Calaveras Big Trees

Saturday, April 5, 2003

Story by Genny Paauwe
Photos by Bob Paauwe

Visualize a picnic in the forest: sunny, warm weather, butterflies flitting about, table cloths brimming with food, blankets spread on the grass and maybe even a few ants for good measure.

Visualize a picnic in the forest on April 5: 40 degrees, 2.5 feet of fresh snow; blankets, table cloths and car covers wrapped around shoulders; trees dropping snow bombs on 15 Miatas and their occupants; people scurrying to find extra jackets, gloves and hats. But, no need to worry about ants. They are all frozen!

Despite the unexpected snowfall, our trip to Calaveras Big Trees State Park was a lot of fun. Who knew wed be able to have a couple of snowball fights on the way to a picnic?

Our leaders, Tom and Denise Klisz, planned an excellent route to the park. After a coffee stop in Sutter Creek, all Miatas faithfully followed the Kliszs through Mokelumne Hill and onto a strip of pavement called Jesus Maria Road. And holy Toledo! What a road!

Jesus Maria Rd. winds through the foothills up into pine tree country. The caravan found most of the road one-lane, but traffic was inconsequential and we enjoyed views of the valley below and snow-covered mountains above. Deeper and deeper snow piled up on the roadside the further we drove. Soon, those of us with radios were joking about tire chains.

Somehow the last of our herd followed the white light onto another road and got temporarily disconnected from the main group. No matter, they found us again, stopped in Arnold having snowball fights in the parking lot of a Shell gas station.

Just up the road we turned into the Calaveras Big Trees State Park (http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=551), paid our $4 entry fee and parked under the towering pines that were sending blops of wet snow onto our Miatas (and our heads!).

And then there was Tom Klisz who said, I paid $40 to reserve this picnic ground!

The picnic ground on this day, was covered in 2.5 feet of fresh snow. The picnic tables, benches and BBQs were nearly invisible in the white fluff.

A new plan was devised and the park rangers opened up a big meeting hall adjacent to our reserved picnic grounds. We ate our lunches inside the building where they even had tables and chairs. The heat was slow to penetrate, but it was better than eating al fresco.

Some tricky questions had been supplied at the beginning of the run and we won the Easter-themed prizes by being the team with the most correct answers. Gary and Gundi Bechtold came in as runners up.

The planned hike was abandoned in favor of a talk about the park by one of the rangers. Afterwards, we walked down to the gigantic stump where the early pioneers used it as a dance floor and a schoolhouse once sat.

The Kliszs put on a terrific event with some neat new roads. They also recovered nicely when faced with foul picnicking conditions. It would be fantastic to run this route again when the snow clears. Of course, then we d have to share our food with the ants.