Who turned out the lights? This was the feeling we had as soon as we stepped into the Redwood forest. A bright sunny day suddenly darkened as the amazingly large canopy completely blocked all sun from reaching the ground.
The majestic redwoods of the coast are the tallest trees in the world. They begin from a seed the size of a tomato seed and can grow to become taller than the Statue of Liberty and weigh 500 tons. We drove along the Avenue of the Giants, 31 miles of lush redwood groves, and walked among the giant trees, some of which are 370 feet tall and up to 2000 years old. Having just read the best-selling book ‘The Wild Trees” about the world of tree-climbing into the magical canopy of these trees, we were fascinated to see the remains of Telperion, the giant tree that thundered down during a storm just a month after the book’s featured tree-climbers slept overnight in it’s massive canopy. 
We were amazed by the giant splintered remnants of another fallen tree, demonstrating the dangerous power of a falling tree, or even a limb which is larger than most of the trees we usually see.
Our explorations included hiking through Humbolt State Park in California, home of the Founder’s Tree, and Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park in Oregon. The hollowed-out trunk of a particularly large tree led to a human experiment to see how many Road Scholar adventurers could fit inside. We apparently set a record with 30 people crammed inside a redwood tree trunk. And here is a video taken by our friend Lily to prove it.
The beauty, enormity and mystery and majesty of the Redwoods were astonishing and fascinating. We found them difficult to photograph, but we had fun trying!
Click here to see our journey to Lava Lands, Oregon Caves and Crater Lake.