Yesterday Todd and I took a drive over to California Hot Springs, a small community south of Springville about 1 hour. I wanted to check out the Deer Creek Grove, the southernmost grove of Giant Sequoias. The dirt road going to the grove is typically open June-November and is very well maintained for about 1 mile then slightly bumpy for the next 2. At this point you come to a small campsite next to a tributary of Deer Creek and here, if you don't have a high clearance 4WD vehicle, should probably be where you stop. But with the Subaru we managed to get a couple more miles up the road to where several trails cross the road. We found signs for 34E54 and 56 but not 55, which was the trail that from the map appeared to transverse the middle of the grove. So I just scouted the terrain out a bit and found a likely looking trail and off I went, telling Todd to meet me back down at the campsite. It was about a mile downhill and the trail I picked did pass by several giant sequoias and in no time at all I was back at the campsite. I can't be sure I was on 34E55 because it's not marked, but it is a nice hiking trail that was engineered with switchbacks and everything. Please be prepared with a good map and navigational skills if you go explore any of our groves, as most of the trails are no longer maintained.
The Deer Creek Grove is the most southern grove and is about 250 miles as the bird flies from the northermost grove, the Placer County Grove. It covers about 40 acres and has about 35 big sequoias and many younger trees scattered along the creek and on the shady north-facing slopes. This time of year this small creek canyon doesn't receive any direct sunlight and so the hike through the grove was completely shaded and cool (that's why none of my pictures turned out particularly exciting). There are white fir, sugar pine, incense cedar, and black oak growing amongst the sequoias and I'm told it's also fine spotted-owl habitat. There was just a little bit of water in the creek. We didn't see anybody else up there, despite the fact that it was a beautiful fall Saturday, and from the condition of the trails I could tell not many people hike them.
After my hike we ate a picnic lunch then headed back down to California Hot Springs. The Hot Springs Resort was built in the 1920's and it was a bustling place back then. Now it's rarely bustling but offers a nice (very nice) way to relax after a nice hike :) For $10 ($5 if you're a kid) you get to soak all day if you want in the hot spa, the not-so-hot spa, and swim in the warm pool, all in a beautiful wooded canyon along Deer Creek.
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