For Veteran’s Day my kids had a 4-day weekend, so I took some PTO and we traveled to Humboldt County in Northern California to see the coastal redwoods. We had stopped at a rest area on our way to Oregon a few years back but didn’t have the opportunity to explore.
It took almost 8 hours to get there, on a journey that Apple Maps said would take 4 1/2 hours. We took a detour to Lakeport to visit a little bookshop because my son had left his library books at home.
Our first outing was to the Chandler Grove near Redcrest. We took our dog Ella, only to discover later on at the visitor’s center that dogs weren’t allowed on trails anywhere in the state park.
The next day we visited the visitor’s center and the Founders Grove, stopping for a view over the Eel River.
The Founders Grove was amazing. There were more tourists (at the Chandler Grove there were none), including some rather noisy talkers whose conversations were out of place among the majesty of the ancient trees.
The Founders Tree is 350 feet tall and 40 feet around. You don’t even hit a limb until 190 feet up.
On the way back Apple Maps told us to go north, and as soon as we turned off onto highway 36, there was a sign that said “Trailers not advised past Bridgeport.” So we had to backtrack and return via the southerly route the way we came and lost an hour retracing our steps.
We recommend this trip, as long as you’re lucky like we were to have good weather even during the off season. Make sure to visit the Founders Grove and the Humboldt Redwoods State Park visitor’s center. There are dozens of other trails where you could spend days if not weeks exploring something new each time.