Avenue of the Giants

The Avenue is the old highway. Until the 101 freeway bypass opened in 1960, this was US 101, and when the new road went in the old alignment was left as State Route 254 — thirty-two miles of two-lane blacktop running through old-growth redwood, with big rigs banned and the speed low enough to actually look around.

There are eight numbered auto-tour stops with interpretive panels, running from Franklin K. Lane Grove at the south end to Drury-Chaney Grove at the north. If you're driving north you count up. Nobody needs to do all eight. Most people who enjoy it pick two or three and walk a short loop at each.

Driving it costs nothing. There's no gate, no entrance station, and the only place you'll pay to park anywhere on the corridor is Williams Grove at $8. Founders Grove, Gould Grove at the visitor center, and Drury-Chaney all have free lots.

The corridor exists because of memorial giving. Bolling Grove — auto-tour stop 2 — was dedicated in August 1921 as the first, and the park grew grove by grove from there, which is why the names on the signs are people rather than places.

Cyclists ride it, and the Avenue of the Giants Marathon closes portions each spring. Dogs can travel the Avenue and use day-use areas and paved paths on a six-foot leash, but not the nature trails.

One quirk worth knowing: the parking at California Federation of Women's Clubs Grove is limited to vehicles under 16 feet because of erosion damage. Most other pullouts handle normal vehicles fine.