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The road weaves through "old growth"
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Mushrooms on the forest floor |
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The Avenue of the Giants
is a thirty-two mile scenic byway that parallels US-101 about
thirty-five miles south of Eureka, California. The road
was originally built as a stagecoach and wagon road in the
1880s and roughly follows the South Fork of the Eel River
from the small town of Pepperwood in the north to Phillipsville
in the south. The road meanders through the Humboldt Redwoods
State Park, a redwood preserve of nearly 52,000 acres that
includes over 17,000 acres of "old growth" (never
been logged) coast redwood trees. Some of the largest coast
redwoods ever found can be seen within short walks from the
convenient parking areas located along this drive.
While our exploration of this area was limited
to a couple of hours, it would be easy to spend all day
strolling through these magnificent groves. There are a number
of exits and on ramps that connect the Avenue of the Giants
with US-101, making it easy to travel any section of the route.
The speed limit on the scenic byway is 45 mph, and if one
were to drive the distance without stopping, it would only
add about thirty minutes to cover the same distance on the
nearby freeway. This would definitely be better than missing
it altogether, but we recommend allowing at least two or three
hours, so you can spend some time soaking up the enchanting
aura of the trees. The trees we looked at are 400 to 600 years
old, but there are a number of giants that are over 2,000
years old and several are over 300 feet tall.
The quiet seems audible when you walk
in an "old growth" redwood forest. If you are
lucky, you may spy one of the fantastic yellow-colored Banana
slugs slowing transforming the forest litter into compost,
or see examples of the awesome variety of mushrooms and fungi
that live on the trees, logs, and rocks. This is also the
land of Bigfoot - a number of sightings of this mythical beast
have been reported at locations along the drive.
[Continued on Page
2]
Mark
Sedenquist
November 6, 2005
