12th September 2008
If you had not been to Sequoia Kings Canyon National Parks then Calaveras Big Trees State Park is a place to visit to see few of the big trees. Located in Calaveras County on Hwy-4 this state park is around 22 miles east of Angels Camp. It is a small little state park under the shade of big trees.
I reached the park earlier than other campers that day. The group campgrounds were in a secluded part of the park away from rest of the family campgrounds. The wooded place was full of shade and breezy. There was plenty of space for parking. Though the campsite had flush toilets and showers they were not very clean, but better than pit toilets :) I had my lunch at a picnic table, a sandwich and a portion of a watermelon. Blue Jays were every where. I inspected the ground for footprints. I could see clear footprints of deer and raccoon. But, there were fresh marks of a bit bigger paws. Not sure if they were of any bear !! After pitching the tent I thought of taking a stroll around the North Grove trail in the park.
North Grove trail (Map) is an interpretive trail about the big trees. Redwoods, Cedars, Sequoias, Pines and so on ... I had to share the trail with a big-noisy but friendly family here ... all into taking their pictures with these ancient trees ... they offered to take my pictures too ... as I went on ... I saw the trees, tree stumps, dead giants, dogwood and so on ... the dogwood flowers were now dry and the small berries were looking like a fine colorful gem-studded brooch ... and I saw an Asian guy reading a book in a very calm, cool and beautiful place ...
As I was reading the history of this place I realized the people who found these big trees didn't respect them. They were amazed by the size of these trees; they cut the trees and sent few logs to New York to show people about their find. One such big tree is now only a Big Stump ... it is so big that it could be used as a dance platform !!
There is another such tree, the Sacrificial Tree ... the early discoverers striped the tree of its bark, to exhibit in New York, eventually killed it ... 
All these destructive events were critically condemned and the forest of giants was saved by some tree lovers of those days ... In my previous visit to this park I had hiked the South Grove trail which is about five miles. In comparison with North Grove, it looked lusher and there are much bigger trees there. One of them is Palace Hotel.
It was a short but very refreshing walk in the North Grove ... then I headed back to the campground to meet the other campmates ...
Next morning I headed to Ebbetts Pass which is 40 miles from east of Calaveras Big Trees on Hwy-4 for a nine miles hike to Noble Lake. Drive to reach Ebbetts Pass was adventurous in itself :) The highway becomes single lane road once you enter the Alpine County, narrow winding steep uphill and down ... on that some bicyclists ... woooow !!
Noble Lake trail is part of Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). I had expected through backpackers and plenty of hikers ... but ended up hiking all alone ... amidst trees, high granite boulders ... For some reason on this hike I never thought about bears ... but when I passed one of the high granite boulders I had a wierd feeling that a mountain lion (puma) was lurking above the high boulder to pounce on me ... hehehe ... I didn't have anything to fight back except for two bananas and an apple in the backpack. Later however I realized it was a coyote ... Then I saw a herd of cattle running down the adjucent hill kicking off the dust ... and the bells around their neck made a melodious sound which made the whole landscape beautiful. I stood there and saw the dust raising up the trees while the bells went on tung ... tung ...
The trail is a bit steep uphill and downhill ... kind of butt-kicking ... as we cross the Noble Canyon. When I reached the lake I was not awe-struck ... Noble Lake lacks that prestine look of Alpine Lakes ... something unusual about it was ... thousands of tiny frogs ... reminded me of the rainforests of India ... It was time to head back ... again I was encountered by herd of cattle ... one big black cow was right on the narrow trail ... I yelled ... Hello Please get out of my way ... it turned and gave me a stare ... I yelled again ... and again ... and the staring continued ... after yelling 10 to 12 times it moved down to join its herd ... as it ran down ... it kicked some dust and then ... tung ... tung ... tung ... this time it didn't sound so beautiful :)
On the way back I stopped at Mosquito Lake and Alpine Lake. On the drive back only thing in my mind was ... Paneer Butter Masala (MTR ready to eat) and the roti for the supper ...
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