what to do in avenue of the giants with kids

Visiting the Avenue of the Giants and Humboldt Redwoods Land Park has been on our bucket listing for a long time. Concluding year we booked a military camp at the park for Thanksgiving, but equally the temps dove downwardly to most freezing and the forecast showed zilch by rain, nosotros 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 volume it!

The Avenue of the Giants is located in Humboldt County, about 4 hours n of San Francisco. The Artery 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 existence quondam-growth redwood forest!

Visitors can enjoy Humboldt Redwoods State Park by car or by foot. Many people bulldoze the full 32-mile-long Avenue of the Giants and brand quick stops forth the way. Others prefer to explore the park on foot, wandering around the old-growth groves while admiring these incredible giants. Nosotros did both! We collection the entire Artery of the Giants AND did a handful of hikes, which were some of the best nosotros've e'er washed just because of the scenery itself.

If you are hiking with kids, the redwood wood is one of the best places to hike with them. There are countless opportunities for climbing and for their imagination to take over. We do move a lot slower when we hike in the redwood considering the kids really take it all in, and 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 Land Park, here are some of the things nosotros did while we were there. I'm including hikes likewise as breathtaking stops on the way to and from San Francisco.

Founders' Grove

Founders' Grove is the park's nigh visited grove considering of how expansive it is (the big redwoods extend as far as you tin see in every management!), and too considering the entrance is located close to the route. Despite being pop, we didn't run into a single person on the trail while doing the loop. The park was probably this quiet considering we were there in November!

Highlights of this trail include: Founders' Tree, which you see shortly afterward starting the hike, setting the tone for the hike. The fallen 362-foot Dyerville Giants, which we think we constitute. The trail is as well filled with fallen logs, and at points yous 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 united states!

Rockefeller Grove hike

This was our favorite hike! If you only accept time to practise one hike in the park, we strongly recommend you lot cull the Rockefeller Loop.

The parking surface area is very small, and you lot'll be blown away as soon as you step out of your car into the forest. The forest here is spectacular! The trees are and then tall, you can't run into where they stop. Considering these copse are so large, they cast big shadows on the forest floor. Not much grows below the tree tops other than ferns. Whenever nosotros 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, go along an eye out for a little detour to the river (this really 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. Information technology'due south hard to explain what we felt walking adjacent to these ancient giants. One of us described it at "feeling at habitation," and I agree with information technology. The feeling of joy and appreciation at seeing these trees was transcendental.

Immortal Tree

The immortal tree is a fun place to cheque out just because of the quirky factor. This 248-pes tall and 1,000 years-one-time tree survived lightning (that removed 50 feet from its top), loggers and a wood fire in 1908, and a big flood in 1964. There is a marker on the tree for each event. The kids thought information technology was fun to encounter!

Right next to the tree nosotros constitute a hollow log the kids loved climbing through and playing in. The inside was so big, nosotros could all fit within, and to even accept a trip the light fantastic party.

Shrine Drive Thru Tree and Tree Houses

The Shrine Bulldoze Thru Tree is a cracking terminate on the Artery of the Giants! It costs 10 dollar for a car to drive through the tree, which is super fun! At that place is also two ii-story tree houses and a children'due south walk-through stump that our kids loved! This is definitely a fun terminate, 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 ii in one solar day!

While I had my doubts near whether the Shrine Tree was alive or not, you tin can definitely tell the Chandelier one is live 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 collection through it slowly and looked at them, just I think information technology'd be a lot of fun to walk effectually and interact with the carvings more than directly.

Confusion Hill

On our way up to the Avenue of the Giants we saw signs for Defoliation Loma and were dislocated by the sign. Considering we were driving at night we didn't go to see what this place was. On our way dorsum home, nosotros decided to check it out and took the exit ramp to information technology, which was only a couple of minutes off the highway.

Confusion Hill started operations in 1949, and in 2010 it became a California Country Point of Historical Involvement. The Gravity House and the Mountain Railroad train (which was closed and fix to reopen Spring 2021) are the master attractions. There was also a super cute (but a bit quondam) 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 1 of those places that plays with your perception of reality and the laws of nature. There are balls that curlicue upwards, chairs that are hard to stand up upward from, and other tricks like that. Overall information technology 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 Eye, but it was closed due to Covid restrictions. We hope it volition be open next time we visit the expanse.

Finally, in difficult times like these, we believe it'southward very important to do our best to support local businesses as they are really struggling. Nosotros are intentional about our spending and always cull locally-owned places over chains when it comes to ownership nutrient or souvenirs. It would be a very irksome world if only mega concatenation survive this crisis, so try to exercise your part in supporting local businesses wherever you can!

For more fun places to explore in California, click here.

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Source: https://backpacksrugrats.com/2020/11/18/avenue-of-the-giants-and-humboldt-redwoods/