Redwood National Park – October 15, 2019

[Martin Hash]

Getting to and leaving Redwood National Park was more interesting & eventful than the park itself. First we had to wait for an active rock slide; dirt, boulders and dust still cascading down the tall, steep slope even as we were eventually allowed to drive by. The park is about equal distance from San Francisco and our house along beautiful Route 101, so it made a good halfway stop. The park is bounded to the west by the Pacific Ocean with its rugged California coastline; the Visitor Center is located on one of the sandy sections.



The park was established in 1968 but California had already been protecting the area since the 1920s through actions by the privately funded and voluteered, Save the Redwoods League, after 90% of all the original old-growth redwoods had already been logged off. Redwoods are the tallest, oldest, and largest trees on earth, and their wood is in high demand for its durability & longevity. The combined federal and state portions of the temperate rain forests are almost 140,000 acres, and contain 45% of all remaining coastal redwoods. When I was a kid, I can vaguely remember visiting the Trees of Mystery just outside the park with the giant statues of Paul Bunyan and his Blue Ox, which was the highlight of the trip again half a century later.

Paul Bunyan & Blue Ox s.JPG