The Upper Grove contains 360 Big Trees, averaging in age about 2,500 years. About ten of the trees exceed 250 feet in height. Three of these have a circumference of over ninety feet.
The bark of the largest trees is from one to two feet thick. Toward the end of winter the trees bloom, while the snow is still eight or ten feet deep. The flowers are pale green and pale yellow. The seeds are small and light. The cones remain on the tree for many years.
The Big Trees might live forever. There is no absolute limit to their existence. Death is due only to an accident. The leaves alone die of old age, and these are renewed.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 16, SERIAL No. 116
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
THE MENTOR · DEPARTMENT OF TRAVEL · OCT. 2, 1916
Photograph by J. T. Boysen
EL PORTAL
The terminal of the railroad. From here a run of 10 miles is made up Merced Canyon to Yosemite Valley