Her View
Redwood - Caywood's perspective
Redwoods National Park: so many trees! This park was difficult to find - at least how we were looking for it. All of the signs said “Redwoods National and State Parks.” As we drove up California towards the national park, we saw a wide variety of state parks but kept waiting on the national one. (We wanted to use our national park pass rather than risking having to pay for one of the state parks.) After driving past at least five state parks that claimed they were part of the Redwood family, we finally decided to stop at one of these state parks and ask. So glad we did. Come to find out that the area with all of these state parks is deemed a national park, but there isn’t an actual national park. All of these state parks are free, so we got some recommendations from the ranger and started our hike among the redwoods. What an amazing never-ending forest. Everywhere you look there are trees - the tallest and the thickest trees you’ve ever seen in your life. And they go on forever. In every direction. Redwoods can grow to be over 2000 years old due to a variety of properties that help them stay alive and healthy longer. Their roots are rot resistant, and they have extra thick bark to prevent fungi/bacteria/insects/etc. The thick bark also helps save most of the tree if any type of fire occurs.
The trail we did at Redwoods National Park was really awesome. There were some trees that had been hollowed out from previous fires, so I literally stood inside a tree that was the size of a living room. This place was a great find on our trip and I’m glad we didn’t give up and drive past all of the state parks. Also in this area is something we didn’t get to do, but we learned about later: Avenue of the Gods. From what I hear, this is a must. I want to go back. Apparently you can DRIVE through a tree. DRIVE.
His View
Redwood - Feliks' perspective
I’m kind of sad that we drove through a lot of the Redwoods area at night, because I’m sure the drive would have been magnificent. But on the way there, we did make a quick pitstop where I saw some of the biggest tree trunks that I’ve ever seen. I don’t know why I liked the redwoods so much. Maybe because the trees looked like they went on forever, or because they made everything else seem so small, but I think those trees should be one of the wonders of the world. It wasn’t like a typical forest; there wasn’t a lot of brush and smaller trees below. I think that made the trees stand out even more. I’m definitely coming back here and doing some weekend camping. The short hike we did in the morning gave us a good idea of how beautiful the rest of the park would be. If you can avoid doing the drive at night, do. The deer were not afraid of grazing by the road.
