1. Drive along the Avenue. You can either
download our auto tour (external link) to your MP3 player or get a hard copy at the visitor center.
2. Stroll in Founders Grove.
4. See if you can find a “goose-pen” (a hole burned inside the base of a standing tree) as you walk from the Founder’s Tree to the Dyerville Giant.
5. Imagine the day in 1991 when the Dyerville Giant crashed to the forest floor.
7. Enjoy a program led by a docent or ranger.
11. Admire the largest contiguous expanse of old-growth coastal redwoods in the world:
Rockefeller Forest (external link).
14. Notice Bull Creek’s clarity, a sign of the successful restoration of logged lands upstream.
15.
Cool off (external link) in the river that follows the Avenue of the Giants, the South Fork of the Eel.
17. Better yet,
get married (external link) at the historic hearth or elsewhere in Humboldt Redwoods.
18. Bounce between biomes.
19. Float down the Eel River.
22. Hear the hoots of a spotted owl.
23. Thrill to the piercing sound of the varied thrush.
24. Admire an audacious river otter.
25. Locate an albino redwood.
26. Find a talking tree (but keep your distance!).
27. Enjoy the springtime parade of trilliums, milkmaids, Indian warriors, fairy lanterns, ladyslippers, calypso orchids, redwood lilies, and other
flowers (external link).
28. Hunt for mushrooms. (Photograph, but don’t pick!)
32. Get away from it all: Two “
environmental camps,”
(external link) open mid-May through later September.
33. Find backpacking bliss on Humboldt’s 100 miles of trails. Rest up at its
five trail camps (external link).
38. Time travel in a local museum.
39. Support
redwood-related businesses (external link). Some of the attractions include the “immortal tree,” the “drive-through tree,” and the “tree house.”
40. See how redwoods measure up. Check out a
list (external link) of the tallest redwoods in the world. Sixty-eight out of the top 100 are in Humboldt Redwoods State Park.
41.
Learn how redwoods hydrate their highest branches.
42.
Watch a movie (external link) about how these forests may be affected by climate change.
49. Read a riveting non-fiction adventure about climbing the loftiest redwoods:
The Wild Trees (external link) by Richard Preston.
50. Spread the word online and tell your friends and family to visit the redwoods!
Credits
Sounds: Varied thrush, spotted owl: courtesy California Library of Natural Sounds, Oakland California
Audio Production: Joan Hamilton, Audio Guides to the Outdoors
Voices:
Sandy Bartlett, Visitor Center Manager, Humboldt Redwoods State Park (6)
Michelle Gardner, Sector Superintendent, Humboldt Redwoods State Park (44)
Ruth Hoke, Mounted Assistance Unit Volunteer (10, 18, 35)
Mike O’Hara, Board Member, Humboldt Redwoods Interpretive Association (13)
Susan O’Hara, President, Humboldt Redwoods Interpretive Association (8, 29, 30, 31, 32, 38)
Ruskin Hartley, former Executive Director, Save the Redwoods League (1)
Maralyn Renner, Treasurer and Mounted Assistance Unit Volunteer, Humboldt Redwoods Interpretive Association (25)
John O’Rourke, Supervising Ranger, Humboldt Redwoods State Park (19, 21, 39)
Emily Peterson, Ranger, Humboldt Redwoods State Park (7, 13, 34)
Dave Stockton, Executive Director, Humboldt Redwoods Interpretive Association: (1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 14, 16, 24, 26, 28)