Avenue of the Giants by bike

"This valley,"said Ralph Waldo Emerson of Yosemite, "is the only place that comes up to the brag about it, and exceeds it."

Proving? That Emerson hadn't seen Redwoods National Park in Humboldt County.





Visitors go silent here. Atheists start talking about God. Locals too are speechless no matter how many times we return. Indeed, if we had tourists from other planets this stunning park could be used to advertise a trip to Earth.




The park covers much of Humboldt County. To drive or bike through the southern part head for Avenue of the Giants which stretches from a point about 7 miles north of Redcrest to the town of Philipsville about 30 miles to the south. I rode most of it in a loosely organized group excursion with my riding group, "The Latte Warriors."

Another Roadside Attraction

Bike tourists get a lot of praise. You're out there in nature grinding up the hills while everyone else is driving two blocks to pick up a case of beer. You could get a fat head over all the adulation...if the universe didn't toss a bit of sand in your gears from time to time. This bike tourist stopped to talk with a man who was pulling a small covered wagon down the road. His (actual) last name was Charleyboy; I don't remember his first name. He wasn't exactly a tourist, more a traveller. When I asked where his journey had begun he said "when?" Mr. Charleyboy had walked through 22 states. So far.









The Eel River traces the whole length of the Avenue of the Giants. Those are Western Maples in the foreground, Redwoods everywhere else.












I met my friends in Miranda, near the south end of the Avenue of the Giants.







In the northern part of the county (not shown here) Redwood National Park becomes perhaps the best example of a virgin old growth Redwood forest on earth. With 2,000 year old trees stretching as far as you can see in all directions this truly is the forest primeval. It's difficult to photograph but impossible to forget.