Eureka, CA - Hiking With Giants

‘These great trees are doomed to the ignoble fate of being riven for railroad stakes, shakes or shingles, and perhaps worst of all, grape stakes.’

                                                      Dr. Merriam, one of the founders of the Save the Redwoods League

No, I did not hike with Sasquatch or Big Foot, not did Gary eat too many donuts. By ‘Giants’ I mean the Coast Redwoods found along the Pacific Coast in northern California. We wanted an early start since we were going to visit the Humboldt Redwood State Park which had lots to see and do and, of course, there was a hike involved. Up at 6:00 and we were at the south end of the park by 8:30 ready to head north. The Avenue of the Giants is a magnificent drive through some old-growth redwood trees and by some fabulous groves preserved for all ages. Most of it is within the Humboldt Redwood State Park and here is where we found an extremely good, comprehensive museum and a neat trail to take. What more could we want?

Firstly a bit about redwoods. We’re from Iowa and have seen some tall corn but that pales in comparison to the magnificence of these trees. There are 3 kinds of Redwoods: the Coastal Redwood which we saw here grows only along a 40-mi wide strip 650-mi long from the northern coast of CA and the southern coast of OR. Then there is the Sequoia which thrives only on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevadas and finally, there is the Dawn Redwood found in China. Coast Redwoods normally live for 500 - 1000 years though there are some that have lived over 2000 years. Many grow over 300’ but more recently trees more than 379’ have been found. They need water to sustain their growth and, when it is not the rainy season, they live off the water they can ‘wring’ from the fog on the coast. (And, I can tell you that there is fog along the coast - lots of fog.)

Redwoods live so long because they have few natural enemies. They have such a thick bark that they are impervious to most insects and can withstand a fire as we could tell by the fire charred trees that we saw along the trail. What they can’t stand, however, is a strong wind since their roots only go 10 - 13’ deep. Interestingly, though their roots are shallow, they are long and often, when they grow over the roots of another tree, they join. And, of course, when something that big falls in a crowded forest, it often takes other trees with it.

That was the case with the Dyersville Giant, a certified ‘champion’ tree estimated to be 362’ high. (The American Forestry certifies ‘champion’ trees using height, circumference and size of crown.) This 370’ tall redwood was the third tree in a string of trees that fell over the course of a week. It was the rainy season and the soil was saturated with rain, which made it so soft that roots couldn’t hold. One day a tree fell hitting a second tree causing it to lean. A week later the leaning tree fell and crashed into the Dyersville Giant. In fact, they can almost pinpoint the time that it fell since a local neighbor who lived 1 mile away reported that she heard a loud sound in the middle of the night that sounded like a train wreck. That was probably this tree coming down.

But - that’s the beautiful thing about these fallen redwoods - they become ‘nurse’ trees because, as they decompose, they nourish the soil, insects and all the flora which grows on them. They are also filled with water which helps keep the forest moist for living redwoods to flourish. It takes 400 years for a tree to decompose fully and become incorporated into the forest floor. Note all the flora growing on this tree.

We saw some trees which had been damaged by fire, too. Here, you can see where fire created a hollow in the base of the tree, a phenomenon the early settlers called a ‘goose pen’ because they used to pen their chickens, geese and other livestock here. This tree is missing so much of its base yet it is still living and producing needles and growth at the top.

Here’s another interesting factoid: the redwoods are so tall that they live in 3 different climates at once: the top of the tree lives in a windy, dry climate and its needles are much smaller, narrower and round to hold moisture in while the base is rooted in moist cool soil. Note the two needles below: the one on the right is from the bottom of the crown and is flat, all the better to catch the rain and sun which seldom filter down from a thick crown. The needles on the left are from the top: shorter and rounder, able to hold in the rain in the dryer climate at the top of the tree.

As we hiked we realized that we saw few squirrels and heard few birds. Well, that’s because the trees are so high - there actually are birds and squirrels up there but they are so far up that these old eyes can’t see them well.

One of the major groves in the park was the Founder’s Grove which is dedicated to the founders of the Save The Redwoods foundation. At the turn of the century, logging was so prevalent in this area that it was quite possible that every tree might have been logged and shipped off to make those dreaded grape stakes had not 3 men, including Dr. Merriam arrived in Humboldt County to view these redwoods. When they realized that they were not protected and could be cut down at any time, they stepped in and started campaigning to save these magnificent trees. By 1921, 4 years later, they had enough money to purchase their first grove, which is in Humboldt Park. Since then the League has contributed $57 million to protect 170,000 acres of redwood land in 35 CA parks, Redwood National Park and Sequoia National Park.

The greatest accumulation of plant mass ever recorded on earth was a redwood stand here in Humboldt Park. This forest has 7 times the living and dead organic material of that found in a tropical rainforest because these trees are so much more massive than those in a tropical rainforest.

We also hiked through the Rockefeller Grove. Newton B Drury, who was the secretary of the Save the Redwoods League invited John D. Rockefeller to California for lunch in the redwoods. I’m not sure what he served for lunch but a year later Rockefeller presented him with a check for $1,000,000. The State of CA matched these funds and Rockefeller made another grant a year later and 9335 acres were purchased from the Pacific Lumber Company in 1931. The redwoods is quite a setting for lunch.

We then hiked along a trail next to a creek which, because of the recent rains, was flowing fast, eddying around fallen tree limbs and whooshing past the rocks in the stream bed. Neat trail and we were craning our necks the whole time to get views of the crowns on the trees. We had to make an out and back hike since the bridges over the creek are not in yet. However, one of the volunteers told us that some people had been able to cross the creek using some fallen trees. Here is where she was telling us we could cross. Not me. Crawl down one tree trunk, onto the other to the nearby shore. By the way, these two trees are balanced above the water, there is nothing to hold them up in the middle.

We learned a lot about redwoods by reading all the signs they had posted near the trails and the trees. But, this pales beside the wonder that we felt as we walked among these giants, these stately sentinels.

9.6   212’ (pretty flat)