Page 146 - 2015 Travel Guide to California

NORTH COAST
A lush land of redwood forests, fishing harbors, Victorian villages, even Bigfoot!
B Y J O H N F L I N N
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
northcoastca.com
redwoods.info
visitmendocino.com
Nature’s loftiest skyscrapers, the 3,000-year-old arboreal
titans known as Sequoia sempervirens, grow in only one
place on earth: a narrow strip of fog-shrouded mountains
along California’s wild and lightly visited North Coast. Until you’ve
seen one up close, it’s hard to grasp just how neck-craningly tall one
of these coastal redwoods is. Remember the gargantuan Saturn V, the
35-story-high rocket that sent astronauts to the moon? The largest
Sequoia sempervirens would tower over that, topping out at 379 feet.
POPULATION
782,000
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 strad-
dles 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 Red-
woods and Jedediah Smith Redwoods state parks—form one
contiguous redwood reserve.
The sounds of chainsaws and buzzing sawmills that once dominated
the North Coast are rapidly fading as the lumber industry winds down.
In former mill towns such as Fort Bragg, tourism is replacing timber as
innovative galleries, restaurants and brew-pubs spring to life.
144 2015 T R AV E L G U I D E TO C A L I F O R N I A
SERGEY YECHIKOV/SHUTTERSTOCK. OPPOSITE: SIERRALARA/SHUTTERSTOCK