Trails – Humboldt Redwoods State Park CA

Description

Humboldt Redwoods State Park was established in 1921 with purchases of some of the last remaining Old Growth stands of Coast Redwoods by the Save the Redwoods League. It has since been expanded several times and now includes over 51,000 acres, of which 17,000 are old growth redwood stands.

California did not establish a state parks system until 1928, and little improvement work had been done at Humboldt Redwoods before the New Deal.  When the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) arrived at Dyerville camp in 1933, the young men got to work right away developing the state park.

During their time in the park, 1933-42, CCC enrollees made a large number of improvements for the recreation use of the new park by the public.  These included roads, campgrounds, and trails.  We have not been able to confirm exactly which trails the CCC worked on, but most of the present trails would have been laid out or greatly improved by the CCC ‘boys’ (O’Hara & Stockton, p. 79).

These would include the Founders Grove loop trail, the Rockefeller Grove trail, the Bull Creek Flat Trail and the Grasshopper Peak trail, and no doubt others. Further confirmation is needed.

[It should be noted that the Founders of the Save the Redwood League, such as Madison Grant and Fairfield Osborne, were wealthy New Yorkers who were great conservationists but leading ideologues of White Supremacy (not just run-of-the-mill racists) in the early 20th century.  There is a movement afoot to take their names off of markers in the redwood parks].