As we left the RV park in Alexander Valley after a brief but great visit with Arlene, we headed up highway US128 back over to the Pacific coast and picked up highway CA1 again.  It was our first encounter with the Pacific Ocean coastal fog layers coming in over the mountains.  And it was actually pretty cool.

We were heading to a quaint sounding town called Myers Flat, CA and an RV park called Giant Redwoods RV located on the Avenue of the Giants.  And that was exactly for what we wanted to see. 

But first we had a stop planned in Mendicino on the coast.  It had been highly recommended by Jeff and Deb as a cute town and nice ocean overlook out on the headland. We found a place to park the RV and took the Jeep to explore.  We were happy that the fog had lifted and the view was clear.  No seals but lots of birds and flowers!  And as Gail wrote in her journal, “the ocean was the real centerpiece!”   And I liked the windmill-looking homes in town.  

On up the coast, through the old town of Ft Bragg (obviously California and not North Carolina), which hasn’t been a fort since 1860, to reconnect with US101 on to Myers Flat.  It was a long day, and we didn’t get into the park until after 6:00. 

We slept in later than normal and, as we started out, we noticed the park did in fact have Giant Redwoods!  Just not where we were parked.  We were in the full hookup area, and I surmised that it was probably impossible to run sewer lines through all the redwood roots to the other pads.  (But before we left, we pulled into a redwood pad for a photo shoot.  What do you think?!  We posted the shot on the Delano Facebook site as a possible “RV photo of the month” winner!)

The RV park was about a quarter of the way up the Avenue of the Giants, which is a 31-mile drive through the Humbolt Redwoods State Park.  We decided to drive the northern section from Myers Flat to the end and make stops along the way to hike in the forests.  There were several key groves of Redwoods that were highlighted on the map.  Our first stop was at the visitor center where we put a pin in the US map on the wall for Miami (many pins in Florida, but none yet on Miami).  Then I got a stamp in our NP passport! 

We headed out on a short self-guided tour of the Williams Grove just across from the visitor center and just happened to get there as the ranger was leaving with a small group.  We tagged along and learned more about the redwoods and how they survive fire and their different means of reproduction not just from pinecones (redwoods have the smallest of all conifers – go figure!), but also from burls and from their intertwined root systems.  Probably more than you want to know, but we found it interesting.  As the tallest trees in the world, growing up to 350 ft, and some of the oldest at over 2000 years old, they are really amazing. 

Not to go into too much detail, after the short tour we picked the Founders Grove with the tallest tree in the park at 346 ft and the previous tallest, the Dyersville Tree, that fell in 1991 at 362 ft., and the Rockfeller forest known for its old growth (meaning uncut forest) to hike through.  We then continued the drive to the north end of the Avenue of the Giants. 

The trees themselves and the forest overall are so large and daunting you cannot show them in photos.  You really must be there and stand next to them to realize their overall grandeur! 

The next day we wanted to do an almost right of passage and find one of the drive through trees in the area.   These trees are big enough and have a passage large enough that you can drive your (well, most cars!) through the actual tree.  And luckily, one of the best was virtually next to the RV park.  It was called the Shrine Drive Through Tree and has a history back to the 1900’s when horse drawn wagons would drive through.  I pulled in the mirrors on the Jeep and gave it my best!  Made it through without touching!  Actually twice.

 We continued down the south end of the Avenue of the Giants with a hike through Nelson Grove that takes you down to Eel River.  Nice walk, more trees and some flowers near the water. 

Had lunch at the Avenue Café in the little town of Miranda.  We continued to the south end and headed back to the RV to get ready for Oregon.

The drive to the state border goes through the actual Redwood National and State Park, so we made another quick stop at the Thomas H. Knuchel Visitor Center.  As the park is back on the coast, we did a short walk out to the beach for one last look at the California coast.  We also saw more Redwoods as we drove north on the Newton B Drury Scenic Parkway through the park.  As we got just south of the border the forests seemed to clear out.  We had a great couple of days in redwoods and now we’re looking forward to the Oregon coast and several stops along the way.