While we stayed in Fortuna, CA, we made sure to drive the 30 mile "Avenue of the Giants" which passes right through an amazing stand of giant redwoods near the Pacific coast in northern California.
We have certainly seen pictures of these huge trees, but you really can't realize the size of the trees until you get right next to them. Here, Rick and Orinda stand next to some huge tree trunks as the trees soar over 300' high.
Today, most of this area is protected as a state park, however, this was not always the case. Indeed, back in the 1950's, this location was a thriving small town called Dyerville. Unfortunately, a huge flood in 1964 wiped out the town when the Eel Rvier seen here crested 42' above normal.
We saw this high water mark sign on the road and were surprised to realize it was about 15' above the road, which was quite a ways above the river bottom. This was a huge flood!
The trees are hard to fathom ang there are all kinds of attractions as a result. One interesting item is this Log Truck which was made out of 1 huge log back in the 1916 time frame.
Of course, one of the most popular attractions is one of the three, privately owned drive-through tree. Rick had to do this, so he paid his $6 and Orinda took pictures. As he eased toward the opening, he started to have second thoughts.
It turns out that the Buick is a pretty big car when you drive it through a tree trunk! Rick eased through, but only had an inch or so on each side of the mirrors. Orinda figured that he was going to scrape the side, but good; however, he made it with no problem -- but he declined to do it again! Notice that the tree is 275' high and some 5,000 years old. Wow!
Another interesting attraction is this real "tree house"! This house is actually located in the base trunk of one tree as Orinda shows. The house has windows cleverly inset into the side.
The inside of the tree house is really rather comfortable. It offers a dry area and it is an interesting view to see the inside of the trunk of a great tree. It was hard to believe we were actually inside a single tree!
What an amazing day in the Avenue of the Giants!
1 comment:
Great tour, we definitely have to get there :)
Post a Comment