| Dillonwood Grove Hike |
| The Dillonwood Grove was largely in private hands up until a couple of years ago. Back in 1875 Nathan Dillon began logging the grove area before the land was surveyed and before there was any regulation of logging on public land. In 1878 Dillon bought 1,000 acres of land there and continued logging until 1900. This early logging was selective and many old-growth sequoias were spared. Sequoia National Park was created in 1890 and for reasons difficult to understand the NPS never sought to acquire the Dillonwood area. By 1930 most of the remaining privately held giant sequoia grove areas were acquired, but Dillonwood remained private. It was logged extensively again from 1948 and 1958 and all but perhaps 100 large giant sequoias were cut. A couple of years ago the Save the Redwoods League obtained the funding to buy Dillonwood and it is now, finally, back in public hands and part of Sequoia National Park. |
| The access to Dillonwood is through Sequoia National Forest along an extremely rough dirt road, 19S09, which leaves north from the Blue Ridge Road about 1/2 mile north of its intersection with the Balch Park Road. This is perhaps the worst road I've ever attempted to drive on! One of the seasonals I hired, John, and I headed up there yesterday and found the road to be in terrible shape. There are ruts that could swallow a cow and huge rocks to squeeze around. Talk about therapeutic, though, I love driving on roads like that :) So we bumped and skidded our way up the road that in places was more of a trail as the bushes and trees are trying their best to take it over. We finally parked near Jenny Creek at around 4,200' in elevation and decided to hike the rest of the way. |
| An incense cedar in the Dillonwood Grove |
| The hike up to the grove was great, it was about 3 miles and 2,000' up but only steep in spots. The dogwoods were still blooming and man has it been a bumper year for them! We saw many other flowers including western wallflower, stonecrop, Indian pink, lupine, madia, snowplant, pine drops, wild ginger, mustang clover, manzanita, elderberry, deerbrush, Fremontia, Indian paintbrush, blue flax, gooseberry, currant, shieldleaf, mountain misery, cinquefoil, Anderson thistle, and mountain violet. As far as animals, we saw Juncos, Chickadees, a White-headed Woodpecker, a few warblers, a Western Tanager, and many a little birdie that flew away too fast before we could ID them :( We also saw two snakes, a ring neck and a garter. We came across a steaming pile of fresh bear scat... but no bear. |
| It's amazing to me how you can sense you are nearing a sequoia grove. The air is cooler and moister and the ground cover changes and becomes more lush. Giant sequoias require an extensive amount of water, either on the surface or below, so they usually grow in well-watered drainages or on gently sloping plateaus. The Dillonwood Grove is no exception. You can feel the change in landscape and then boom, usually you are greeted with a huge sequoia tree that leaves no doubt in your mind that you are in the grove. |
 |
 |
| Jenny Creek |
 |
| Snowplant |
 |
| Western Wallflower |
 |
| John next to the first big sequoia we saw |
| Backing the grove to the east is Moses Mountain, elevation 9,331'. As we got up to the grove the views of Moses were amazing. A few clouds rolled in and softened its jagged peaks. There was still some snow up on Moses' slopes. We only saw a few big sequoias up there, like I said, most of them are gone. But oh what a forest it still is! There are hordes of young sequoias that just seem to be thriving! And so many dogwoods blooming along the fringes of the meadows. We ate lunch sitting on huge giant sequoia logs next to a babbling brook and afterwards I took pictures of the dogwood then we explored some cabins that were part of the settlement up there and are still standing (barely). |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| We decided to head back down around 2:00 pm. Once we got back down to Jenny Creek we stopped and soaked our feet and relaxed. The granite slabs were polished smooth by the creek and made for a great resting spot. John found two rocks to recline on and I scrambled up to a waterfall. So it turned out to be a great dayhike in a very remote area of Sequoia National Park. And I'm very happy to have found another hiking partner! If you are in need of one, well, just do as I did. Hire one! lol |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Dogwood |
| Old Dillonwood Cabins amongst thriving young sequoia stands |
| Back at Jenny Creek |