North Calaveras Grove
The North Grove Trail, just off Route 4, is the main attraction of Calaveras Big Trees State Park. The grove has a low density of sequoias and is mostly a typical Sierra pine forest with a few sequoias scattered around. However, the pines are themselves fine-looking old-growth, straight and tall. The lodgepole pines, with their smooth tan-colored, perfectly cylindrical trunks, are especially attractive. North Grove is at an unusually low elevation for a sequoia grove and therefore has a very dense understory. Dogwood in particular is very common and tends to block the views of the at eye level; you have to look up above the understory to see the sequoias. This makes the grove difficult to photograph.

South Calaveras Grove
Typically for a lower-elevation sequoia grove, South Calaveras Grove is densely wooded and has a dense understory of dogwoods. The grove also has a low density of sequoias; over 3 miles of hiking in the grove, you might see only about 30 or 40 big trees, most of them some distance from the trail. It's essentially a normal Sierra pine forest with a few big trees scattered here and there throughout the grove. The sequoias are fine-looking examples, though, with the characteristically pinkish, stout and perfectly cylindrical trunks that don't taper as they rise through the canopy. The South Grove is wonderfully remote and feels much more pristine than the North Grove. The 8-mile drive into the park, followed by a 1-mile uphill hike to reach the grove, ensures that the grove isn't too heavily visited. The rushing sound of a little (mostly unseen) creek that flows near the trail emanates through the woods.

Middle Earth Expedition
Groups explore approximately 80% of the cavern system from the east entrance to the western most exit. The circuit is about a mile long, so stamina is required! The first hour of the trip consists of walking, crawling and squeezing through the historic "Mammoth Cave" area. Then groupspass through the "Middle Earth" area which was discovered in 1980. Here there is mostly walking through nearly knee deep, sticky cave clay (high top shoes are a must) and the scenery is incredibly beautiful. The remainder of the trip consists of exploring the horizontal fissures in the "Cave of the Quills" area and a quick, 70-foot rafting trip across "Tom's Lake." The trip concludes with passages filled with "goo," more beautiful crystalline rooms, and then ascending ladders to sunshine and showers. Participants must be at least 16 years old, and minors must be accompanied by an adult. Trip time varies depending on the number of participants and ranges from 2-1/2 to a maximum of 4 hours.