Excellent video Josh. I would like to add another one to this list that I've personally been to. Calaveras Big Trees State Park near Angels Camp and Arnold along Highway 4. This park protects the northernmost Sequoia Trees in the Sierra Nevada and is definitely worth checking out! Driving on the Ebbetts Pass National Scenic Byway along this route is also a big thrill as well with how narrow the road gets!
It's not on his list?? Oh for shame. That place is just magnificent. Open year round Been to general Sherman as a child and an adult with my child I didn't know about general Grant
Oh Josh forgot, because of your recommendation me and my fellow female veterans took a road trip to Cali (for the California Wine Train) and Muir Woods was on our list because of you. Thank you for your thoroughness. I even purchased a Muir Woods tee shirt
Calaveras Big Trees State Park is one of my favorite places! It's easy to get to and has lovely camping spots. I like to camp there in late summer when the camping empties out and the tree groves aren't as crowded. It's also not as hot. It's just up Highway 4, just east of Sonora. It's a great area!
First of all, thanks for inspiring me and so many others to check out places like the redwoods that perhaps many of us wouldn’t have otherwise felt compelled to check out without your videos. The only spot I would add to this video (though I admit I haven’t been to Sequoia/Kings Canyon) is Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park near Santa Cruz. I went for the first time last week and I was shocked by how beautiful it was. Along with having wonderful trees (on par with Muir Woods if you ask me), I had the luck of encountering a family of deer on the trail. I guess it pays to go early in the AM.
I like big trees....I can not lie 😊 We have giant Live Oaks here in Florida. Fairchild Oak is said to be the states' oldest... its in Ormond Beach and Treaty Oak in Jacksonville is the city's oldest. Neither tree is very tall but the limbs spread out like octopus arms.... some are more than 1500 years old.
Excellent video. Another redwoods forest I loved was Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve. If visiting the Russian River Valley area, this is a great stop.
Another place to visit is the trails on Bull Creek/Matolle Road off of Avenue of the Giants. It starts near the Dyerville Bridge on the Avenue. Matolle Road actually goes over to the coast and then back inland to Ferndale. There's day use areas along Matolle Road and trails, one of which goes for quite some distance along Bull Creek. Giant Tree, Stratosphere Tree and Rockefeller Loop are all points of interest along there. In one of the parking areas there's a bridge that crosses the creek that is actually a huge fallen redwood tree that has been cut flat on the top. A warning though, Matolle Road becomes very curvy and isn't in the best of condition after some miles.
More places to visit on my list when I get there but Josh, even though im a werebear myself but are there any bears in these massive tree forests just in case ?
Your channel is a treasure trove of information, gorgeous camera work, and relaxing narration as usual :) I've never seen the sequioas with their bases covered in snow, that's wild! I'm hoping to see some of the trees on your list the next road trip we make.
Seriously thinking about coming to CA to see the big trees! Never been to CA except changing planes in LA! There is just so much to see and do there hard to fit it all in! When is the best time to go? Great video!!
You should do a video on all the drive thru trees that are still left in California next. They’re definitely from a forgotten time, where no other state has.
Great list! 😊 A couple of my other favorites places to see redwoods are: •Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park in Felton •Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve in Guerneville
Check out Red Hill grove near sequoia national park, now owned by forest service, we sold the grove in 2018 or so to the redwood league. We had trees there in the top 10 largest in the world, no joke. Was very unknown because it was private property. Unfortunately a wildfire swept through a few years ago and burned up some trees. Worth looking since I believe its considered open to public now.
There is also McKinley Grove near Shaver Lake and Balch Park near Porterville. It was cool to see Trail of 100 Giants as it is the closest Grove to me. That entire area of the Sequoia National Forest is really beautiful and there are a lot of great points of interest. I recently drove through Sherman Pass, and it was awesome. Seeing the Kern Plateau and Kennedy Meadows was impressive.
Loved this video! My husband and I have been to Muir Woods twice and visited Founder’s Grove for the first time last April. We will be visiting the Avenue of the Giants again later this year and look forward to visiting Founder’s Grove again along with other trails during our visit.
Josh, I'm going to Redwood NP in July, and am planning to do the Tall Trees Grove. I'd seen your previous video about it, so we're gonna make reservations to do it!😉
Amen to your top ten choices. Mine too. Only one I’d add is the newton b drury parkway has a lot of short jaunts from the road to some great little groves like cork screw tree and the big tree grove. Each an easy stroll to and through some amazing trees. And it itself is a lovely drive. Shorter than avenue of the giants. So I’d say it’s my 11th fav spot. lol I’ve not been to big basin. So can’t comment on that. Big Sur has a lot of redwoods as well. I live to camp at Big Sur Campground and cabins because I’m camping in the redwoods and breathing that high oxygen content air that makes my asthmatic lungs sing with joy. Their cabins are pristine and wonder if you’ve never stayed there. Pricey but worth it
I will have to check that one out! I also need to spend more time in the Big Sur area for hiking. It always seems to be more road trips for me and I need to get out on more trails
Big Sur has a few trails that I’ve enjoyed. Mostly in the Big Sur pfeiffer state park in the grove stroll and the hike to pfeiffer falls and the overlook trail though I’m probably remembering the name wrong. Andrew Mollera state beach has two trails. But not sure if the one by the campgrounds is open again all the way to the beach cuz a big chunk of it washed away a couple years ago. And salmon creek falls is a nice hike. There’s a spur trail from that which I’ve never done that sounds nice. And the hike above Mc way falls to the environmental campsite is cool. I know there are more hikes but those are the only ones I’ve done. Nothing strenuous. They’d be more kid and senior friendly(I’m a senior, turned 60 this year and I have bad knees from getting rear ended on the 101 a few years back. I don’t recommend it. But you should have seen the truck that hit my Corolla. He broke the front wheel off his dodge ram on the fender of my Corolla. He hit me pretty hard. But my trusty old Corolla limped off the freeway on its own. But it was totaled. He had to be towed. So I still drive a Corolla. I feel very safe after getting hit by a semi, then six months later the dodge ram n the same car) cuz I live road trips and hiking
Almost forgot the trillium falls hike near fern canyon has a really restive grove of redwoods that has the added joy of a nice water fall and in season the famous trillium flowers that are also endangered and so beautiful. And you might see herds of elk there.
I’m happy to report that I’ve been to the first five on the list hehe. When we went to the 100 Giants forest, it was just us and a couple of more visitors. So we basically had the whole thing to ourselves. Thank you for all the recommendations, Josh 🙌🏽
