Avenue of the Giants

Our journey through the redwood territory continued but unfortunately so did the rain! The Avenue of the Giants was another area reknown for old redwood forests. It ran roughly parallel to US-101 and was fairly easy to navigate. A small box with a pamphlet was available at the start of the route which was helpful with descriptions of various stops along the way and described some of the groves and trails.The name Avenue of the Giants was about as good a name as can be given. We literally felt like we were either driving or walking alongside giants in a prehistoric time. Again it was a shame that the rain prevented us from doing more.

One of the highlights was Founders Grove. It was a fairly short and easy loop trail. Founders tree was one of the tallest redwoods in the grove measuring at just over 105m! Big Tree which we saw yesterday was a good 20m shorter even though it was much older. At the end of the loop we saw the amazing fallen Dyerville Giant. It once stood at over 110m tall and was thought to be the tallest tree in the park prior to its fall in 1991. The redwood’s crash to the ground moved the earth so much that it registered on a nearby seismograph. We were able to walk the whole length of the tree to appreciate just how tall these trees were! We were also in awe of its massive root system! 

Photo through the windscreen...but literally driving amongst giants!

A guide available at the start of the route

Gave a brief description of the various groves/attractions

We stopped at Founders Grove

Founders tree at just over 105m, its about 20m taller than Big Tree yesterday!

Keep looking up...

Sheltering from the rain inside the trunk

Massive roots

Dyerville the fallen giant

From there, the weather just deteriorated. It was a tiring drive to Fort Bragg having to manouvre continuous turns along hills in the wet and fog. We abandoned the rest of our plans for sightseeing and enjoyed the brooding view from out of our room balcony. Even going for dinner had become a chore and so eat in pizza it was! The children were always glad to have extra TV time...

Gloomy weather persisted :( Our view from our motel room

Weather was so bad we had pizzas in our rooms