When we were at Sequoia National Park we mentioned the difference between the Giant Redwoods and the Sequoia trees and that we would be touring the Avenue of the Giants soon. Yesterday we spent most of the day taking in the various points of interest up and down that old stretch of Highway 101. Once the redwood trees were cut down like they were an inexhaustible resource but round 1917 efforts were begun to protect and preserve these ancient trees. In 1921 the Humboldt Redwoods State Park was established containing the world's largest old growth of coast redwoods. The old Highway 101 meanders through the forest of giant redwoods and today is known as the "Avenue of the Giants". Many of those trees are over 2000 years old and a drive on the Avenue can may you feel you are in an ancient mystical land. In this forest grows the tallest living organisms in the world and one tree discovered in 2006 was measured at 379.7 feet tall.
Driving the Avenue of the Giants
Big tree or little man?
Would not want to be around when that tree fell
Now that is tall
Almost the entire route of the Avenue of the Giants meanders next to the Eel River. There are locations that allow a vehicle, four wheel drive recommended, to drive down to the river. We did that at one location.
The Eel River
Another attraction is an old redwood tree that you can drive thru if you are so inclined. It was tight because the passenger side mirror grazed the tree as I drove thru.
The Devil made me do it!
The following photo is a section of a redwood tree on display at the visitor center that fell on December 26, 2006. The beginning ring, not marked in the photo, is from 912 AD, making the tree 1094 years old when it crashed to the ground. The first marker near the center is 1000 AD when the Vikings discovered North America and the last marker going out is 1928 when the California State Park System was established.
Growth rings marked
Another interesting object on display at the visitor center was a camper/motorhome hewn from a section of a redwood tree and mounted on a Nash Quad truck. Charles Kellogg, who was born in the area, was concerned about the destruction of the redwood forests and built the Travel-Log as a publicity stunt. He drove the Travel-Log to other parts of the county so people could see first hand the size of the big trees. He started work on the project in 1917 from a fallen redwood giant found in the nearby forests. He was an interesting man and could duplicate the sounds of birds with his vocal cords. He learned to make the sounds as a boy and eventually became a vaudeville celebrity known for his mastery of bird calls. Below are two links on the Travel-Log and the Nash Quad truck.
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