Avenue Of The Giants!

(One last post about the Redwoods!)

We also spent a day at Humboldt Redwoods State Park along the

Avenue of the Giants, a 31 mile scenic drive 200 miles north of San Francisco which parallels highway 101.  Some say it is the most outstanding display of these giant trees in the entire 500 mile Redwood belt.  We loved it and we loved walking the 

Founders Grove!

Here's the bottom of the tree...

...and here's up to the top!  

These amazing coast Redwoods, Sequoia sempervirens, are taller than any other living thing and can live over 2,000 years and withstand fires, floods and insects.  Some of the groves in the park have never been logged.  These are ancient or old growth coast redwoods.

There are two types of ferns that grow in these forests and they are beautiful!  

Lady fern:

Sword fern:

And also lots of what looks like clover but is actually 

Redwood sorrel:

They give a prehistoric look to the forest!

It was interesting to see how many trees have been damaged by fires but are still thriving!

There are many fallen trees in these old growth forests.

This one is called the Dyersville Giant.  Here is Dan posing by the roots:

It was impossible to get it all in one shot!

The Dyerville Giant was taller, larger and older than any tree around it.  It fell on March 24 1991.  It is approx. 362 feet tall, 200 feet taller than Niagara falls or comparable to a 30 story building! It  probably weighs over 1 million pounds and is 52 feet in circumference.

No one saw it fall but a park neighbor who lives a mile away reported hearing a large crash and thought it was a train wreck!   It will lay here for hundreds of years playing an important role as host, home and food source to over 4,000 kinds of plants and animals that will live on or near it! 

   There is a burl 100 feet from the roots (you can see it in the above photo) which holds a cluster of dormant buds which may grow shoots.  What caused it to fall?  

It was the rainy season and 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.

Another tree more recently fell over the Dyerville Giant.  

The wood that splintered out looks quite fresh.

We saw some interesting burls at the base of some trees.

Interesting tidbits we learned:

The Founders Grove is dedicated to the founders of the Save-the-Redwoods League.  In 1917 several prominent men traveled to view the magnificent Redwood groves.  When they found these trees were not protected, they formed the League and have contributed over $57 million to protect 170,000 acres of Redwood land.

In 1927 John D. Rockefeller was so enchanted with the redwoods he donated $1 million to preserve them.  In 1929 he donated another $1 million. 

 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 helping to hold each other up.

Redwoods are so immense they live in 3 climatic zones.  A very large redwood can release up to 500 gallons of water into the air per day.  They thrive in a climate of 65 inches/year average rainfall plus summer fog.

 Goodbye from the amazing "Redwood forests," one part of this great land!