August 10 – 11, 2017

My time was up at Humboldt County Fairgrounds, but I wanted to stay in this area a little longer to visit the redwood parks and the Avenue of the Giants.  After doing a little online research, I decided to move a few miles to the Bear River Casino in Fortuna.  They allow RVs to park there for up to three nights at no charge and have a designated section in the back part of their parking lot.  Since I plan to be out and about most of the day, all I really need is a safe place to park.

I’m not an early riser and thus it always seems to take me awhile to get on the road 🙂  Thursday morning I piddled around putting stuff away inside, filling the fresh water tank and getting hitched up.  Then went over to the dump station to empty the gray and black tanks.

When I arrived at Bear River I parked out back in the RV section and went inside to register.  When registering you join their players club and receive a card that is preloaded with $10.  After completing all the paperwork I went outside and unhitched and got setup.  Today was another overcast rainy day.  It has been this way pretty much since I arrived in Fremont.

Friday morning I drove 25 miles south to the Avenue of the Giants and Humboldt Redwoods State Park.  Avenue of the Giants is a 31 mile section of the old Hwy 101 that parallels the new freeway.  It is a pretty narrow two lane that goes right through the heart of the coast redwood forest.  There wasn’t too much traffic on the avenue.  I took a leisurely pace and stopped at the numerous turn outs along the way.

Here are a few photos.  It is difficult to photograph the redwoods just because they are SOOO tall!

Giant Tree: Height – 363 ft  Circumference – 53.2 ft

Coast redwood forests are found along the southern Oregon to Central California coast, and up to about 50 miles inland.  It is the tallest tree species in the world and can live as long as 2,000 years.  Humboldt Redwood State Park contains the largest expanse of ancient redwoods, approximately 17,000 acres.

I did 3 or 4 short hikes.  I had thoughts of hiking one of the longer trails.  One thing about the redwood forest is the canopy is so thick it doesn’t allow much light through and with the day being overcast, the trails were really dark.  This lack of sunlight is starting to wear on me!  I’m used to Colorado where the sun shines almost all the time.  So I just wasn’t all that enthused about a longer hike.

After driving the 31 miles along the Avenue of the Giants I headed home.  It was an enjoyable day and awe inspiring to see these centuries old giants!  Thankfully the redwoods have been protected in the state and national parks along the coast.

I had registered to stay three nights at Bear River, but I’ve had enough of the fog and rainy weather.  Tomorrow I will head out and try to find some sunshine!