The Jepson Laurel, known to be at least 600 years
old, marks the Sawyer Camp Trail midpoint. At 55 feet in height, and some 22
feet around, it’s the largest laurel in California.
It stands
just north of where one Leander Sawyer kept an inn called Sawyer Camp in the
1850s and ‘60s. The establishment provided lodging for horsemen and
wagons, as well as food for daytime picnickers. Old-timers said that Sawyer and
his wife Sophia lived nearby in an adobe cottage close to a natural spring.
Sawyer also grazed cattle in the area to control the brush and maintain access
for incoming wagons. Today nothing remains of either the camp or the Sawyer
dwelling.
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