It's Not a Mid-Life Crisis: Day 19 - I DROVE THROUGH A TREE!!!!!!!! Oh, and saw some Redwoods.

Mileage = I drive through a tree!!!!!!
Elevation = Who cares. I drove through a tree!!!!!
Song of the Day = "Come On, Come On" by Mary Chapin Carpenter

Today, I'm going to drive through a tree! I pack up hurriedly, determined to be in Leggett (Home of the World Famous Drive Through Chandelier Tree) by 8AM. "Oh boy, Focus, aren't you excited!", I exclaim, patting the steering wheel happily. "I bet you are! How many cars just dream of driving through trees!" I arrive in Leggett before 9. The drive through tree place is closed. I come back a little after 9. Still closed. Oh well, there is another drive through tree up the road in Myers Flat (and I didn't want to drive through your stupid tree, anyway). I'll head to the Avenue of the Giants first, then the drive through tree.

And Avenue of the Giants it is! Take the turn off of 101 North, and follow the winding road through Humboldt Redwoods State Park. At the beginning, you will find a nice brochure which marks each of the groves. And off we went, following the road as it zig-zags between the trees. And these trees are like, big. They're like, really huge.

Some perspective on size. It's wider than my car.

Who is that creepy person inside the tree?

Roadside tackiness - awesome!!!

At each of the turn-outs, there is a nice informative display and a short (15-20 minute trail) through the redwoods. It's very tranquil, if a little creepy. After the wide open spaces and dazzling sunshine of the southwest, I find the redwood groves a little too quiet, too close and too dark.

And then... I get to Myers Flat. And the World Famous Drive Through Tree!!!!! And The Drive ON Tree!!!! "Oh boy Focus!!!! You get to drive THROUGH AND ON a tree! Aren't you so excited!" I'd like to think the car agreed.

I drive through a TREEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! If you look closely, you can see me waving from inside the car.

OK, so the picture for the Drive-On tree didn't work out as well.

It costs $6 (for me $5 because I'm alone... is this a pity bargain?) and takes about 5 minutes. But you get to DRIVE THROUGH A TREE!!! Totally worth it. Makes me happy even typing this.

A few minutes north of Myers Flat is the Visitor's Center for Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Well, it is simply wonderful. It has tons of interesting exhibits on everything from history to geology to flora and fauna (including a nice fern garden out front) to, of course, everything you wanted to know about the redwoods. This tiny, free (no fee to get into the park) Visitors Center gives both Arches and Joshua Tree (with their federal support) serious competition for best Visitor's Center. There is even a fantastic film about the flood that wrecked the canyon back in the 60s. The whole thing is superb. If you are passing through the area, it's worth a visit.

Detail from a timeline marked tree... Cooper, this one's for you! The best part is that they misspelled Magna Carta.

Fern Garden out front.

Looking up

Happily, I return to the car and head for the Founder's Grove, a grove of old growth (i.e., never been cut) trees. There is a 0.5mi loop around the area. Luckily, there are no people in sight, despite the tour bus parked in the parking lot. I head deep into the woods. And then it happens. I am suddenly, deeply unnerved. It's just too dark, too quiet, too primeval, and there are way too many shadows. "Come on, Butler," I mutter to myself. "You were in the desert by yourself. You're standing in the middle of the most popular grove on the most popular trail. What's going to happen? Seriously. Chill out." But I am freaked out - every hair on the back of my neck is standing up... I can't explain why, just that I am deeply, seriously unsettled. I can't do it, and I turn around and walk very quickly back to the car.


I am leaning to the side because I'm about to run the F out of here.

Maybe I'm getting bad vibes because the trees know that I drove through one of them.

More of the Founder's Grove. From the parking lot.

Disturbed, I head quickly north to the entrance to Redwoods National Park. It has the standard Visitor's Center, but a nice Coastal Wetlands Trail (0.6mi).

Views from the trail.

Wildflowers in bloom.

It turns out that Redwoods National Park is mostly second and third growth redwoods (cut as recently as the 1960s). It serves mostly as a buffer for the surrounding state parks - Del Norte, Jedidiah Smith and Prairie Creek. The oldest and largest trees are actually in Humboldt Redwoods State Park (where I just was). There are no campgrounds and few hikes within the National Park. I head to Fern Canyon (where they filmed parts of Jurassic Park II) for a hike. Turns out that even though the federal and state parks are managed "cooperatively", they don't honor the national parks pass at the state parks (entrance fee $8). I bump down a winding "gravel" (aka mud and potholes) road towards Fern Canyon. At the entrance, the ranger looks at me and looks at my car. "You'll have to ford a few streams, but I think you'll be okay". Alrighty. And ford some streams I do. But it's worth the drive and mud. Fern Canyon is amazing - right off the beach, sheer cliff walls with a plenitude of ferns growing right on the cliff walls.

Herd of Roosevelt Elk near the trailhead

Trail to Fern Canyon... who says that moss only grows on the north side of trees?

Entrance to Fern Canyon

roading! Where's Ron when you need him?

The hike is a loop that takes you up the cliffs, then steeply down, and back down along the river bed. One small problem... the way is blocked by massive downed trees (of course, at the very end of the loop - within a few hundred yards of the starting point). I look up... there is a rock cairn on top of the logs. After struggling up a bank (and being horrified when I realize that the bush I am using to help me climb up is poison oak), and balance-beam walking several logs, I wind up 10 feet off the river bed, perched on top of a ridiculously large trunk with nowhere to go but down. It winds up being about a 5 foot drop onto a jumble of rocks, branches and logs. I envision the ensuing repeat knee surgeries (Be kind to your knees, you will miss them when they go) and/or broken ankle, and turn around to head back the long way.

Walls of Fern Canyon

Big ass clovers... compare with my foot at the bottom.

As I head north again, it is threatening to rain. I almost get a hotel, but at the last minute head to Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State Park and the campground ($35!!! That's more expensive than Yosemite and Grand Canyon!!). I do score a nice, private spot along the river. But it rains. I get wet. Oh well. At least the car gets washed.