Avenue of the Giants

The Avenue of the Giants is one of the most singular drives in the world — not because of its speed, its elevation, or its technical challenge, but because of what surrounds it. For 31 miles, State Route 254 threads through the Humboldt Redwoods State Park, passing beneath coastal redwoods that were ancient when the Roman Empire fell and that dwarf every human structure you have ever stood beside.

This is a companion pack to our NorCal Redwoods & Lost Coast route, designed for drivers who want to give the Avenue the dedicated attention it deserves rather than experiencing it as a single day within a longer itinerary. The drive is easy — flat, well-maintained, and unhurried — but the experience is profound. You will stop often, walk quietly through groves that absorb all sound, and leave with a recalibrated sense of scale.

The route runs south to north, beginning at Founders Grove and ending at the Drury-Chaney Loop near Pepperwood. Along the way, a short detour to Rockefeller Forest — the largest remaining old-growth redwood grove on Earth — is essential. The Shrine Drive-Thru Tree in Myers Flat provides the route's one moment of levity: driving your car through a living 3,000-year-old organism is an experience that resists easy description.

Garberville, at the southern gateway, provides the best base for the drive. The Benbow Historic Inn is the finest accommodation in the region — a 1926 Tudor Revival inn that has hosted presidents and film stars and still manages to feel unhurried. For those who want to sleep inside the forest itself, Miranda Gardens Resort sits directly on the Avenue in the hamlet of Miranda.