Visiting the Avenue of the Giants and Humboldt Redwoods State Park has been on our bucket list for a long time. Last year we booked a campsite at the park for Thanksgiving, but as the temps dove down to nearly freezing and the forecast showed nothing by rain, we begrudgingly decided to cancel our trip. That’s why a couple of weeks ago, when I was looking for a weekend getaway and came across this lovely cottage on the Avenue of the Giants, I didn’t hesitate to book it!
The Avenue of the Giants is located in Humboldt County, about 4 hours north of San Francisco. The Avenue runs through Humboldt Redwoods State Park, home to the largest expanse of ancient redwoods left on the planet with about 17,000 acres of it being old-growth redwood forest!
Visitors can enjoy Humboldt Redwoods State Park by car or by foot. Many people drive the full 32-mile-long Avenue of the Giants and make quick stops along the way. Others prefer to explore the park on foot, wandering around the old-growth groves while admiring these incredible giants. We did both! We drove the entire Avenue of the Giants AND did a handful of hikes, which were some of the best we’ve ever done just because of the scenery itself.
If you are hiking with kids, the redwood forest is one of the best places to hike with them. There are endless opportunities for climbing and for their imagination to take over. We do move a lot slower when we hike in the redwood because the kids really take it all in, so in general we choose shorter hikes that still take a while to complete.
If you are planning a trip to the Avenue of the Giants and Humboldt Redwoods State Park, here are some of the things we did while we were there. I’m including hikes as well as scenic stops on the way to and from San Francisco.
Founders’ Grove
Founders’ Grove is the park’s most visited grove because of how expansive it is (the big redwoods extend as far as you can see in every direction!), and also because the entrance is located close to the road. Despite being popular, we didn’t see a single person on the trail while doing the loop. The park was probably this quiet because we were there in November!
Highlights of this trail include: Founders’ Tree, which you see shortly after starting the hike, setting the tone for the hike. The fallen 362-foot Dyerville Giants, which we think we found. The trail is also filled with fallen logs, and at points you walk between the cut ends of huge fallen trees. It was really amazing to walk in between these log walls that were way taller than any of us!
Rockefeller Grove hike
This was our favorite hike! If you only have time to do one hike in the park, we strongly recommend you choose the Rockefeller Loop.
The parking area is very small, and you’ll be blown away as soon as you step out of your car into the forest. The forest here is spectacular! The trees are so tall, you can’t see where they end. Because these trees are so large, they cast big shadows on the forest floor. Not much grows below the tree tops other than ferns. Whenever we saw a fallen tree, we could spot the open space on the sky that it used to occupy. Speaking of fallen trees, this trail also goes between the cut ends of a huge fallen tree!
When hiking this loop, keep an eye out for a little detour to the river (this actually connects to a different trail too). Our kids loved skipping rocks on the river, and walking across the huge log that crossed the river.
Exploring the Rockefeller Grove was the biggest highlight of our time exploring Humboldt Redwoods State Park. It’s hard to explain what we felt walking next to these ancient giants. One of us described it at “feeling at home,” and I agree with it. The feeling of joy and appreciation at seeing these trees was transcendental.
Immortal Tree
The immortal tree is a fun place to check out just because of the quirky factor. This 248-foot tall and 1,000 years-old tree survived lightning (that removed 50 feet from its top), loggers and a forest fire in 1908, and a big flood in 1964. There is a marker on the tree for each event. The kids thought it was fun to see!
Right next to the tree we found a hollow log the kids loved climbing through and playing in. The inside was so big, we could all fit inside, and to even have a dance party.
Shrine Drive Thru Tree and Tree Houses
The Shrine Drive Thru Tree is a great stop on the Avenue of the Giants! It costs 10 dollar for a car to drive through the tree, which is super fun! There is also two 2-story tree houses and a children’s walk-through stump that our kids loved! This is definitely a fun stop, especially if visiting with kids.
Chandelier Tree Park
It’s so funny that we went from never having driven through a tree to driving through two in one day!
While I had my doubts about whether the Shrine Tree was alive or not, you can definitely tell the Chandelier one is alive and doing well. The tree gets its name from it’s shape and its also a lot of fun to drive through it! It costs 10 dollars to get into the park, which was not crowded at all on a Sunday afternoon.
There is more to this park than just the drive-thru tree. The grounds are full of cute wood-carved statues of forest creatures and also a few of Big Foot! We just drove through it slowly and looked at them, but I think it’d be a lot of fun to walk around and interact with the carvings more directly.
Confusion Hill
On our way up to the Avenue of the Giants we saw signs for Confusion Hill and were confused by the sign. Because we were driving at night we didn’t get to see what this place was. On our way back home, we decided to check it out and took the exit ramp to it, which was only a couple of minutes off the highway.
Confusion Hill started operations in 1949, and in 2010 it became a California State Point of Historical Interest. The Gravity House and the Mountain Train (which was closed and set to reopen Spring 2021) are the main attractions. There was also a super cute (but a bit old) playground with a couple of slides, swings, and a pit full of rocks to build rock towers. There were lots of huge trees all over the playground.
The Gravity House is one of those places that plays with your perception of reality and the laws of nature. There are balls that roll upwards, chairs that are hard to stand up from, and other tricks like that. Overall it was a fun stop. We got a couple of books at the gift shop, which had lots of fun trinkets.
While at Humboldt Redwoods State Park we would’ve loved to check out the Visitor Center, but it was closed due to Covid restrictions. We hope it will be open next time we visit the area.
Finally, in difficult times like these, we believe it’s very important to do our best to support local businesses as they are really struggling. We are intentional about our spending and always choose locally-owned places over chains when it comes to buying food or souvenirs. It would be a very dull world if only mega chain survive this crisis, so try to do your part in supporting local businesses wherever you can!
For more fun places to explore in California, click here.
