My miserable and traitorous body is finally relenting and I can happily say I no longer think I am going to die right away. To celebrate, Peggy and I drove a magnificent section of road we have passed many times on the way through this area. The road is called “Avenue of the Giants” and starts at the south end south of Phillipsville and runs sort of parallel with 101 although parallel might not be the right word. The roads are not even close to being straight.
Avenue of the Giants runs through a truly magnificent grove of enormous coastal redwood trees from Phillipsville through Miranda, Myers Flat, a park visitor center, Weott and Redcrest before rejoining 101 a bit above Pepperwood. Truly colossal trees border the road for virtually the entire route except where it runs along the banks of the Eel River. There are numerous turnouts next to the road which is fortunate since we pulled into most of them to admire the scenery. The speed limit on this road is 55 but we had a hard time maintaining 25 due to the fantastic forest scenery and our numerous stops to admire it. There are ample places to park and get out of the truck for some wandering between the giant trees. I am a big Jose but next to these trees I am merely a fabric-coated speck of gooey stuff. We spotted numerous trees that exceeded 20′ diameter and heights over 300′. This road is a magical journey to a primeval forest and is worth a stop by those fortunate enough to be passing this way.
We dawdled so much along this wonderful section of road that we got to the north end pretty late in the day so we drove back to Myers Flat on 101. It looks like when we continue north in a couple days we will get to pull mostly uphill from here to Pepperwood.
Some pictures of this spectacular area can be seen by clicking here