Avenue of the Giants
October 2nd, 2007 by alexanderHere, sown by the Creator’s hand, In serried ranks, the Redwoods stand;
No other clime is honored so, No other lands their glory know.
The greatest of Earth’s living forms, Tall conquerurs that laugh at storms,
Their challenge still unanswered rings, Through fifty centuries of kings.
This is their temple, vaulted high, For here we pause with reverent eye,
With silent tongue and awe-struck soul; For here we sense life’s proper goal.
To be like these, straight, true and fine, To make our world, like theirs, a shrine,
Sink down, Oh traveller, on your knees, God stands before you in these trees.
- Redwood park.
The Avenue of Giants is located at the Ancient Redwood State Park, Myers Flat, California. This 31 miles road is parallel with the famous 101 highway. Redwoods tree is one of the oldest tree in the world. Driving through this avenue really made me feel like getting smaller and some trees are even bigger than my car.
Heavily canopied by the tall trees, the road was dark and mystical at the same time. Not many car using this road as the main highway 101 is much prefered to travel towards North or South.
But getting to the Avenue of Giants was really a great driving experience. Besides maneuveuring on a small, dark and windy road, there were also huge trees on the road side to look for. Some are even too close to the road and I almost imagine the tree scratch the car.
Reached to the first destination of the Giants - The Chandelier tree.
The diameter of the tree trunk is bigger than a sedan car. There must be some nuts people earlier suggested “Hey, I think this tree can fit a car!” and then “Oh, why don’t we cut a hole on the tree to try it out?”
And there you go, another tourist attraction. A drive-thru tree.
The diameter of the hole is just nicely fit for a car.
There was one guy told me to drive my car inside. I thought it was quite impossible, because I think my car is fat. It is not a compact car and, actually, it wasn’t my car anyway. It was rented. I don’t want to damage the car and later people would think I’m crazy to drive a car into a tree. “you think are Smuff? Gummybears?”
But behold to the mindset of a young man, daring and brave. After I precisely measured and compared the car width and the tree hole, there were about 1 inch space on the left and right from the car side mirror. So, if I just drive straight and keep the distance good enough, I can make it.
Well, I did.
Chervolet Impala roamed thru the Chandelier Tree. Proud driver standing next.
There was another drive-thru tree not far away from the Chandelier Tree Park. It is called Shrine Drive-Thru Tree.
Although this one look easy, coz the the diameter is big, but I chicken out. It wasnt the tree problem, it was the road !
The road is too narrow and the slope is way beyond my car can handle.
My final destination at Avenue of Giants was to look for the World Tallest Tree. According to the map, the tree is called ‘Founders Tree’. Standing strong at 346 feet (105 meters), this tree can easily aged more than 5000 years old.
It is really hard to imagine how tall is the tree. Not even a camera can capture the mightiness of this living form.
The tallest Redwood tree is about 346 feet. Malaysia’s tallest tree is the Tualang tree stands at 250 feet. Compare side by side, Redwood earned the big brother status.
The tualang tree is a majestic emergent tree of the Southeast Asia rainforests best know for the disk shaped honeycombs which hang from its horizontal branches. Towering above the canopy the tualang can reach 250 feet, or the 30 stories in height. Tualang trees are best known for the honey combs which hang from the bottom of their branches. The combs can be 6 feet across and can contain as many as 30,000 bees. One tualang tree can contain more than 100 nests.
The tree house made from fallen redwood trees.
How old is this tree?
http://www.avenueofthegiants.net
Start PicLens! 
bestnyaaaaaaaaaaa!!!
if you happen to know the magic faraway tree by enid blyton, these are the trees perhaps!
and tree houses~ so cute!!literaly a tree house~ heheh. wonder how it looks like inside.
Hello Alexander,
This is a nice little website you have here. However, I must correct you on a few things, as your information isn’t completely accurate. First of all, there is no “Ancient Redwood State Park”. I live 40 miles from the Avenue of the Giants and I know all of the Redwood State Parks, as I have been to them all many times. That would however, be an excellent name for one. I am surprised there isn’t a park with that name.
Secondly, the Founder’s Tree is not the tallest tree in the world. The tallest tree is **supposedly** in Redwood National Park, which is about 70 miles north of the Avenue of the Giants. I say **supposedly** because both the US National Park Service and the California State Park Service refuse to say exactly where the tallest trees are anymore because when they do people go to see them by the thousands, and that invariably ends up harming the trees. So they don’t say where they are anymore.
While I can understand this position as it is in fact better for these ancient wonders, as an amateur photographer I can also understand wanting to see these trees up close and personal. To see them and take a few photos would be nice, but I would actually prefer to keep them alive…
According to the US National Park Service and the California State Park Service, this is the list of the top 10 current tallest trees, as of August 2006:
1: The Hyperion Tree, Redwood National Park, 379.1 feet
2: The Helios Tree, Redwood National Park, 376.3 feet
3: The Icarus Tree, Redwood National Park, 371.2
4: The Stratosphere Giant Tree, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, 370.5 feet
5: The Mendocino Tree, Montgomery Redwoods State Reserve, 367.5 feet
6: The Paradox Tree, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, 366.3 feet
7: The National Geographic Society Tree, Redwood National Park, 365.5 feet
8: The Swamp Tree, Montgomery Redwoods State Reserve, 363.4 feet
9: The Pipe Dream Tree, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, 363 feet
10: The Lost Hope Tree, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, 362.2 feet
Redwood National Park is somewhat of an oddball in the US National Park Service System. It is actually three California State Parks and a National Park operated as a single unit managed jointly by the US National Park Service and the California State Park Service. The three State Parks are Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, and Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.
Now that you’ve been here once, I know you will be back… This is a magical place, and everyone who has ever been here comes back!
Axel Slingerland
Arcata, California
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The last reply makes a nice addition.
I’m not sure if I would like to find Hyperion - the tallest redwood - even if a map was drawn to the exact spot. Well… maybe if it was to the “exact” spot. But the tallest redwoods don’t look too much different from the ground.
For now, a few folks know where the largest redwoods are, but so few, that most people won’t have a chance to take photos. So here is a page I put together for the Grove of Titans:
href=”http://www.mdvaden.com/grove_of_titans.shtml
As an update to my last reply, I’ve added Atlas Grove to the same page as for Grove of Titans.
My name in the reply should be a hyperlink to the page.
Atlas Grove has Iluvatar, which is the second or third largest redwood tree.
Grove of Titans has Lost Monarch which is the largest.
More to be found for sure. The forest is so thick, it’s hard to believe that some bigger tree has not been missed or undiscovered.
Thank you for the info, guys.
This is really great.
I like the red woods becase it si wana my favret websitse.
Good words.
The tualang tree is not Malaysia’s tallest. The meranti tree in Sabah reaches 88 metres; about 290 feet.
Really enjoyed your pics. My daughter and I drove thru the Avenue of the Giants 2 summers ago. It is truly amazing what nature can do, if mankind doesn’t mess with it.