Avenue of the Giants

We once again woke up to find ourselves parked up in the middle of a redwood forest. The site we were in was reserved for the following day so we had to find an unspoken for spot and move ourselves over. Today’s plan is to go for a few short hikes and have a look at some big trees. We zig zagged our way through the trees down the Avenue of the Giants until we reached the Founders Grove.

At the trailhead, a little redwood box held copies of a handout that provided background about several informative markers on the hike. PJ grabbed a copy and read me the facts at each stop as we walked along the path. Extraordinarily lush, this stand of trees is known for its thick carpet of sorrel and ferns.

Avenue of the Giants

The original tree huggers

The trees that had fallen were every bit as crazy as the healthy trees. One was almost 400 feet long and when it fell it was heard a mile away. The caller thought there had been a train wreck. The fallen trees become a place for new trees to grow and feed any number of forest animal, fungus and bacteria. Some were giant splinters and there were other living trees that had been burned almost hollow but still alive.

When we had finished exploring around the main trails, we drove over to the Rockefeller Forest and hiked around among the giant trees there. The main trail was a short hike, so we headed down a less traveled side track to get in a little more exercise. A nearby river, tall trees and fabulous ferns, what a beautiful country we live in.

A nice camp fire rounded out our day as we figured out where to make our next stopover. I pulled out a few ball park franks and cooked them on a stick. We sat out in the darkness until the fire burned out then called it a night.