How much time to allow to hike Mariposa Grove?

[mquest]

I'm driving to Yosemite midweek and will arrive near Mariposa grove in the afternoon. Assuming it's not too crazy busy, I'm wondering how much time I should espect to spend there before continuing on to our hotel in the valley. I don't need to use the tram. It may not be running in October when we arrive. I'd like to see both the lower and upper parts of the grove. How much time should I dedicate to this? To hike from the parking lot through both the lower and upper groves, how many miles is this?
Thanks

[bill-e-g]

Info here:

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/u ... ahikes.pdf

Allocate a good 4 hours. Personally I've only been to the grove once
and we took a good 3 hours just enjoying the grove and hiking
to the Museum and back. It's anything but flat.

Lots of interesting trees (see that map... try to see them all)

Have fun

[bill-e-g]

Another brochure here:

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/upload/mgrove.pdf

[Erich1B]

When my wife and I went this past June, we took our time and we spent about 4 hours total.

[Wawona1]

I've been there at least 10 times just this year. Depending how good of a hiker you are, 4 hours is not an overstatement. But if you are a power hiker, you can get from the parking lot to up top, to back down in under 3 hours, but I wouldn't recommend it. It's a beautiful grove, take your time. If you are going to visit the upper grove, check out the telescope tree, and try to hike the little extra to Wawona Point..beautiful view that few folks check out.

[hotrod4x5]

If the tram is operating, one option is to ride it to the top and hike down.

[BackpackerBC]

I have found that folks a the backcountry office are very helpful and friendly as well as knowledgeable about the various hikes within the park.

They know it better than almost anyone else and sometimes you can give them a call to ask any question you want, whether it's about water supply, trail difficulty, permitting, or anything really.

They've always seemd very willing to help and sometimes they know more than what you can ever find in a brochure or on the web.

Sometimes it's hard to get through though because of a busy line, but just keep trying!
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[baseline bum]

I have done it twice, and took about 5 hours each time (but I'm not a particularly fast hiker).