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The Mariposa Grove , close to the park's southern entrance, is the biggest and best of Yosemite's groves of giant sequoia trees. To get to the towering growths, walk the 2.5-mile loop trail from the parking lot at the end of the road, which is also served by a free bus from the park entrance. The most renowned of the grouping, well marked along the route, is the Grizzly Giant , thought to be over 2700 years old. On the eastern edge of the park, Tuolumne (June-Oct only) has an atmosphere quite different from the valley; here, at 8600 feet, you almost seem to be level with the tops of the surrounding snow-covered mountains. The air always has a fresh, crisp bite, and early summer reveals a plethora of colorful wild flowers. It's a better starting point than the valley for backcountry hiking into the High Sierra, where eight hundred miles of trails, both long and short, crisscross their way along the Sierra Nevada ridges. To spend a night in the backcountry, you must get a free wilderness permit , available up to 24 weeks in advance from the Wilderness Center, Box 545, Yosemite, CA 95389 ( ), or no more than 24 hours in advance from the nearest visitor center. There are tent cabins at Tuolumne Meadows Lodge (tel 559/252-4848, ; $50-75) and camping at the Tuolumne Meadows campground for $18 per site if you have a vehicle, $5 per person if you're hiking.
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