Placer Big Trees (Placer County, California)

The vast majority of the Giant Sequoia exist in groves stretching south from Yosemite National Park to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. Some months ago, I read of a tiny grove in Placer County, which is by far the northernmost area in which these mighty giants live. I've visited many of the other groves and decided to make the drive "over the hill" from Reno towards Auburn, CA.

The drive to the grove heads about 40 miles east of Auburn, along narrow mountainside roads traversing the giant valleys of the American River, including driving over the tallest bridge in California. A number of sections of Mosquito Ridge road have been partially washed out, presumably by the heavy snows this winter and subsequent melt. 

Finally reaching the trailhead, I embark on a short hike through the woods. A number of large trees occupy this forest. Notably, a gigantic douglas-fir rises near four young sequoia. The fir is significantly larger than any of these young trees, but with luck these toddlers will survive and overtake their neighbor in the centuries to come.

Proceeding deeper into the grove, I come across the local giant, the Pershing Tree. At only 12-feet in diameter this adolescent giant is still quite small by sequoia standards, but it is the patriarch of the grove nonetheless.

Just a short distance further, the trail passes through a cut section of the fallen Roosevelt Tree, which probably dominated this grove prior to its fall in 1861, before heading back uphill towards the trail head. The tiny grove only contains six giant sequoia and though they are all young, they are still impressive. The trail itself is less than a mile long, but any trip to see these mighty giants is worth one's time.