Where is mariposa grove in yosemite

No reservations are required; just get in line and pile aboard whenever one stops. There are a couple dozen more parking spots at the grove itself. The park service closes the road to private vehicles at am and doesn't reopen it again until, officially, pm though I've seen it open a bit earlier , so you need to arrive early or late to park at the actual trailhead. If you're parked at the trailhead, you can leave any time; you just aren't allowed into the lot when the gate's closed.

The road to the grove will presumably reopen around pm instead of pm during the March - May and October - November periods see the schedule just above when the shuttles stop running at pm. These shuttles are still running, but only Wawona guests are allowed to ride on them now. Presumably this means people staying in either the Big Trees Lodge or the Wawona Campground, but I don't have confirmation yet.

If you qualify, you can catch the lodge shuttle roughly every two hours, 9 am - 5 pm, June 15 - September 7. At the far end of the main parking lot is the trailhead for a two-mile 3. You can also hike from the Big Trees Lodge to the grove, roughly 5 miles 8 km each way. If you're here to snowshoe the grove in the winter, these trails or hiking up the road will be your only options; the road is closed to cars and the buses are nowhere to be found - gone south for the winter, perhaps. Here's a Google Street View panorama of the park's south entrance gate , where you'll likely end up parking before catching a bus to the grove.

The park service's Mariposa Grove page includes lots of official details about the grove. The Fallen Monarch , the first really mind-blowing giant you'll pass on the trail, is massive, dead, and a bigger legend now than it ever was alive - making it, some say, the Elvis of trees.

Unlike the King, though, the Monarch remains available for viewing on the spot where it fell, and hundreds of people each day are photographed in front of its upturned base, which reaches some 15 feet across. The keepers of Graceland would probably get arrested if they allowed this sort of access.

The Bachelor and Three Graces are a quartet of sequoias you'll pass just after crossing the tram road. The roots of giant sequoias are shallow, usually less than six feet deep, but spread over a large area - half an acre or more for a mature tree. This means that right under your feet, the roots of the graces and their bachelor are intertwining in ways that would easily earn a mature rating in much of the country.

But no one seems to mind here; Yosemite visitors are a broadminded lot. The Grizzly Giant is the grand patriarch of Yosemite sequoias and the clear star of the Mariposa Grove. It's nearly 30 feet 9 meters in diameter at the base, more than 90 feet 27 meters in circumference, and has a single limb a hundred feet up that's bigger around by itself than the trunk of nearly any other species of tree. When you pass the Fallen Monarch at the beginning of the hike, make a mental note of its size; now imagine a version more than twice as wide across, and you'll have some idea of the Grizzly Giant's girth.

The Grizzly Giant is also an estimated 1, years old. This makes it hundreds of years older than Charlemagne, King Arthur, Attila the Hun, and many of the jokes on this website.

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Horses are only allowed on the Perimeter Trail and not anywhere else within the Mariposa Grove. During winter, some of these will be converted to vault toilets. Drinking water is available only at the welcome plaza year-round and arrival area summer only , so plan accordingly.

The Depot, located at the welcome plaza, has a selection of books, maps, general information, and gifts. Bicycles are allowed on the Mariposa Grove Road between the welcome plaza near South Entrance and the Grizzly Giant when the road is open for the season. Bicycles are not allowed elsewhere in the the Mariposa Grove.

Hiking Part of this restoration project focused on creating new trail systems that allowed for accessibility and overall visitor access, while protecting the sequoia ecosystem and promoting ecological health. Some options include: Big Trees Loop Trail easy 0. Winding through a forest with many giant sequoias, this trail features the Fallen Monarch and interpretive panels on the life and ecology of giant sequoias.

This loop is relatively flat and is wheelchair accessible. Grizzly Giant Loop Trail moderate 2 miles 3. Allow two hours to enjoy the full loop that winds along the edge of the grove and includes feet 91 m of elevation gain. Visitors with a valid disabled placard can drive as far as the Grizzly Giant parking area and enjoy this area of the grove via a section of trail that is wheelchair accessible. Guardians Loop Trail strenuous 6.