On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
frosty
All the National Parks we’ve seen have been unique. This one, of course, because of the redwood groves that have been preserved. Also because it is a combination of the National Park and three California State Parks, all contiguous and all preserving old growth forest. This also means that it’s a park with no entrance fees because the roads cross all the parks and it would be unmanageable.
This post has pictures from two groves and scenic drives adjacent to them: Stout Grove (Howland Hill Road) and Lady Bird Johnson Grove (Bald Hills Road).
Howland Hill Road. This is a 10-mile unpaved road through old growth redwood forests.
Looking up from the road. Once again, pictures don’t do justice to reality.
Stout Grove. Donated by Mrs. Clara Stout “… to save it from being logged and to memorialize her husband, lumber baron Frank D. Stout.” The irony!!!
Stout Grove
Several Elk, at Elk Meadow. We were lucky to see them. We drove by here several times, this is the only time they were there.
Lady Bird Johnson Grove. Dedicated to her for her service to preserving and enhancing America’s natural beauty.
When you’re walking on these paths, remember to look up!
The oldest redwoods had fire scars like this one.
Some were hollowed out but still living.
View toward the parks from Bald Hills Road. The lighter areas were logged and replanted with either redwoods or Douglas Fir.
OzarkHillbilly
Someday… Thanx for the pics.
The Ozark National Scenic Riverways (Mo’s only national park) is the same for slightly different reasons, among them the fact that a number of people live along the rivers.
JeanneT
Thank you for the photos – those trees are majestic!
lowtechcyclist
I’ve been to Hollywood, I’ve been to Redwood…
I was through there back in 1983. Quite spectacular!
frosty
@lowtechcyclist: So were we! My youngest flew out a few weeks before this for a whirlwind tour of SoCal, including Sunset Strip and ever-sleazy Hollywood Boulevard. Along with Catalina and the San Diego Zoo. I didn’t post those pics.
WaterGirl
How were you able to bring yourself to ever leave this place?
frosty
@WaterGirl: Easy! We had the Oregon Coast and Multnomah Falls next on the itinerary.
Albatrossity
Very nice. As you say, it is impossible to experience the majesty of a redwood forest from photographs, but these do give us a great sense of the place. And you got a bright sunny day, which is relatively rare in that part of the state!
Scout211
Frosty, you are bringing back so many good memories. From our home in Central Valley California on our way to visit my in-laws in Oregon every year, we camped at so many state and national parks along the way when our kids were young. Lassen, the California Coast, the Oregon Coast and all national and state parks on the way from California to Oregon, we’ve camped at almost all of them.
Thanks for the memories and I am now looking forward to the Oregon part of your trip..
lashonharangue
Good memories indeed. My spouse and I spent our honeymoon in the area visiting several of the parks. We were hiking along the coast and came across a herd of elk. Then we saw a humpback whale and her calf just outside the surf zone. Magical day.
Torrey
I always enjoy the pictures of deserts and alpine mountains from a safe distance , but this kind of landscape makes me want to jump right into the photo.As for Frank Stout, I don’t know anything about him, but his dates indicate he was a man of the 19th century, with all that that entails. Possibly Clara Stout was simply deaf to irony, but she could have set up any sort of memorial to her husband. I rather like the fact that she went for a grove Not For Logging. I’ve known a certain number of families where one spouse is domineering, and I’ve seen a few cases where the other spouse deftly manages a neatly ironic response. Whether that is what was intended here or not, I can’t say.
Thank you for a wonderful set of pictures and a good start to the day.
CaseyL
I live in rainforest country (PNW) and have frequently hiked our forests. Some huge trees here, too! But the redwoods/sequoiahs are on my bucket list: I’d love to road trip through there someday soon. Very interested to see and feel for myself the difference between a rainforest and a not-rainforest!
frosty
Thanks for the comments, everyone! It’s fun to read your reactions to the places I’ve been.
PS Post some of your own! WaterGirl is running short of OTR submissions. Are old prints and slides all you have? Scancafe.com will digitize them for you. (Satisfied customer)
El Cruzado
As a self-professed big tree nerd I managed to visit all of that a few years ago, and would hope to go back with more time eventually.
We still managed to log well over 90% of the old growth redwoods before we got serious about protecting them. That said they are resilient things and they do grow back as anyone who hikes the Santa Cruz mountains can tell you. The stumps were too difficult to remove so they sold the wood and then left most of the land alone. About a century later much of the area is thick with redwoods again.
Funny thing with Lady Bird grove is that it’s right next to logged land, it literally ends in a line which you can see from the trail.
munira
Every time I drive through the redwoods, I stop and take a picture looking up at them – much like the one you’ve posted here. As you say, there’s nothing like actually being there, but good photos are the next best thing so thanks for these.
stinger
Thank you!
KrackenJack
Thank you for the pics, Frosty. Redwoods NP remains on my to-do list. I drove through there on my way to Olympia, WA. Only had time to stop at Crater Lake. Got close again a few years later at Avenue of the Giants where we spent a long weekend. That’s a fond memory. All the trails we went on were super accessible.
way2blue
frosty. Your redwood photos remind me of my first year at UCSC—I would walk through the redwoods above campus and on day they were dropping their ‘seeds’. The size of oats. Just a gentle rain of them. Very cool. Thanks for jogging that memory out of my database.