Avenue of the Giants

As you drive north along the 101 freeway you run into an area of giant redwood trees. It is a place that feels both magical and surreal. We’ve been here many times and we are both still amazed by the size of these trees. One of the first spots we came to was the one-log house. These trees are so big that someone literally built a house from a hollowed out log.

Nearby, on the other side of a gift shop parking lot, is the Grandfather tree. This tree is estimated to be 1,800 years old, 24 feet in diameter, and 265 feet tall. It was quite an impressive start to our tour through the Avenue.

It was too tall to capture the whole tree, even with my wide angle lens.

We stayed at the Avenue of the Giants RV park. It was an ok stop for the night though we were disappointed that there we no trees anywhere around the RVs. It was basically an area cleared out with RV pads and hook ups. However, it was a very short drive to any of the groves and the visitor center for the nearby Humboldt Redwoods State Park.

Within the visitor center near the Founder’s Grove is a unique artifact called the “Travel Log”. It may very well be one of the first RVs built. It was hewn from a redwood log by Charles Kellogg, an American vaudeville performer who imitated bird songs. He was a naturalist and in later life campaigned for the redwood forests.

“He constructed a mobile home, called the “Travel Log”, out of a redwood tree and drove it around the country to raise awareness of the plight of the California forests…

…After World War I he saw a powerful truck, a Nash Quad and decided to modify it by adding a body made from a 7 metre (about 23 feet) section of a redwood and carving it out with a bed, a toilet and a kitchen with cupboards. The wood weighed 3 tons and could not be lifted. He then dug a tunnel under the wood and drove the Nash Quad under it and then had the log body lowered onto it. He called his vehicle the “Travel Log” and drove it around at a maximum speed of about 8 km/hour (about 5 mph).” – Wikipedia

Nearby is a sign proclaiming the grove of trees to be the California Federation of Women’s Clubs Grove. I read about the legacy of this grove in an article by Peri Escardi in the North Coast Journal: “It turns out that if not for the efforts of a determined group of Eureka women in 1923, we would have lost these trees to the loggers’ saw. Various different women’s groups, meeting in parlors around the county, came together under the banner of the California Women’s Federation of Women’s Clubs to purchase the grove. “

“In 1931, renowned San Francisco architect Julia Morgan, designer of the Hearst Castle, fashioned a monument to celebrate saving the grove from the logger’s saw. Morgan’s monument stands today in the Federation’s grove, a peculiar four-sided hearth that features fireplaces facing each direction.” – Humboldt County 101 Things to Do

It’s hard to appreciate the enormous size of these trees. Here are some pictures of us standing near them to give you a bit of scale.

Another impressive tree, the Immortal Tree, was right near the entrance to our RV park. As you can see from this sign, this tree has seen – and survived – it all.

Even from the other side of the parking lot I couldn’t capture the whole tree.

We only spent one night here this time but I know we will come back.