Avenue of the Giants

Our main reason for driving to Klamath, California, was to visit the California Redwoods.  When we rented the ATV at the Oregon Dunes, the owner suggested to us that if we wanted to see the biggest trees, we needed to drive on down to the Avenue of the Giants about 2 hours south of Klamath.

We headed south in the Honda around 9 am.  The weather forecast was calling for rain later in the day but it was a beautiful morning.

As we drove along the coast,

we could see the waves pounding onto the beach.

After almost 2 hours, we exited off Hwy 101 and began driving on The Avenue of the Giants.

We stopped at a small pull-off and took a picture Chuck, me and the car in front of a HUGE redwood.

We drove on to the visitor's center at Humboldt State Park to get some more information about the redwoods and where to find the biggest trees. 

We learned that there are three types of redwood trees:  Coastal Redwoods, Giant Sequoias, and Dawn Redwoods (which are found only in a remote area of China).  The Coastal Redwoods are the world's tallest trees while the Giant Sequoias are the world's most massive trees.  (Redwood Trees - Three Ancient Wonders, Save the Redwoods League)

Our first stop was a walking trail directly across from the visitor's center.  Williams Grove is considered to be a younger grove as a lot of the trees had been cut as people began to settle in the area.  But it still had some very big, very old trees.

Coastal redwoods can survive forest fires that would destroy other trees.  Evidence of such fires were seen on many of the trees.

We walked by some trees that had fallen:

Some of the trees had huge burls on them. 

 

This tree looked like it had a big long nose on the side of it.

It was so quiet walking through the forest. 

 

 

We were surprised by a mama deer and her two fawns walking through the forest. 

The mama and one of the fawns are in the below picture.  The mother is easy to see; but can you find the fawn? 

Baby redwoods would grow at the base of some of the trees.

Here was another fallen tree.

We had seen some big trees in Glacier, North Cascades, and Olympia National Parks but nothing like the size of these California Coastal Redwoods.

Lumberjacks called branches that fell from these trees "widowmakers."  Here is a widowmaker that had fallen and jammed into the walking trail.

Our next stop was Women's Grove.  The road was very narrow going into the grove.

We stopped at a couple of places looking for an "albino" tree the volunteer at the visitor center had told me about.  We just about gave up but then I saw it about 75 yards off the road just as we were about to leave Women's Grove.

From a distance, it looks like dead or dying leaves and branches at the base of the tree.  But as I got up close to it and felt the leaves, they were very much alive.  For some reason, these branches just don't have any chlorophyll to make the leaves turn green.

Next, we drove to Founders Grove and walked another short trail through this grove.  We walked by Founders Tree:

Here was another old growth tree that had survived many fires.

Below is a picture looking up inside the tree.

It's amazing some of these trees are still standing and living.

While it is estimated that about 1,700 species of plants and animals depend on these trees during the life span of the trees, an estimated 4,000 species live in or on a dead, decaying, downed tree.  Also, it takes as much as 400 years or longer for a tree to be completely decayed into the forest floor.  (Founders Grove trail guide)

"Windthrow" is a leading cause of death of Coastal Redwoods.  When these old mature trees fall over, an opening is created in the forest canopy allowing the younger trees to grow and become giants.  (Founders Grove trail guide)

The "Dyerville Giant" was recognized as a "Champion" coastal redwood before it fell on March 24, 1991.  It was 362 feet tall and was estimated to have been around 1,600 years old.  It was 17 feet in diameter, 52 feet in circumference and was estimated to have weighed over 1 million pounds.  (Founders Grove trail guide)

 

It too had a huge burl.

The thick bark on a redwood is what helps it survive fires.

Below is another big tree that a person could practically live in.

After leaving Founders Grove, we drove up the road a bit and had lunch at The Eternal Tree House Cafe.  Behind the cafe was a tree house with a 20 foot room inside the base of the old dead tree...

...and some big  interesting carvings.

After lunch, we drove back to Rockefeller Forest where we saw Tall Tree...

...and went for a walk in the rain in the woods.

It was so peaceful hearing nothing but the raindrops falling through the forest.

We also walked a short distance to see Giant Tree.

After completely enjoying our drive and walks among the Giants, it was time to head back up Hwy 101 for our 2 hour drive back home.  On the way back, these two bull elks crossed the road in front of us.

And then a short distance down the road, we came upon a whole herd of elk.

Just when we were about to leave, the big bull elk of the herd came walking across the street.

As soon as he got to the herd, he chased off a couple of younger bull elks that were in the herd and then he started strutting his stuff amongst the ladies.

What a fantastic day!  Seeing all those magnificent Coastal Redwoods and some beautiful wildlife too!