Yosemite: Mariposa Grove
Yosemite's Mariposa Grove, filled with giant Sequoias, is just past the park's southern entrance.
There is a nice walk mapped out among some of the park's best-known old trees, which is well worth the time.
On our recent vacation we visited the Grove before driving on into Yosemite Valley, roughly 45 minutes away.
Many of the trees have names, such as the Bachelor and Three Graces (below):
These giants are so big they can't all be contained in one photo frame, at least from a close distance!
It's amazing to contemplate how old some of the trees are. The Grizzly Giant, only part of which is seen below, is estimated by some sources to be at least 1800 years old.
I'm looking forward to sharing photos of other areas of Yosemite over the next few days.
Related posts: Vernal Fall, The Ahwahnee Hotel, and Yosemite Falls.
posted by Laura @ 10:11 PM
9 Comments:
Isn't that Mariposa Grove where they filmed those scenes with James Stewart and Kim Novak in "Vertigo"? Nice photos.
This is one place I would love to see. When I was a kid I remember seeing several Disney cartoons that featured Yosemite, Giant redwoods (Donald's Old Sequoia cartoon) or other Northwest parks. Humphrey Bears is still one of my favorite Disney characters. I also remember a redwood forest being featured in the Gnomemobile? Am I right about that?
Anyway- I've always wanted to see these parks and forests- they are breath-taking in pictures, so I can only imagine how beautiful they are up close.
I love the redwoods. Last August we visited several groves up along the Northern coast. I guess the closest I'm going to get to smelling that wonderful order you find in the groves is Redwood Creek at DCA ;)
Jacqueline, I hesitate to admit that VERTIGO is a Hitchcock I still haven't seen! (It's on my shelf!) I was curious about your question and turned to IMDb: it looks like the scenes in question were probably filmed at Muir Woods at Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Boulder, CA.
Amazingly, it looks as though THE GNOME-MOBILE was also filmed at Big Basin! That film is in our Netflix queue. (I've been reluctant to purchase it for our Disney collection as it's one of Disney's inexplicable pan & scan releases.)
J.C., love the dots you connect between Disney and Yosemite & the redwoods. Is the Old Sequoia cartoon in one of the Disney Treasures sets already released?
Another Disney "connection" is that Disney World's Wilderness Lodge is inspired by Yosemite's Ahwahnee Hotel, as well as other great national park hotels (I believe the one at Yellowstone is another).
Irene, it will be fun to visit Redwood Creek again after having seen "the real thing." :)
Best wishes,
Laura
By the way, I meant to say odor, not order LOL.
I love all these Disney connections to the redwoods :)
Yep- Old Sequoia is a 1945 Donald Duck cartoon that is on Walt Disney Treasures - The Chronological Donald, Volume Two (1942 - 1946). What a great series.
That's kind of cool to find out Gnomemobile was filmed at Great Basin.
Another Walt Disney connection, I think- I think I read somewhere that Walt originally tried to open a resort/hotel in the rockies or near Yosemite prior to at least WDW and it fell through- Do you remember anything about that or am I way off?
Thanks much for the info, J.C., I'll pull that set off the shelf today. :)
"I think I read somewhere that Walt originally tried to open a resort/hotel in the rockies or near Yosemite prior to at least WDW and it fell through- Do you remember anything about that or am I way off?"
This is something that's not ringing a bell -- I'd love to know more, one way or the other, if anyone has info to share!
Best wishes,
Laura
Ok- I'm not losing it. I found the "mountain resort" thing I was thinking of: Walt's "Mineral King Resort" project that he tried to get off the ground in the 60s to be located in Sequoia National Park.
Jim Hill has an article about here at this link and this one.
Here's another look at it here.
Wow, thanks, J.C.! I'll look forward to reading up on this topic and learning something new.
Best wishes,
Laura
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