Avenue of the Giants, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, Ancient Redwoods RV Park, Redcrest, Ca

May 19th, 2016 

We were due to leave Richardson Grove RV Park this morning but before we left we wanted to visit a gift shop that was about 5 minutes away.  We packed everything up ready to leave and then quickly drove to The Legend of Bigfoot store.

                                      
                                                       

 There were some amazing wood carvings here.

We had a look around before returning to the campground where we hooked Tilly up to Lily and left Richardson Grove and headed to Ancient Redwoods RV Park in Redcrest, Ca.

We followed this logging truck for a short while.

                                      

It was a very short journey of just 39 miles.

Here's the view from our campsite at Ancient Redwoods. This is a small campground in a clearing surrounded by trees.  

There's Lily at the far end of the lineup.

Here was the evening sky.

Ryan's been out on his ship for a month today.  One month down, ?? to go!!!!!!  Stay safe Ry.

May 20th, 2016

We decided to travel along the entire route of the Avenue of the Giants which is a 31 mile scenic route with several trees and trails to see on the way.  Our RV park was on the Avenue, near to the Northern end. Here's a MAP showing what's where along the Avenue!!!

Ok, this is not a Redwood tree but it is an old automobile.

Eel River

Along the Avenue

Our first stop was The Founders Grove, which was the place recommended to us by our last campground. It is an awesome half mile loop through some of the most amazing trees and foliage.  It was an overcast day and we had some rain but the sun kept trying to peek through.

I looked for a four leaf clover but no luck.

I'm not sure what I was looking at/for in this picture.  Sometimes I get so immersed in my thoughts that I could be in another world.  This place was a bit like that.  It was awesome.

Cobwebs on the tree

A memorial bench where you could sit and just reflect

I was getting an information leaflet on the grove.  It was free to go around the trail and they just asked for a donation for the trail guide if you wanted to keep it.  It was very informative and the whole trail was well worth a donation.  The Founders Tree is in the background.

                            

                            

Looking up to the top of the tree, a long long way up!!!!

The picture below shows an Albino Redwood.  This is extremely rare and was growing from the trunk of this tree about 150 ft. up.  The lady in our last park had told us about this and where to look for it.

Albino Growth

This is what the trail guide said about the tree in the following pictures.  Many thanks to Ron Jones who wrote the guide.  I am going to quote from it a lot in this blog.
"The large Redwood is an old growth tree that has been through many fires, a natural occurrence throughout the centuries.  Even though it appears be heavily fire damaged, it continues to live."

Look how small I am!!!

 Here's more wise words from the trail guide.
"It's estimated a single old growth redwood is capable of producing 100,000 cones each year.  Each cone has 90-120 seeds.  So a single tree could produce 10,000,000 seeds in a single year!  However, 90% will not be fertile due to fungal attacks.  Of the remaining 10%, most will die unless they find perfect conditions to germinate.
Coast Redwoods have another method of regeneration.  They are able to sprout from root collar burls at the base of the tree.  By doing this, they use the mature root system of the parent tree for nutrients and stability.  These trees can eventually grow to maturity even after the parent tree has died and fallen to the forest floor.  After these trees reach maturity they will have root collar burls and the process continues.  Thus a parent tree gives the same genetic code to many generations.
You may notice several trees growing in a circle around an open area.  This phenomena, called a "fairy ring", is caused by the parent tree dying and decaying, leaving the sprouts that have grown into mature trees.
This tree has many burl sprouts growing from it's base.  One has grown to six inches in diameter and is 30 feet tall.  Eventually most sprouts will die, leaving only the most hardy."

This is the tree mentioned above. Look at the growth coming from the base.

At times, as some of my family and friends will agree, I can be a little crazy.  I named the growth below "Gizmo".  I do bring a smile to Bryan's face when ever I come out with my weird observances though, so I think they are a good thing!!!!

"Gizmo"

Burl on the side of the tree

This is another of the "weird" moments.  As I looked at this from afar I could clearly see a bird.  Bryan totally agreed with me and a couple who came up behind us could see it as well.  So now there are at least 4 crazies in this forest!!!

You can see "the bird" in the picture below, up and to the left from Bryan's shoulder.  I have to say it looked more birdlike as you approached it from another angle.

Spent a lot of time looking up and up and up!!!!

The sun shining through

More roots

Midget me

I have the trail guide open at #8 the "Dyerville Giant" The fallen trunk behind me belongs to it.

Taken from the trail guide. "It is interesting to see the progression of plants growing in the mineral soil pit created by the Giant's fall.  One of the first plants to appear was the Redwood Sorrell which looks like clover.  It is associated with redwoods growing in alluvial flood plains such as in this grove."

a small flower to enhance the beauty

Raindrops!!

Aaah, a heart

More wise words from the Trail Guide.
"The Dyerville Giant, which stood here perhaps for as long as 1600 years, was taller, larger and older than any other tree around it.  It seemed to be of another age.  Very few of these ancient relics still remain.  The Dyerville Giant was recognized as a "Champion" Coast Redwood as certified by the American Foresters Association until it fell on March 24th, 1991.  Before it fell, it was at least 362 feet tall (estimates from two different sources measured it at 370 feet after it fell).  That is two hundred feet taller than Niagara Falls; or comparable to a 30 story building.  It is 17 feet in diameter, 52 feet in circumference and probably weights over 1,000,000 pounds.
The events that caused the Giant to fall are common in ancient redwood forests.  During the rainy season the soil became saturated with water.  Another large tree fell one week earlier, hitting a second tree causing it to lean.  A week later the leaning tree fell, striking the Dyerville Giant causing it to fall.  No one actually saw the Giant fall, but a park neighbor, who lives a mile away, reported hearing a large crash and thought it was a train wreck!  A tree over 50 feet away had mud splattered 15 feet up it's trunk from the impact of the Giant hitting the ground.  Unless fire consumes it, the Dyerville Giant will continue to lie here in the forest floor for many hundreds of years, fulfilling an important role in the healthy life of an ancient forest.  As the decay process gains a hold on the Giant, it will become the host, home and food source to over 4,000 kinds of plants and animals that will live on or in it.
There is a burl located 100 feet from the roots along the main trunk of the Giant.  This knobby bump is a cluster of dormant buds, which grow shoots for a period of time.
Redwood roots grow only a few feet down into the soil, but they can grow laterally a hundred feet or more.  They also can intertwine and graft on to one another, thus helping to hold each other up."

Standing by the Dyerville Giant,

You can't even see the end of the trunk!!!  The burl mentioned above is shown here on the tree stump

In the picture below you can see the trunk from the other end.  You can see the burl with the buds and shoots growing on the trunk above where the couple are walking.  This was the couple that saw the "bird" in the roots earlier in the blog.  They were on a trip celebrating their 35th Wedding Anniversary.  We congratulated them and afterwards I thought how lucky we were, as we were on a permanent trip celebrating retirement.  We are indeed very fortunate and even though we are on a limited budget, we are finding amazing sights to see and learn about.

Close up of the trunk and burl

Another fallen trunk that has become home to new growth

The tree below looked as though it had recently fallen across the trail.  It had been cut on either side of the trail to leave a path to walk through.

So many different shapes to use your imagination with

More burls high up on a tree

Bryan's the midget now

                           

You could walk in this one

The Founders Grove is only one of the trails along the Avenue of Giants and we were happy that we chose it as the one to do as we found it really interesting.

We continued on our road trip along the Avenue.  Next stop was the Visitor Centre. This LINK gives a lot of information on the Avenue and a good time lapse video of the drive along the Avenue.

Outside the centre was this fallen tree.  It had been marked according to the number of rings, how many years it is estimated to have been growing.  As you can see the year 1000 was the earliest marked, only 1016 years ago.

This board was outside and listed what had been seen in the park.  Big Foot and Kim Kardashian, hmmm!!!!

There was a lot of interesting exhibits and information in the centre.

Bigfoot footprint

Travel Log

                            
                           
                              

This is the Travel Log used by Charles Kellogg.  It appears to have a different driver these days.          

                           
                            

Wait!!!  How did this bear get in here!!!

This burl had been stolen from the forest and was recovered.

These trunks are the same size but their ages are very different.

                                            

                            

I asked about a river trail that was shown on the map but was told it was closed until later in the month as the bridges had not been put back.  Apparently the bridges are removed in winter and replaced for the summer.

Oh well, maybe next time.  On we went until we saw this.  Shrine Drive Thru Tree

Ok, we looked at each other.  Let's try it!!!  After all you can't come to the land of Giant Redwoods and not drive through one!!!

Here we go!!

Breath In!!

Ok then!!

Bryan drove through very well and Tilly remained intact.  We parked the car and had a walk around the other exhibits.
                       
This bear greeted us!!

There were tree houses

                            

                            

Walk Thru Tree

Beautiful flowers

Drive On Log!!

An ancient tree.  The sign says according to the rings it's 3200 years old.

Bryan stood in front of the drive through tree.

                            

I took a picture from inside it, looking up through the top.

I was a little disappointed with my pictures as I hadn't had a chance to get a picture from the front.  After watching others going through and taking their time so they could get lots of pictures we decided to go through again.  There wasn't anyone around by now and so we wouldn't feel rushed.

Here are pictures watching from the front.

Here she comes

Eeeekkkk

Tilly made it, yay!!

Bryan then drove up on the log!!!

Here's a VIDEO that includes going through the tree from inside the car.

Back on the Avenue we got, and decided to stop for lunch at the appropriately named Avenue Cafe in Miranda.  Our lunch was great and after replenishing ourselves with food and drink we set back off along the Avenue.......

The next stop was the Chimney Tree.

Bryan going in

Looking up inside the tree

Window looking out

Going into the tree

This carving was outside the Chimney Tree Grille.

I saw this pretty flower that reminded me of a person, maybe a man!!                                                                     

                            

We drove to the end of the Avenue and then returned along the 101 back home.

At our campground there is the Immortal Tree.
                           

                                         

The Loggers Axe signifies the tree surviving attempts at cutting it down.  The fish higher above the axe shows the level the water reached during the floods of 1964.  You can see the difference in color of the trunk showing where the flood water ended.
                                               

I climbed into this old tree.

Now you see her!!!

Now you don't!!

Behind the tree was a small natural grotto.

See the bee

There it is

We had a look around the gift shop which had some beautiful carvings for sale.    There was a small pond inside where this turtle had a home.

                            

While looking around, another couple from the campground came in and asked Bryan about our satellite dish.  They have a manual one but can't get it to work, so Bryan said he would have a look at it and see if he could help them.  He made sure to tell them that he wasn't an expert by any means because he didn't want to get their hopes up.

When we got back to Lily he went over to them and spent about 45 minutes setting the dish up and connecting it to their receiver.  He managed to get their television to recognize it but couldn't get the position of the dish exactly right.  We haven't got a cell phone signal here and so he suggested they go to the office and call Direct TV and they should be able to give them the settings for where we are.  They said they were leaving tomorrow so weren't to worried but were happy that at least the receiver recognized the dish now. That was Bryan's good deed for the day!!

We purposely made sure ours was automatic when we got it so we didn't have to worry about getting it aligned at every stop.  Just press a button and it finds the settings itself.

Well, another fantastic day in Northern California.

Take Care