Huckleberry Trail

Dogs No Dogs

Features Birding · Views · Wildlife

There are no services at Crescent Meadow, so make sure to bring water, snacks, sunscreen, and bug spray with you. While most of the trail is shaded thanks to the forest surrounding you, its a good idea to have some sort of head covering as the sun is powerful in the High Sierras.

The Huckleberry Trail meanders through the Giant Forest, past the Squatters Cabin and Dead Giant Trail, and finally ends up intersecting with the Alta Trail. The trail departs from the Crescent Meadow Trail and weaves its way among the Giant Sequoias of the Giant Forest. In the spring and summer, wildflowers can be seen in Huckleberry Meadow and along the trail.

Views of Huckleberry Meadow appear around the 0.25 mile mark. Bear and deer that call the Giant Forest home can be seen wandering among the trees throughout the day. Within another 0.1 mile, you arrive at the Squatters cabin, where a gentleman had built a cabin hoping to make a claim on the land, only to find out that it was already owned by Hale Tharp (for who Tharp's Log is named after).

Once you have explored the cabin, you can take the 0.2 mile trail to the left and go and visit the Dead Giant and get better views of Huckleberry Meadow. If you continue to follow the Huckleberry Trail, it will climb up the hillside at around the 0.6 mile mark. From here, the trail descends gently at first, and then more steeply toward the Alta Trail.

Giant Sequoias and other trees provide shade for this singletrack dirt trail throughout most of the run, making it a pleasant run even in the heat of the day. Around the 1.2 mile point, the trail intersects with the Alta Trail. If you go to the right, the trail leads out to the Washington Tree Trail which you can use to make a loop back to the parking lot at Crescent Meadow.

If you go to the left, the trail makes its way toward the Museum and the Soldiers Trail, and Old Bear Hill Road Trail offer opportunities to create a larger loop. This trail provides a great getaway from the crowds at the Museum, Moro Rock, and Crescent Meadow and allows you to enjoy all that the Giant Forest has to offer.

Like most of the trails in this area, you are running through a forest of Giant Sequoia trees. Wildflowers can be seen on the side of the trail in the spring/summer time.

Birds can be heard and seen throughout the run, and the usual cast of characters can be seen in the woods: deer, black bears, squirrels, chipmunks.