Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Walking Midst the Tallest Trees on Earth
I’m talking about the Redwoods of course! We recently returned from a trip to Northern California, home to the Coast Redwoods – and my oh my – those are SOME TREES!
The drive there was magnificent too, south on Hwy 101 along the beautiful Oregon Coast but I will save that for later.
In this post I will take you through some of the Redwood Groves in Redwood National and State Parks, starting with our first stop at Circle Trail in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. See our tiny truck parked out front?
The woods were lovely, dark and deep, and I was ready with my camera.
“Find anything to take a picture of yet?” asked a friendly hiker with a grin on his face.
“Not yet,” I replied, “but I’ll keep looking” and we laughed because It’s that kind of place.
Occasionally a tree was singled out like ‘Big Tree’ below, one of the largest in the park, and estimated to be 1,500 years old!
Yes, at 286 feet tall with a circumference of 74.5 feet it earned the name. On the other hand, as the sign nearby shows, there are big trees everywhere!
The next day we stopped at three different groves, starting with the Drury-Chaney Grove. Here we took a 2.4 mile nature trail considered one of the finest in the park. And no wonder – it was magical! When I entered the grove it seemed that time stopped and I wanted to lie down in the carpet of redwood sorrel.
Instead we continued walking and met a friendly German couple who took our picture, after we had taken theirs.
Our next walk was at Founders Grove on the Avenue of the Giants, dedicated to the founders of the Save-the-Redwoods League. It was here In 1917 that several prominent men traveled to view the Redwood groves and were determined to have them protected. This was the first grove purchased by the League in what is now Humboldt Redwoods State Park.
Founders Tree, a 346 foot giant, is dedicated to them.
We continued on the trail and passed the Dyerville Giant, at least 362 feet tall, 52 feet in circumference, and 1,000,000 pounds when it fell in 1991. Did anybody hear it?
After a stop for lunch we headed back north and saw this little fella by the side of the road, on our way to the Ladybird Johnson Grove.
The Grove was dedicated to the former first lady for her role in promoting the National Park which was established in 1968.
Here I am in front of one of the massive trees resident there.
Well, it’s time to wrap this up but I have one more picture for you. On our last day in the park we stopped at Stout Grove in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park and I finally got some pictures of rhododendrons in bloom against the trees. Happy!
This trip left me thankful to the wise men and woman who endeavored to preserve the rapidly disappearing old growth Redwoods. Though only 5% of the original forests remain they still inspire those who are blessed to visit. Our world would not be the same without them.
Shared with Jo’s Monday Walks.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 
Wow! These look amazing! Sounds like a fun trip! 😃
Yes, it truly was awesome. 🙂 Thanks so much for your comment!
We visited there with our three kids in 1988. The kids of course had to have us drive through the tree. Do they still let people do that? It was much more impressive to the kids than the trees themselves.
There are still a couple of drive-thru trees I believe, but we didn’t visit them. Something kids would enjoy for sure, but not for us. We just loved basking in the trees by walking in the groves! 🙂
I cannot help but be overwhelmingly impressed by the age and size of those trees, Susanne.
And you saw a bear cub too! That beats the Oaks in Beetley. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
I’ve been to the Redwoods a few times before but this time I spent more time walking through the groves, and was impressed all over again! And it was great to see the bear cub too, especially from the safety of our truck! 🙂
Loved the shot of the little bear. What a cutie.
We were happy to see him too! 😊
Those guys certainly know how to make a person feel small, don’t they? 🙂 🙂 And had that bear lost his Mum? Thanks a lot for sharing.
Yes indeed! Those trees humble you for sure. The little bear seemed to be quite content. I don’t know if his mother was nearby or he was already on his own. We watched him eating for quite a while and saw him both coming and going on the road.
I really got the feel of being in the deep forest thru your pictures. Can you say where you stayed on this trip? Thanx.
So glad you enjoyed the pictures! We spent three days and 2 nights in and around the park. One night in Fortuna which is a small quiet town south of Eureka and the other night in Crescent City the northernmost city on the Coast. Fortuna was recommended to us by the Ranger at the Visitor center in Crescent City. We didn’t stay anywhere fancy just spontaneously booked places as we went along. We could do that since it was off-season.
Such great photos and incredible trees!
Thanks John! The trees are truly amazing!
Walking through history right there. Beautiful.
Thanks so much! I’m glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
I LOVED this post! I really hope we can visit these amazing trees at some point! They are just so, so beautiful!
Just looking at your photos makes me feel relaxed.
Thank you! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!! The trip down is awesome too if you take the Oregon Coast. 🙂
Those Redwood forests are quite special. We visited Redwoods groves in 10 different areas and no two are quite alike. Thanks for sharing these wonderful pictures!
Aren’t they wonderful? Each time we go we discover something new and special! 😊
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