Dalton Tree

My wife and I decided to go to Muir Grove to see the sequoias there. It should have been a pretty easy 2.5-mile hike each way, but we chose the date unwisely. The trailhead is located at the back of Dorst campground. Unfortunately for us, the campground wasn't open for the season yet. Adding the length of the campground, our trek ended up being about 3.5 miles each way.   

While walking, we saw a few deer and a fox or wolf, but no people since it was before peak season.

As far as I know, there is only one named tree in this grove (the Dalton Tree) and one impressive named formation (the Muir Cathedral tree circle). Two other large-based trees in the area have been cut short at about a hundred feet. We refer to them as the Broken-Topped First Tree and the Lightning Struck Tree. Both are over 20 feet in diameter at the base and would have been bigger if they hadn’t lost half their height. There are a few more good-sized ones, about 20 feet in diameter, marching up the ridge of the grove above the Cathedral, and a lone giant at the top of the ridge.
 
The Muir Cathedral is an amazing tree circle. It’s a set of about a dozen (or slightly more, depending on how you draw the lines) picturesque five- to ten-footers soaring up to about 250-275 feet high, spread in a circle of a bit over 100 feet.

The Dalton Tree didn’t make it into Flint's book, but we have it on our list in the mid-thirties, being about 31,000 cubic feet in volume. The two broken trees in the grove would probably be on the list in an equally high position, or even higher, if they hadn't been topped. I took basic measurements on both. The first tree came in about 25,000 cubic feet of volume, even with its bole ending at 150 feet. I didn’t have time to get full details on the Lightning Struck Tree to calculate its volume. Maybe I'll get to that next time. Perhaps one or two of the big guys up the hill too.

Not a really high-scoring weekend, but I knocked one more off the largest trees list, so a worthwhile one and enjoyable in any case. Muir Grove, though small, is a lovely place to wander through, fully worthy of its exceptional namesake.

Muir Cathedral

Broken-Topped First Tree

Lightning Struck Tree