Trees of mystery – a must see stop in Northern California to see the redwood trees and paul bunyan
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The Redwood Trees in Northern California are considered one of the Seven Natural Wonders of North America, but seeing these gigantic trees in pictures doesn’t compare to standing next to one. The tallest Redwood tree, named Hyperion, measures 379 feet tall! They can grow to have a diameter of 24 feet across! To say these trees are massive just doesn’t describe it! These giant redwood trees can be found along the Northern California coast near Eureka all the way to the Southern Oregon coastal area. There are many places to stop and see these trees up close. You can visit Trees of Mystery, which I’ll go into detail below about. You can drive along the Avenue of the Giants, a 31 mile drive that runs parallel to the 101 and has 3 different giant trees you can drive through! Or, you can visit each of the larger grove areas of the trees-Prairie Creek, Del Norte Coast, Lady Bird Johnson grove, or Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.

Bear Cuddles

Not only does the Trees of Mystery have some spectacular trees to look at, it is also home to Paul Bunyan and Babe! Paul is also as giant as the giant redwoods! He stands at 49’2″ tall and weighs 30,000 pounds! Babe is nearly as tall with his horn tips measuring at 35 feet tall! Aside from his huge size, Paul is also unique because he talks to all the visitors! My boys had such a fun time talking to Paul and telling him jokes! We could’ve spent all day talking to Paul! But, we didn’t! We had some hiking through the redwoods and a Sky Trail to ride! Hanging out with Paul was my boys favorite part of the Trees of Mystery experience.

Sitting on Paul Bunyan’s boot

After visiting with Paul and Babe, we headed into Trees of Mystery to follow the self-guided tour path through the forest winding around the most impressive trees in the park. One of the trees that was most interesting to us was the Brotherhood Tree. This one large tree had other, smaller trees growing around it that helped it to grow big and strong.

Brotherhood Tree

The Cathedral Tree was one of the most spectacular trees/tree groupings we saw. It is a group of nine trees that have grown together on the side of a hill to create one large tree. Easter services and weddings are performed here each year! Church music is played during open park hours as well. There are a few benches set up, so if you wanted to stop and spend some time in prayer you could.

Part of the trail winds through a lot of the forest with signs along the way describing different trees. There are some other amazing trees in park including the Candelabra Tree.

Trees of Mystery has five different trails you can explore. Some of the trails are easier for people like us with children or those who need an easier trail. There are also some other intense trails that take you deep through the forest -we didn’t explore any of these.

We visited Trees of Mystery in June and the weather was beautiful! We especially loved the weather since back home in Houston, it was miserably hot and humid! Being under the forest canopy though, it can be pleasant even if it is a gloomy, drizzly day since the forest cover is so thick.

At one point along the path, you come to an educational building with tons of historical pictures hanging on the walls. In the middle of the room was a table with sand on it. As you moved the sand, it changed the topography of the land. You could create mountains and rivers. It was very interesting to play with the sand to see what kind of landscapes you could build! The boys enjoyed playing with this table and learning about elevation and topography!

Topographic sand table

At the top of the walking trail is where you can get on the Sky Trail for a ride to the top of the mountain. The Sky Trail has 8 gondolas that ride in a continuous track. The gondola slows down at the top and bottom for passengers to easily get on. Each gondola can hold 6 passengers and travels at about 11 mph up the mountain for a 1/3 of a mile. I’m not going to lie, we were a bit nervous riding these gondolas up the mountain. Once we got to the top safely, the ride back down wasn’t near as bad! Once you are at the top of the mountain, you can see forever! On a clear day, you can see all the way to the Pacific Ocean! We could barely see it, so it didn’t show up in our pictures very well. This is the only place where you can experience a ride like this through the redwood trees.

On the gondola ride
Trees of Mystery-Sky Trail
View from the top of the Sky Trail-Out in the distance is the Pacific Ocean!

This is the root area of the Elephant Tree. My boys truly enjoy being out in nature and exploring. All the redwood forests and the Northern California area have so much to explore that we could spend weeks and never see the same place twice!

At the end of the walking trail, there is a museum you can walk through to learn more about the redwoods and the history of logging in the area. You can also spend more time talking to Paul Bunyan! I didn’t take pictures of all the carved trees, but towards the end of the walking trail, there were many carved trees that told well known stories.

Love Tree
See the crooked tree in the middle?
Panoramic of a Redwood

These trees are absolutely spectacular! Just walking through forests of these giant trees, really puts our size in perspective! We also ventured out and explored some forests on our own before arriving at the Trees of Mystery. We came across some of the giant trees that had fallen down and made for some interesting exploring! The boys were able to climb on top of these trees as well as inside the trees or around the roots! (There will be another post in a few weeks about these other tree groves we explored, so keep a lookout for it!)

If you haven’t ever seen the redwoods in person, I would absolutely recommend a trip to see them. Visit the Trees of Mystery website for more detailed information! Pets are even allowed on the trails! There is also a gift shop at the end with some very interesting items for purchase! My boys chose some playing cards, a stuffed Babe, and we also bought a redwood to bring home and plant in our backyard. Although, the chances of it surviving are not that great!

Paul Bunyan and Babe are also featured on the Trees of Mystery webcam! Check it out here!

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