Coastal views and giant redwoods

For the first time on this trip I slept pretty well and woke at a more reasonable time to a crisp but sunny morning, with none of yesterday’s mist. We checked out and went across the road to have breakfast at Café One, a friendly diner-style place but with the bonus of proper coffee! As well as the very welcome espresso I enjoyed my corned beef hash and eggs ‘sunny side up’.

Glass Beach

Before leaving Fort Bragg we drove down to the sea at Glass Beach. We didn’t go down on to the beach however but wandered around on the network of paths above, photographing the crashing waves, rock pools and some cute and very tame squirrels.

We spotted an interestingly customised car in the car park here and when we asked permission to take photos the proud owner posed with it.

Laguna Point

We drove north out of town to Laguna Point where we walked out along the boardwalk. I'd hoped to see seals here, but while there were none it was still a worthwhile stop for the stunning coastal scenery and beautiful light.

Having spent quite a while at these two stops while still barely out of Fort Bragg we decided we should crack on a bit. So we took Highway 1 north on a very winding road, slowed by all the bends and some road works in a couple of places. But despite that we made good time and reached the main Highway 101 north around 11.30.

The Avenue of the Giants

We stopped to buy petrol and some cold drinks and snacks, then continued to the turnoff for the Avenue of the Giants, as the scenic route through the Humboldt Redwood SP is called. We stopped at the visitor centre where we had our drinks and snacks for lunch and had a look around the exhibits. A helpful park volunteer gave us some leaflets and talked us through some recommended walks.

There are two types of redwood tree to be found in California, each as majestic as the other. The Giant Sequoias are the most massive trees in the world, measured by a combination of height and width. Meanwhile these Coastal Redwoods, although not as massive overall, are the tallest trees to be found anywhere in the world. The tallest among them stands at 380 feet, as high as a 37-storey building. Their trunks can grow more than 27 feet wide, about eight paces for an average adult! And hard to fathom, but these trees can live for more than 2,000 years. Some Coastal Redwoods living today were alive during the time of the Roman Empire.

Gould Grove

We decided to do this walk which started just across the road from the Visitor Centre. It took us on a loop through a redwood grove which features 300-foot trees, evidence of early logging. I found myself taking lots of photos of the awe-inspiring trees, even though I knew one would look pretty much like the other. It’s almost impossible to convey their size in a photograph, but I asked Chris to pose in some of my shots to try to give a sense of scale.

At the furthest point from the road the trail has a path leading down to a river, the South Fork of the Eel River.

Founders Grove

Further north in the park we also did the Founders Grove loop walk where a helpful leaflet told us more about the trees and their environment. This grove is named for the founders of the Save the Redwoods league, formed in 1917 by a group of men to preserve at least some areas of primeval forests. They purchased their first grove here in 1921.

The Founders Tree itself is one of the tallest of the Coastal Redwoods, possibly the tallest. I say possibly because I have seen some contradictory descriptions online. The National Park website describes it as being:

364 feet in height and 15 feet in diameter at the base. It is commonly referred to as the “world’s tallest known standing tree”.

But a sign in front of it on this trail told us it was ‘just’ 346.1 feet high and 12.7 feet in diameter. Meanwhile Wikipedia lists several trees (all Coastal Redwoods) taller than this, as does the Monumental Trees website. However the latter goes on to say that the tallest trees, discovered only in 2006, grow in a remote area that is not easily accessible and has not been disclosed. I guess that means that this Founders Tree is the tallest tree any of us is ever likely to see! Of course it’s impossible to show the scale in a photo, or even fit the whole tree in, but I tried.

Ferndale

Leaving the park behind us we drove north to Ferndale where we were to spend the night in a motel-style room in the Redwood Suites, an off-shoot of the much pricier Victorian Inn.

Our hire car parked in front of the Redwood Suites

After checking in we had a walk around the town which was being decorated for Halloween. The historic buildings were interesting, and the decorations gave them a slightly creepy air in places.

The town promotes itself as the ‘Victorian Village’, and certainly buildings from that era dominate the main street. The town was founded in the mid nineteenth century and grew thanks to dairy farming in the surrounding area, which still dominates the landscape around the town. There is a strong sense of small-town Americana here, where everyone knows everyone else, and the pace of life is slow.

The architectural styles are a mishmash of Victoriana, from the humble to the ornate, including Gothic Revival, Italianate, Eastlake and Queen Anne styles. I noted quite a few false fronts to the buildings, so it seems those early inhabitants were keen to impress! Some of the most elaborate homes have been dubbed ‘Butterfat Palaces’ because they were built on the wealth of that dairy industry.

I imagine Ferndale is never lively but on a Sunday evening it seemed very quiet. The only options for dinner were the rather expensive Victorian Inn restaurant or a Mexican, Tuyas, on Main Street. We chose the latter which had good reviews, but on the whole we were underwhelmed. Chris's burrito was fine but my chicken mole was disappointingly dry with hardly any sauce. And despite an advertised closing time of 9.00 PM, the waitress was sweeping the floor almost beneath our feet as we ate and hung up the closed sign by around 8.00. We had the distinct impression they couldn’t wait for us to leave, even though they were polite and friendly enough!