#neldergrove

[redwoodsinyosemite]

#TravelTuesday #MountainBiking among the #Giants #BigTree #BikeLife #GiantSequoia - The Hawksworth Tree near #NelderGrove in the #Sierra #DownhillBiking #Trek #Optoutside 🌲🌲🌲🍃🍃🍃🌳🌳🌳🍁🍁🍁 (at Nelder Grove Historic Area, Sierra Natl. Forest)

[kylehphoto]

Stood amongst some giants today. #mondernoutdoors #sierranationalforest #neldergrove #giantsequioa #thetrailspeak #adventure #staywild #getoutside #hikingculture

[dustingarrison]

Welcome to the Nelder Grove of giant sequoia trees outside of Yosemite National Park near Oakhurst, CA. The regal gentleman on top is named Big Ed, guardian of the creek and watchman of the three free campsites carved out of the Sierra National Forest. The trees here are massive. Big Ed is not even the biggest of the giants found here. The Nelder Tree measures in at nearly 35,000 cubic feet and is even larger than the much more acclaimed Grizzly Giant sequoia located in the Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park.

Here you will not find paved roads, crowds of any kind, tram tours with headsets, or snack shacks serving hot dogs and ice cream sandwiches. The trees are the only draw. Yet they are bigger than all the hot dogs and ice cream sandwiches in the world. Their ominous presence is more than enough. Their peacefulness will make the most jaded feel real once more, melting away the very idea of frivolously created things like concrete parking lots and the sodium nitrate injected into those terrifying meat treats called hot dogs. On the bottom is the ghost of a former giant, cut down in its millennium long prime in the late-19th century. There are many times when us humans forget that nature's bounties are not endless. Her resources do have limits. The wood quality of the sequoia trees is very porous and inconsistent, too poor for lumber. These trees were cut down just to make shingles and match sticks. The largest, most majestic living organisms in the world, sprouting through the soil before the time of Buddha or Jesus, before the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, were cut down to make match sticks. The numerous stumps in the grove form a graveyard of giant ghosts. A haunting reminder of our repeated foolishness.