Cherry Gap Grove view from above

Cherry Gap Grove was burned over completely in 1955 by the McGee fire.  I have heard that no mature sequoias (defined as 4.5 feet in diameter or larger) survived the fire.  Since then there is a small new generation of sequoias growing in Cherry Gap along Abbott creek.

One of my friends, Chris and I took a walk along the short dirt road leading down to the area from highway 180 this last weekend in order to enable me to measure the largest second growth sequoia in the area.  It is not a large grove, and since the fire 7 decades are not enough to have grown many very large "mature" specimens.  At this time the largest of them that we saw Chris dubbed the Cherry Gap Hope.  Here are its specs:


Cherry Gap Hope
Base circumference:  28.5'
DBH:  5.9' 
Height:  137' 
Volume:  1,144 Cubic Feet


The Cherry Gap Hope is likely the largest in the groves' offerings currently and represents the growth of a typical generously watered Sequoia over a period of about 70 years.  Below are a couple pics of it, one of them with Chris for perspective.