Yosemite’s Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias Reopened June 2018
After nearly three years of restoration and construction, the largest sequoia grove in Yosemite reopened on June 15, 2018.
Explore the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias with trees stretching 300 feet high by walking the moderate-rated Grizzly Giant Loop Trail. It’s a two-mile loop that takes 1.5-2 hours and circles the edge of the grove. You’ll see the Bachelor and Three Graces trees, as well as the Grizzly Giant and California Tunnel Tree.
Visitors with a disabled placard can drive as far as the Grizzly Giant parking area and experience this area of the grove via a section of trail that is wheelchair accessible.
You may not realize as you’re strolling under these magnificent giants that can live up to 3,000 years that the grove was closed for three years, starting in 2015, to restore it. A paved concrete parking lot had been weighing on the roots of the sequoias, threatening them, so it, along with a gift shop, was removed. Tram roads, and the motorized tours that used them, were closed.
In partnership with Yosemite Conservancy, the National Park Service worked to improve natural hydrology, construct an ADA-accessible boardwalk, construct an improved welcome plaza and improve the overall visitor experience. It was the park’s biggest restoration project and aimed to protect the trees while still enabling visitors to experience them. It reopened in June 2018.
To visit the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, visitors can park in a new 300-vehicle parking area at the South Entrance and hop on a free shuttle at the Welcome Plaza, which will transport you to the Lower Grove.