Exploring Humboldt Redwoods State Park
Coast redwood trees are the tallest, and are also among the oldest and most massive trees. The natural range of these redwoods is along a 450-mile-long and 30-mile-wide corridor of Northern California’s coast. We have been told the biggest and most spectacular redwoods are toward the northernmost end. So that was where we headed to find out for ourselves if the redwoods live up to our expectations.
Chandelier Drive-Thru Tree
We got to where the redwood parks are located in late afternoon and decided to first stop at the Chandelier Drive-Thru Tree Park. This is privately owned park with an admission fee but decided any tree big enough to drive a car through must be worth checking out. Our van managed to make it through.
This view shows most of the tree in its mighty grandeur. The park opened in 1922 as a roadside resort and has been operated by the Underwood family. The Chandelier Drive-Thru Tree was added by the resort in 1937.
There is also a redwood-themed gift shop which includes carvings.
Avenue of the Giants
We continued on to the Humboldt Redwoods State Park where we decided to get off Highway 101, which is the main road up the coast, and go on the Avenue of the Giants. This is a 31 mile stretch of highway built between 1909 and 1923 and was the main coast road until a parallel bypass was created in 1960. This redwood grove which was backlit by the afternoon sun has a mix of sizes of trees.
The visitor center where we stopped at had a cut tree with markers showing when historic events took place dating back to the 1200s. Redwoods can live to more than 2,000 years.
There was also a little redwood to show what young redwoods look like.
We took a short hike in the Founders Grove where we saw some trees with burls. These are outgrowths of the tree and are one way redwoods can regenerate. However because they can have intricately patterned wood they are sometimes poached and made into bowls and other trinkets.
This is the Founders Tree which has a height of 346.1 feet and a diameter of 12.7 feet. I am not sure the person with outstretched arms at the base of the tree could quite take in the size of it.
Drury-Chaney Loop
We spent the next few days at other redwoods parks then returned to Humboldt Redwoods State Park on the last day of our redwoods explorations. Our first stop was a hike on the Drury-Chaney Loop trail. We passed by some fallen trees with massive root system. Besides foliage growing around this tree it also had foliage growing on it.
A view further down the trunk with more lush ground cover.
This tree had some different looking bark and burls.
The light making its way through the trees lit up these redwood branches.
The trail winding its way through the redwoods was very scenic.
In places there was a carpet of plants where the ones with clover like leaves in the foreground are Redwood Sorrel with ferns behind.
This large stump from a long ago logged redwood appears to have been the largest tree in the grove.
There was an occasional S-shaped growing redwood.
Big Tree Trail
Before starting the hike we checked out the tree named Tall Tree which was the tallest measured tree in the world from 1957 until six years later when a survey in another redwoods park found taller trees. Two pictures were needed to see all of this tree
There was a bridge crossing Bull Creek where one member of our group is signaling more big trees that-a-way.
There were some nice reflections in Bull Creek.
We came across the Giant Tree which became the champion redwood after another redwood in the nearby Founders Grove fell during a storm in 1991. Then in 1998 a larger tree was found in another redwoods park.
There was a fallen tree which had more of an egg shaped cross section rather than round.
Greg-French-Bell Trail
For the last hike of the day we decided to check out the Greg-French-Bell Trail where we found more carpet of greenery among the redwoods.
I occasionally took time to look up at the redwoods.
This is the Girdled Tree which is still living though the bark was mostly removed. The bark was displayed at the 1901 Epworth League convention in San Francisco.
The main trail is not very well defined and after wandering around some on the network of overgrown unofficial trails we decided to call it a day and return to the place we were staying.
Carson Mansion
The next morning before setting out on our return we decided to visit the Carson Mansion which is in Eureka, California where were staying. This Victorian style house was constructed from 1884 to 1886 by William Carson. He came to the area in 1949 to pursue gold but went into the lumber business in 1852 where he became one of Northern California’s first major lumber barons.
Since 1950 the house has been owned by the private Ingomar Club and is not open to the public. The mix of different architecture styles make just viewing the exterior interesting.
We enjoyed our time in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park seeing the redwoods where they grow natively. This park was where we started and ended our redwoods visit. Inbetween we explored three other redwoood parks but they will be covered in other blog posts. It should not be much of a spoiler that the redwoods met and exceeded our expectations. One really has to see them to comprehend how magnificent they are.
The pictures for this post along with more are in the Humboldt Redwoods Park Gallery
These are the blog posts for other places visited on this trip:
- Exploring Fern Canyon
- Upcoming: Exploring Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park
- Upcoming: Exploring Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park and Redwood National Park
More Information:
California Parks information on Humboldt Redwoods State Park
Humboldt Redwoods State Park Wikipedia article
The Redwood Hikes website has information for the hikes in this post
