Humboldt Redwoods State Park Visitor Center — Attraction in Fortuna

The visitor center for this state park is one of the best I’ve ever seen. The back, furthermost-in section is the most interesting. A bit on redwood trees, including that lichens fix nitrogen, and about mycorrhizae, root systems, anatomy of the tree – sapwood, heartwood, and bark, and the burls “are masses of buds located at the base of the trunk, the buds may develop into sprouts growing toward sunlight, or roots when they contact soil. In time, sprouts may develop into mature trees. A burl found on the trunk is a mass of dormant buds which seem to lack the ability to regenerate – these are usually caused by disease or injury.” There’s an exhibit of Native American artifacts – arrow points and other tools, basketry – and local fossils, how fossils form…interesting stuff. Apart from that, there’s a big exhibit on some guy, Charles Kellogg, “The Nature Singer,” a vaudevillian who became interested in the redwoods, had something to do with Save the Redwoods League and made a huge traveling redwood mobile home mounted on a Nash Quad truck. The walls are 5-6” thick redwood, with a single bunk, cabinets, etc., all inside a single piece of redwood log. Kellogg worked until the 1930’s (died in 1949 at age 80). Other impressive exhibits: “Use Your Head”, a group of animal skulls (chained to a countertop) and visitors are challenged to identify which is wild pig, raccoon, black bear, gray fox, bobcat, black tail buck, coyote. The display allows people to pick up, rotate, closely examine the skulls. Nearby are pelts of various mammals that likewise can be handled and a classic old diorama with a number of stuffed but lifelike animals (bear, fox, night egret, etc.) Glorious. Blown away by the museum I impetuously bought books and postcards that I could have gotten for less cost somewhere else, but it was to support the...

I always love stopping by a visitor center to find information on the area and to look at the local history exhibits.

The center has a historic Travel Log Truck on display that was made from a single piece of Redwood in 1917.

You will also find exhibits on the local Native tribes, logging, local history, and wildlife.

A number of local history exhibits are in the room that plays a film.

The gift shop has a nice selection of nice books and souvenirs.

The Gould Grove Nature Loop Trail is next to the center.

The center offers a number of programs including a nature walk.

Located on the Avenue of the Giants, just south of Weott and a short distance from the Founders Grove.

A nice place to stop for information on the local area with a number of great exhibits on local history and...

Fine educational place, with lots of cool exhibits, movies, books for sale, and souvenirs for Aunt Betsy. Then there's the staff... just listening to them share generously with others we learned a lot.

One older visitor was a kid affected by the flood. What flood? Oh, look, it's right here in this exhibit. Dang.

Here's a very strange wooden truck... and it shows up in all the ~1915 pics and posters.

Here's an exhibit of the tools and work of loggers... meh, so what. (He then walks across the street and sees the trees up close. Wow, that must have been incredibly scary and dangerous work.)

The entire place was a credit for the state and organizers. (Not common for CA to get praise from WA, so, more worth...