to be from a Sequoia that weighed more than 2,600 tons, has been decorated by the footprints of adventurous children. 14. Big Trees VFT 14 A mammoth specimen of the Big Trees. This tree has a base diameter of 30 feet, even at 50 feet above ground the diameter is still almost 20 feet. The emotional feeling is strong. As Colonel J.L.L. Warren wrote in 1857: "No description we can give could convey … the wonder and awe which one is impressed, when standing beneath these giant trees; a feeling creeps upon you of inexpressible reverence for these trees, and one does not wish to speak aloud, but rather be silent and think." 15. Big Trees VFT 15 Even in the 19th century, a visit to the Big Trees required a photograph at the base of one of these gargantuan trees. 16. Big Trees VFT 16 The "Father of the Forest" is the remnant of a tree that fell to earth centuries ago, but the decaying process is slow due to the chemical composition of the Sequoia. This tree is hollow and a trail detours through the tree. The steps shown lead into the hollow giant. 17. Big Trees VFT 17 The "Father of the Forest" in the 1870s. 18. Big Trees VFT 18 A hideous snag that resulted from greedy humanity. This is the enormous charred stump of a Giant Sequoia that had its bark removed in 1854. In that year, George Gale had 116 feet of bark stripped from one of the largest trees, which was named "Mother of the Forest." This Herculean task took four workers a total of twenty-one days to accomplish. The bark was then reassembled as a traveling exhibit. The show was designed to prove the existence of these gigantic wonders and to make some money, of course. The display was presented throughout the United States and ultimately ended up in England. In London, the tree bark was exhibited in a glass case in the Crystal Palace. A fire destroyed the display in 1866. Today the only memory of this event is this tree stump, standing like a broken tooth deep in the North Grove. 19. Big Trees VFT 19 An advertisement for London's Crystal Palace display showing the bark stripping process. 20. Big Trees VFT 20 The "Pioneer Cabin Tree" was carved into a tunnel to compete with the Wawona Tunnel Tree in Yosemite. It was chosen due to its wide base and giant fire scar. The tree is slowly dying due to this tunneling. The "Pioneer Cabin Tree" can no longer support its top growth, which falls nearby. The tree is now less resistant to fire as well. 21. Big Trees VFT 21 The "Pioneer Cabin Tree" in the 1870s. 22. Big Trees VFT 22 One of the last stops on the North Grove Big Trees Trail is this majestic clump of trees. A platform has been constructed to let the visitor close to the Sequoia trunk. The person in the foreground gives some sense of the scale of these beautiful organisms. One cannot help but echo the sentiments of Hutching's California Magazine, which wrote in 1859: "Could these magnificent and venerable forest giants of Calaveras county be gifted with a descriptive historical tongue, we could doubtless learn of many wonderful changes that have taken place in California within the last 3,000 years!" Interested in an Actual Field Trip? Location: On Highway 4 about 23 miles northeast of Angels Camp and four miles northeast of the town of Arnold Admission: $6 per car, plenty of parking and easily accessible facilities Open: Sunrise to Sunset, everyday Affiliation: Calaveras Big Trees State Park is part of the California State Park System Calaveras Big Trees State Park charges a nominal admission fee of $6 per car and rangers are on hand to provide valuable assistance. Calaveras Big Trees State Park is open every day, sunrise to sunset. Other attractions in the Park include the Stanislaus River, Beaver Creek, the Lava Bluff Trail and Bradley Trail. The Park also houses two main campgrounds with a total of 129 campsites, six picnic areas and hundreds of miles of established trails. Activities include cross-country skiing, evening ranger talks, numerous interpretive programs, environmental educational programs, junior ranger programs, hiking, mountain biking, bird watching and summer school activities for school children. Calaveras Big Trees State Park  |