Crescent City, CA - Hiking With Titans

Just another ordinary day hiking in the Redwoods. Ho hum.

We got up early so we would have lots of daylight in our quest and reached our trail head by 9:00. We changed into our hiking boots, put our packs on and we were off. The sun was shining on the redwoods, glinting through their massive trunks. The redwood sorrel and the ferns carpeted the floor of the park. The trees were so dense that we caught only glimpses of the blue sky above. Sometimes, it is not just the sights we see but the colors that stand in relief against each other than make the scene special. Every now and then, we would catch sight of a tree silhouetted against the blue sky. Tall, erect, reaching for the heavens.

Our goal was to hike but a subset of the goal was to find the Grove of the Titans, a grove of redwoods with trees taller than any others in the world. They are not easy to find but we had thought we knew where they were and had a chance of finding them. If not, well, we would still have had a neat hike through redwoods. And, wasn’t that our goal in the first place?

And, yes we found the Grove of the Titans. No one else was in this grove today and we had them all to ourselves. Wow. These trees have massive trunks, one up to 26’ in diameter. Gary actually carried a tape measure in his pack today so we could get a measurement. But, even without an exact measurement, we could tell that these trees were awesome. And, the crowns were amazingly high. Some of these trees are named but, I’m not sure that these names are official. Nor do I know how a tree name becomes official nor who the arbiter of names is but it is fun and we took some pictures to memorialize our visit here.

My sister-in-law said that this picture looked pre-historic and I’ll have to agree with her. Gary thinks that I photoshopped a miniaturized picture of him next to this tree. Nope, that is really the picture I took. That tree is really that big. It has been named the ‘Screaming Titans’ since it splits into two trees about 40’ up.

We also found this marvelous yellow slug. And, yes, it is a bit chilly - so Gary wore his gloves.

Did we find the Grove of the Titans? Yep. Did we find all of the named Titans? Nope, but we had fun tramping around looking and finding as many as we wanted. We then took off, knowing we had other things to accomplish today.

   The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
 
But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

This Robert Frost poem is much darker than our mood today but the woods were definitely lovely, dark and deep and this poem runs through my mind as we hike through these forests.

We also wanted to drive down Howland Drive in the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park today so we circled around. This drive is not just a way to get somewhere, it is a treat in itself. In places the road narrows and curves - those darn trees again.

Just kidding, of course. I read that the powers that be wanted to turn this into a 4-lane road but were stopped by President Johnson in an ecological push in the 1960’s. Thank you, President Johnson. 

Howland Road leads to what is called the Stout Grove, a 44-acre redwood grove donated by Mrs. Clara Stout in memory of her husband, lumber baron, Frank D. Stout. Since this is a flood plain, the soil is rich and the redwoods thrive on all the silt deposited here during periodic floodings. This flooding also inhibits the growth of other trees so the redwoods stand alone, surrounded by a carpet of waist-high sword ferns.

It’s not the largest grove, it doesn’t have the tallest trees, it’s off the beaten path but we found its emphasis on the redwoods stunning. Because the signs with tree names and heights have been removed, it is a fine walk through the redwoods with no distractions. We were there in the afternoon when the sun slanted through the trees making shadows and highlighting the stately trees.

We noticed this car in the parking lot. Not the usual bike rack. When was the last time you saw 3 unicycles on a bike rack? I have never seen 3 unicycles on a bike rack. 

Marvelous day in the redwoods. We found a relatively unknown grove called the Grove of Titans, we strolled among the redwoods in Stout Grove, we drove a neat road through the redwoods and, yes, we got our hike in. By the way, if you want to see more pictures of the Titans, tune in on Monday when we hike through them again.

9, 2100’