Grizzly Giant

Grizzly Giant is an individual giant sequoia in Mariposa Grove, Yosemite’s largest sequoia grove, with more than 500 mature trees. At about 3,000 years old, it’s one of the grove’s defining trees. I’d make time for it on a grove walk: its fire-scarred trunk is the kind of thing that makes all those big-tree names suddenly feel less abstract.

The Grizzly Giant Loop is a moderate 2-mile loop from the Arrival Area, with about 300 feet of climbing and an estimated 1.5 to 2 hours on the trail. It passes the Bachelor and Three Graces before reaching Grizzly Giant and then the California Tunnel Tree. A free seasonal shuttle connects the Welcome Plaza near the South Entrance with the Arrival Area. When it isn’t running, the approach is a 2-mile walk each way by Mariposa Grove Road or Washburn Trail, adding about 500 feet of gain each way before you start the loop.

There’s no food service in the grove. Drinking water is available at Welcome Plaza year-round and at the Arrival Area in summer; the vault toilet near Grizzly Giant is the closest restroom. Visitors with a valid disability placard can drive to the Grizzly Giant parking area, where a wheelchair-accessible trail section reaches the tree area. Check the park’s current access and shuttle information before setting out.

As you get near the trunk, look for the scars left by past fires. The tree’s thick, fibrous bark helps it survive repeated low-intensity fires. Fire also dries older cones so they release seeds, while clearing smaller plants and leaf litter to leave the open, sunny ground young sequoias need. For a photo, frame a fire scar with as much of the trunk as you can from the path; the scar gives the close view a detail to hold onto, and the trunk shows the scale.

Indigenous people have used fire in the Sierra Nevada for thousands of years to shape conditions for hunting, grazing, and living. After Yosemite managers made fire suppression the main tool from the 1860s through the 1960s, the park began prescribed burning in 1970. That history makes the scars part of a larger forest story shaped by Indigenous stewardship and current restoration.

Giant sequoias have shallow roots that can extend more than 100 feet in every direction. The Mariposa Grove restoration removed roads and parking lots that encroached on roots and restored the natural flow of water. Keep to the established route around the trees; the ground beneath the grove is part of what keeps them alive.

At roughly 3,000 years old, the Grizzly Giant ranks 25th by volume among giant sequoias. Age and bulk measure different things here: rapid growth can make a younger tree larger than an older one.

The 1864 Yosemite Grant protected Mariposa Grove and Yosemite Valley for public use. The grove became part of Yosemite National Park in 1906.