Part 11: Ocean, Sky, Freedom: West Coast Bicycle Adventure—Canada to Mexico—Avenue of the Giants

By Frosty Wooldridge

Part 11: Avenue of the Giants, a spiritual place where the Great Spirit created enormous beings

“That night, in the Avenue of the Giants, we cooked our food under 350 foot trees spanning 25 centuries.  We looked up toward a starlit sky under which those trees grew for 2,500 years.  Few contemplate the vastness of the universe because it’s unfathomable.  To live for 25 centuries slings a person’s mind into confusion as to how those trees survived fires, droughts, floods, diseases and pestilence.  Yet, that night, we slumbered under a redwood canopy of spiritual eloquence replete with profound silence while we listened to the heartbeat of the universe in our dreams.”  FHW, Avenue of the Giants, West Coast Ride

(Sandi and Daniel riding along the Pacific Coast, Route 101, with endless rock islands out in the blue surf.)

Route 101 never disappoints.  We stopped at a convenience store for water. On the side of the building, three guys reclined against a brick wall while a fourth man begged for money and food from shoppers.  All four looked horribly dirty and disheveled.

I walked over, “Hey guys, I’m just an old guy, but I have a question for you.”

“Shoot,” said one of them.

“You are all young men,” I said.  “How come you struck out on the road without enough money to keep you fed?  Why would you throw yourselves on the financial mercy of others?  Why didn’t you take jobs, earn the money and then, travel?”

“We’re free men,” one said. “We don’t work in an office and nobody bosses us around.”

“Yes,” I said.  “But you accept money from people who work, pay their bills and are accountable to themselves.”

“Yeah,” another one said.  “But they’re not free; we are, so it’s all a matter of choice.”

“Travel in good health and high spirits,” I said, realizing they lived in a different mindset.

Daniel and Sandi filled up their water bottles.  We jumped on the bikes and sped south.  You meet every kind of person on adventure highway. Each chooses his or her mode of travel.  In the end, it’s all good.

Later in the day, we exited the highway onto the “Avenue of the Giants” for yet another mystical, magical ride through one of the dozens of redwood groves saved by the www.SavetheRedwoodsLeague.org . 

“Let’s go see Founder’s Grove where we can climb onto the Dyersville Giant,” said Sandi.  “It crashed in 1991, but it’s the biggest tree at 370 feet tall in these parts.”

“Founder’s Grove provides an ideal environment for big redwoods: it’s on a large alluvial flat at the intersection of two rivers, shielded from storms by 3000-foot-tall mountains to the west, yet still immersed in the summer fog that flows up the Eel River Valley. As a result the grove has a lot of huge trees, but in addition it also has very large area and is relatively open, giving it an unusually expansive feel. These factors make the Founders’ Grove is one of the most impressive there is; it’s really the quintessential redwood grove.”  Founder’s Grove trail guide.

(One of the smaller redwoods along the Avenue of the Giants.)

For the next three hours, we hiked a 1.5 mile loop through burned out redwoods that still thrived in the mist that penetrated from the ocean.  We took pictures from every angle.  We climbed on massive dead trees.  The Dyersville Giant provided over 120 yards of a wood pathway 20 feet off the ground.  We learned that redwoods expire 500 gallons of water daily.  We played under a needle canopy that allowed very little light to hit the forest floor.  While they live 2,500 years, it takes 20 to 30 years for a dead tree to fall and 100 years for it to decompose back into the forest floor. These trees grow taller than from the bottom to the top of Niagara Falls.

Later, we stopped at the Park Ranger’s Visitor Center half way through the grove. “Avenue of the Giants” runs for about 27 miles.  One fellow built a truck out of a redwood tree to tour the country in order to gain support for saving the last 2 percent of the redwoods. He imitated dozens of bird songs.  He entertained and enthralled audiences for decades.  His truck lives on in the visitor center. 

That night, we pitched tents under the redwoods in the campgrounds. I can only describe the experience as deeply spiritual on more levels than I can explain.

(The root system of a fallen giant engulfs Sandi in the middle, West Coast Ride, Avenue of the Giants.)

The next day, we stopped dozens of times to take pictures of so many astounding trees and combinations of trees.  If you carry a bucket list of things you want to accomplish in your lifetime, visit the “Avenue of the Giants.”  There’s nothing else on Earth that will spellbind you like giant redwoods.

Upon reflection of all my bicycle adventures around the globe from the Arctic to Antarctica, I’ve seen some amazing phenomena on this planet. I’ve crossed the Nullarbor Plains in the Australian Outback,  hiked the Inca Trail, stood at the base of Mt. Everest, watched the sun never set in Alaska, faced grizzly bears,  scuba dived with sharks in the Galapagos Island, stood on the Great Wall of China and a dozen other epic moments.

Those redwoods, well, they inspire me beyond this Earthly realm. They captured a piece of my heart, mind and spirit.  They live in me.  Of all the Great Spirit’s amazing creations, the redwoods dwell in my soul for my entire life.  On my adventure shelf, I cherish a picture of my bike Condor and me in front of a big redwood painted in big letters, “Avenue of the Giants.”  I take note of it every day I walk into my office to write.  Bicycle adventure; it transports you into the universe.

As Sandi said, “This is a deeply spiritual place in the world.”

Daniel said, “You could make that in the entire universe.”

(Standing in a column of light piercing the redwood canonpy in the early morning. Yet another revelation along the Avenue of the Giants. Northern California, Route 101, West Coast Ride.)

(Standing inside a burned out redwood tree still alive. Sandi and Daniel.)

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Frosty Wooldridge
Golden, CO

Population-Immigration-Environmental specialist: speaker at colleges, civic clubs, high schools and conferences

Www.HowToLiveALifeOfAdventure.com

Www.frostywooldridge.com

Six continent world bicycle traveler

Speaker/writer/adventurer

Adventure book: How to Live a Life of Adventure: The Art of Exploring the World

Latest book:  How to Deal with 21st Century American Women: Co-creating a successful relationship

Frosty Wooldridge, six continent world bicycle traveler, Canada to Mexico summer 2014, 2,200 miles, 100,000 vertical feet of climbing: