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B Y J O H N F L I N N
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ntil you've seen one up close, it's hard to grasp just how
neck-craningly tall a coastal redwood tree is. Remember
the gargantuan Saturn V, the 35-story-high rocket that
sent astronauts to the moon? The largest Sequoia sempervirens grow
even taller, topping out at 379 feet. These 3,000-year-old arboreal
titans—nature's loftiest skyscrapers—grow in only one place in the
world: a narrow strip of fog-shrouded mountains along California's
wild and relatively unvisited North Coast.
The Redwood Highway
Old-growth redwoods are preserved in a chain of parks strung
along Highway 101, known in these parts as the Redwood Highway.
In southern Humboldt County, Humboldt Redwoods State Park
straddles the scenic drive known as the Avenue of the Giants. In
northern Humboldt and Del Norte counties, a cluster of parks—
Redwood National Park and Prairie Creek Redwoods, Del Norte
Coast Redwoods and Jedediah Smith Redwoods state parks—form
one contiguous redwood reserve.
WELCOMIA/SHUTTERSTOCK
.
OPPOSITE:
TOM
REICHNER/SHUTTERSTOCK
NORTH
COAST
TOP CITIES
Mendocino, Eureka, Crescent City, Fort Bragg,
Garberville, Arcata, Ukiah, Cloverdale, Ferndale
GATEWAY
The Arcata-Eureka Airport (EKA), 16 miles (26 km) from
downtown Eureka, has service from San Francisco
and other hubs, but no international flights
TOURISM WEBSITES
delnorte.org
exploredelnorte.com
northcoastca.com
redwoods.info
visitmendocino.com
POPULATION
782,000
NORTH COAST
Behind the "redwood curtain" lies a land of Victorian villages,
picture-perfect fishing harbors and inspired lunacy
