I'm heading up to the Redwoods next weekend for the first time. Any suggestions?

Which redwoods? Those in Northern California? Humbodlt County?

If so, be sure and drive through the Avenue of the Giants on Highway 101, and while you are driving, you should go through one of the drive-through redwoods.

Finally, here is a list of 10 Must-see redwoods.

It is an absolutely beautiful area. Have a great time.

If you’re in Humboldt you MUST go to ‘Fern canyon’ where parts of Jurassiac park were filmed.

It is so beautiful!

And…the Elk should be active too…my daughter and I took a road trip there 2 summers ago, had so much fun! We stumbled into a herd of giant Elk on one of the trails at Fern Canyon..OMG! They were just amazing, huge and scary and stunning animals!

Have a blast!

OMG! I am so jealous. I’ve only been to the Redwoods once, when I was a really little kid. What I do remember about it is just the “atmosphere” of the place. The beams of light wafting through the misty air, the warm and cool temperatures that changed when you went from sunlight to shade and the smell. The smell of an evergreen forest cannot compare to anything else, epecially when you are camping and cooking bacon and making coffee and those aromas are mixed with the scents of pine needles, and moist, rich earth.

Make sure you take a camera with extra batteries and extra memory chips (if you won’t have access to electricity or a way to download the photos). Bring a notebook so that you may record your daily observations about what you saw, what you heard, what you smelled, how you felt. You can also make notes about certain plant and animal species that you encountered so you can research them more when you get home.

Right now I’m having one of those “extreme camping lust” moments. In my mind I’m seeing little bitty mushrooms and transluscent light coming through the fern groves. I can hear and smell the trickling of a nearby stream, I can see red and blue dragonflies and floaters skating across the water. And I can hear distant echoes of footsteps and voices and birds chirping and woodpeckers pecking- conk, conk, conk.

Technically you are not supposed to take things with you, but try to find a tiny stone or a dried leaf or a piece of moss or a chunk of bark (something very small) so that you will always remember this place.

Bring a poncho if you go hiking. Too bad that you just missed the Avenue of the Giants Marathon. It was 2 weeks ago. It is the best if you enjoy running in pure air and silent beauty.

Second Fern Canyon. My wife and I toured northern California on our honeymoon and that area is amazing. We also like Ladybird Johnson Grove (I think that’s what it was). Also Klamath was beautiful, and Arcata was a cool little college town.

Avenue of the Giants is where you can actually drive through some huge, ancient trees.
It was so funny..I was contemplating driving through one of the trees when I hesitated to make sure I was lined up properly. haha

A guy standing outside my passenger side window shouted ” Just go really fast!” lol

Aah, we made it without incident. lol