Valley of the Lost Groves .. Mutant Redwoods

by Mario Vaden

 

North of Redwood National Park and Orick, in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, there is a primeval stand of redwoods called Valley of the Lost Groves. The valley contains a hidden ancient forest with several "mutant" redwoods.

This valley of redwoods was nicknamed fairly recently. The name is a renaming among bushwhackers of several abandoned groves, one being Loomis.

Reference for the grove is mostly word of mouth. At the visitor centers, people in the office will probably not provide maps there if you ask.

Image: Mutant Redwood .. see its page.

The aim of this page is to set for the record that if you hear about a valley of lost groves .. it does exist. It is not the groves you may have read about in The Wild Trees by Richard Preston, but a more obscure area.

It reminds some explorers of a redwood version of ancient temple ruins abandoned over time.

The information I feel worth sharing is this ...

The unusual redwoods and groves are scattered within the midst of a full valley. There are giant redwoods, tall redwoods and some very new discoveries. Since things this big can't be hidden, it's not tremendously hard to find for the diligent.

The most unusual tree may be the Super Colossus redwood. From a distance it looks like a huge heap of organic matter .. a living dome of tissue almost 30 feet wide at the base. Its not the the Mutant shown above, but the other below to the right. The Colossus is dome shape, and could be all redwood burl. It has a root growing out of it into the air, then fused back in again. It reminds me of a wooden serpent.

The Colossus and Cathedral should also should be in my main redwood page menu under the large or unusual headings. Take a moment to read about those and many other coast redwoods.

Image: Super Colossus .. see its page.

This valley of lost groves has a Titanic example of a cathedral redwood, one of the largest in the redwood parks. You may be familiar with those. The Redwood region has dozens of gorgeous hidden valleys, and the Valley of the Lost Groves is as unique as they come.

This is inspiration to slow down in the park when your explore. Several trails have amazing redwoods that go unnoticed while hikers pass by. People often move too fast to take it in.

One tip ... if you hike Westridge trail and spot a wood bench after a few minutes. Ask youself what's lurking back there. The rest is up to you.

 

advertisement