First we went down the gravel road called Howland Hill Road, which took us to Stout Grove. This has some of the "most intense old-growth redwood habitat in the world. Scenes from the 1983 Star Wars-Return of the Jedi were filmed in this Grove" (per the brochure). Indeed, the 1/2 mile trail loop through the grove was amazing. My mouth hung open in amazement at the size and grandeur of the trees, for most of the trail.
Next we went to the Simpson-Reed Grove one mile loop trail. This was absolutely stupendous!! Even better than Stout Grove. There were so many groups of huge trees. Apparently, these trees have a shallow root system, but spread very wide, and interconnect with nearby trees, to help keep them stable, especially in the high winds around here. Many of the trees had these huge burls on them, they had deep, grooved bark, and many had fallen over, leaving these tall roots systems upended. But the energy in the grove was so powerful. You could feel it. The sound in the grove was dampened, so it was really silent. This could have been Ent Land from Tolkein's forests. The trees were 500 - 1,000 years old. I am duly impressed.
We chatted with a park ranger there about why the two groves were different. He said one was a river bottom that flooded regularly, and the other was higher ground. Different sunshine. One looked like there had been a fire a long time ago. Apparently, each Redwood Forest is unique.
We loved these forests!
Redwood Forest photos:
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