TOWERING TREES in the LADY BIRD JOHNSON GROVE, Redwood National Park, California

Redwood trees in the Lady Bird Johnson Grove of Redwood National Park, California.

I've been to a lot of our country's national parks, but this was my first time in Redwood National and State Parks in Humboldt County in northern California. Established in 1968, the 130,000 acres of forests, rivers, prairies and coastline that make up the park stretch from the small town of Orick to Crescent City near the Oregon border. Nearly a third of the parkland is old-growth redwood forests. On my recent visit in October to Humboldt County for an author festival, I did an author presentation at the school in Orick. 

Once a community of thriving lumber mills, the town's population shrunk after the establishment of the national park and the closing of the lumber mills. Only a few students now attend the school. On the afternoon of my visit, more elk were on the playground than students!

Elk on the Orick Elementary School playground.

It was a beautiful fall day, and after my visit with the students my companion and I had time for a short detour into the national park before returning to Eureka. Just beyond the town of Orick we found the turnoff from Highway 101 with a sign to Lady Bird Johnson Grove. The narrow road climbed out of the valley into the forest and along a ridge. After a short distance we came to a parking lot surrounded by towering redwoods and Douglas firs. An information board at the trailhead included a map and description of the park’s founding:

Lady Bird Johnson came to this site on November 25, 1968 to help dedicate Redwood National Park. She returned on August 27, 1969 to be honored by President Richard Nixon with this grove of trees named in her honor, recognizing Lady Bird’s devoted service to the cause of preserving and enhancing America’s natural beauty for the enjoyment of all people.

Indigenous people of the North Coast region have made the redwood forests and associated ecosystems their home since time immemorial

We followed the path and crossed the bridge into the grove. Looking up, giant redwoods reached to the sky, dwarfing the people below. It is awe inspiring.

Redwood trees can live up to 2000 years and often reach the age of 600 years.

Redwoods are the tallest trees in North America, reaching heights of up to 367 feet. Underneath, on the forest floor, grow an abundance of shrubs, ferns, wildflowers, mushrooms.

The park is also home to a wide variety of wildlife--birds, fish, marine mammals, land mammals and more. Elk graze in the valleys. Cliffs along the coast are nesting sites for thousands of seabirds. In 2022, California condors were released in the park, expanding the current range of these endangered birds that once lived up and down the Pacific Coast.

Redwoods National Park surrounds and encompasses three previously established California State Parks--Prairie Creek, Del Norte, and Jedidiah Smith--expanding protection for the trees and accompanying ecosystems. The parklands are managed cooperatively. The Redwoods National and State Parks have been designated a World Heritage Site and part of the California Coast Ranges Biosphere Preserve. I wish I had had more time to spend there. I will have to go back someday.
 

Roosevelt Elk. Only male elk have antlers.

California’s LOST COAST HEADLANDS: Hike to Guthrie Creek

The Lost Coast in northern California has some of the state’s most spectacular scenery--ranging from alpine forests and thick redwood groves to rolling rangeland and rugged beaches.  In mid-October, when I was in Humboldt County for the bi-annual Children’s Authors Festival, I had the chance to visit the Lost Coast twice–first during the festival when I was a guest at two small rural schools and talked about my books and what it is like to be an author, and then after the festival finished, hiking with a friend on the beautiful Guthrie Creek trail.

For our hike, we started from the town of Ferndale, driving along a very narrow, winding road to the Guthrie Creek trail head, about a half hour’s journey. When we arrived, we were the only car in the small parking lot, and, in fact, we had not passed any other traffic along our way.  One of the attractions of the Lost Coast is its remoteness–which means that you are not likely to run into other people.

The morning had started with thick fog coming in from the ocean, but by the time we set off down the path, it was starting to clear. Below us, Guthrie Creek made its way to the sea.  In the distance down the coast we could see the huge rock that is Cape Mendocino.  White-crowned sparrows were hopping about in the bushes and purple asters bloomed along the edge of the path.

The hike to the beach goes along a well-maintained path that zag-zags along the side of the hill with views of the beach and coastal vegetation.  It is not a strenuous climb.  It takes about an hour.

Directions to the Guthrie Creek Trailhead from Highway 101
Exit Highway 101 at the Ferndale exit. Travel west towards Ferndale for five miles. From Main Street, turn right onto Ocean Avenue. Continue on Ocean Avenue for seven miles to the trailhead for Fleener Creek. The road will alternate between dirt and pavement.
Continue past the Fleener Creek Trailhead south approximately 2 miles and look for the trailhead to Guthrie Creek on your right. From the parking lot to the beach below is 1 mile.

For more information about the hike, click here.
For directions to a scenic drive of the Lost Coast, click here.  The drive, which takes about four hours, starts in Ferndale and goes through the towns of Petrolia, Honeydew and back to Highway 101 through the redwoods in Humboldt State Park.

Humboldt County: Redwoods, Seashore, and California History

Sunset from Trinidad, Humboldt County, California

Vast forests, miles of beaches, rushing rivers, and abundant wildlife are some of the reasons I love going to Humboldt County.   Every two years, in October, I participate in the Humboldt County Author Festival, and usually stay one or two extra days to spend time with friends and enjoy the beautiful scenery.  This year, unlike some others, we were blessed with perfect weather, allowing us to enjoy the full glory of fall, culminating on the last night of the festival with a spectacular sunset over the ocean.
To read about my school visits and activities during the festival, go to my October 26, 2011post in my Art and Books blog.  Here are some of the other things I enjoyed during my stay.

Humboldt Marina.  Tsumanis are always a potential danger along the Pacific Coast.

On the day I arrived, after lunch at the Café Marina overlooking the docks of Humboldt Bay in Eureka, I drove with a friend out to the Samoa Dunes recreation area.  Although this beach is designated as an off road vehicle area, it was midweek, and luckily for us there was almost nobody else there and the beach was empty except for us and the birds.  As we walked along the shoreline, flocks of perky sanderlings (a type of sandpiper), ran along the edge of the water searching for tiny crabs and other food in order to refuel before resuming their migration south.   Further up the shore, hungry vultures perched on a log near a rotting seal carcass.

Flock of Sanderlings on Samoa Beach

Earlier in the day, on our way to the dunes we had stopped to view the Fisherman Memorial on Woodley Island and marker honoring men who have been lost at sea.  Fishing has always been a major industry in the area, so the opportunities to eat good seafood in Humboldt County are plentiful. For dinner we ate an excellent dinner at the Waterfront Restaurant in Eureka where they served the best crab cakes I’ve had in a long time.

View of Ferndale from Russ Park

Farming and logging are other major industries in Humboldt County.  (Eighty percent of the county’s 2.3 million acres is forest.)  When the festival was over, I went to visit friends in Ferndale, a charming small town with a Victorian main street, about 25 miles from Eureka surrounded by verdant pastures and contented Jersey cows that produce prize winning milk and cheese.  In Russ Park at the edge of town we hiked to the top of the forest trail where we had a wonderful view of the valley and coast below.

Redwood grove, Rohner Park, Fortuna.  Note stump surrounded by new growth.

The next day we went on another hike, through a patch of preserved redwood forest in Rohner Park in the nearby town of Fortuna.  Humboldt County is famous for its redwood trees, which can be seen in various parks, and along the Avenue of the Giants in the southern part of the county.  I never cease to be amazed at the size of the trees.  As we walked through the forest at Rohner Park, watching the light filter down through the canopy onto the open forest floor, it truly felt as if we were in nature’s cathedral.


Book about the redwoods: For a wonderful children’s book about redwood trees, packed full of facts and illustrated with an imaginative twist, go to Redwoods by Jason Chin.