Founders Grove is the short walk that most people take when they only have twenty minutes, and it works. A flat loop trail threads among some of the biggest redwoods on the Avenue of the Giants, and most of them are the kind of trunks you cannot get your arms around even if five friends join in. The grove is named for the founders of the Save the Redwoods League, the group of conservationists who started buying up groves in the 1910s to rescue them from the logging that was devouring the coast.
The main attraction used to be the Dyerville Giant, a redwood that stood more than 360 feet tall, thought to be roughly sixteen centuries old. In March 1991 it fell during a storm, and it now lies along the path with its root plate towering above you like a wall of tangled earth. Walking along its length takes a while, and gives a much clearer idea of the scale than looking up at a living tree.
For a rider this is a leg-stretching stop on a road that is good for slow thought. The Avenue is tree-lined, quiet, and rarely above moderate speed, so the point is to arrive relaxed. Park on the gravel, lock your helmet to the bike, and carry a lightweight jacket. It is often cooler and damper in the grove than on the road, and in summer fog may hang overhead until late morning. The ground can be slippery, and boots with a decent sole help.
Redwoods have shallow roots, which is why they cluster and why storms bring them down, and the forest floor is a record of that: fallen logs, new trunks sprouting from old stumps, and mushrooms in the wet months. Banana slugs, bright yellow and unbothered, creep across the trail in damp weather. There are no services at the grove itself. Fortuna, about thirty-four kilometres north, and Garberville to the south have fuel, and a few small stores around Myers Flat and Weott sell drinks and snacks. Do fill the tank before starting down the Avenue.