The Giant Californian Coastal Redwoods

The Giant Californian Coastal Redwoods

You really need to see them close-up to appreciate the scale of these trees. They are phenomenal and to be able to drive and hike through the groves was a privilege.

From Chico, we headed towards the coast, and the Redwoods, stopping at Clearwater lake on the way. From there we hit the coast at Fort Bragg, a picturesque town which we explored on foot. The townspeople in less enlightened times, threw their rubbish over the cliff and into the sea. An unintended consequence is that the beaches have copious amounts of so called ‘sea glass’ – small pieces of rounded and polished glass (the result of the water’s erosion of broken bottles and jars). Dave’s sister, Jane, is an avid collector and asked David for some ‘souvenirs’, so we spent an hour or two gathering some small pieces. One town’s rubbish is another sister’s treasure!

We then journeyed up the coast and into the ‘Avenue of the Giants’, stopping at the ‘Tree House’ on the way (not the first tree we have been inside!), before parking for the night at the town of Miranda, ready to explore the Redwoods the next day.

The next day we wound our way through the giant redwoods of the Humboldt Redwoods State Park and stopped to hike 12km of the Bull Creek Trial. Walking amongst the Redwoods gave a new meaning to the expression of not seeing the forest for the trees.

The next morning we moved from our camp spot just outside the park to Founders Grove for breakfast. Dave tried flying the drone but the trees interrupted it’s GPS reception and it went a bit crazy, but no harm done. We continued to the end of the Avenue, stopping for one last 2km walk. We then left this part of the forest and drove, via Eureka for some shopping to the Redwoods National Park. Francine wanted to see a yellow Banana Slug (a mascot for the park) and as we stepped out of the truck to start our day, Dave spotted two on the ground nearby. On our day’s 10km hike, other hikers were looking for the slug and asked if we had seen them on the trail, which we hadn’t, so we counted ourselves lucky to have seen them in the camp. Before breaking camp Dave helped Deborah start her camper, much to her delight. We then moved onto Jedediah Smith National Park for some more Redwood action and hiked another 9km through the groves. It’s fair to say that we will never forget these hikes!