Big Spring Trail

1994 Trip
2006 Trip

Trail Location and info: The trailhead is located near the Grant Grove section of Sequoia National Park which is off of highway 180. When you get to The Wye, go right and follow the road until you see a sign for Redwood Canyon, it is immediately before the Hume Lake turnoff. After you turn off, follow the dirt road until you get to the trailhead. See the national park website for more information (link below). You start off going down into the canyon. The trail is fairly steep, but isn't too bad. You get down to the creek and hike along it for awhile. You will come to two forks, if you want to take the loop trails, take one of those trails, if you want to continue on to Big Springs, follow the trail along the river. The trail stays fairly level for awhile. Eventually you will cross the creek; there were some logs across the last time I was there. Shortly after that, you will come to a cabin. I think this is where most people turn around, but if you want to continue on to Big Springs, continue on. There is a cave nearby (Lilburn Cave) and the cabin is used by the people studying the cave. After the cabin, the trail goes up and down a little bit and is not maintained very well. But, it still should be easy enough to follow it. The trail eventually goes back down to the creek and you walk next to it for a short distance until you come to the spring (you can't miss it). The elevation difference from start to finish is about 1300 feet. The trail starts at about 6200 ft and Big Spring is about 4900 ft and the distance from the trailhead to the springs is about 6.3 miles.

Links: Redwood Canyon in Sequoia National Park, Topo Map of Big Spring