SoHum Chamber’s Featured Destination of the Week: A Ghost in the Forest

Southern Humboldt Chamber of Commerce

Every week the Southern Humboldt Chamber of Commerce features a destination of the week. We’ll be sharing their posts here to celebrate our community.

Destination of the week!

Please note: The albino redwood trees are becoming well known and popular, and not so much a local secret anymore. You can google it and detailed information will pop up about the trees, and where to find them. You can also find out information from the Humboldt County Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, along with contacting the Weott Visitor Center. Our goal with this write up is to boost the post and reach out to people outside the area, in hopes of having them come our way and keep our area thriving.

We want a sustainable future in Humboldt, and one of the ways to accomplish this is through tourism and destination points!

A Ghost in the Forest

With a walking stick in one hand and a water bottle in the other, you continue your hike on one of the many significant trails located within Humboldt Redwoods State Park.  As the afternoon sun settles through the trees, you can hear the slight musical sound of birds singing a soft melody.   After an entire day of hiking amongst our redwood forests, it’s time to stop and rest your legs.  Just up ahead you see an old growth redwood tree that has fallen, imbedded deep into the ground.  Propping up your walking stick and taking a seat, you begin to immerse yourself in the beauty that is all around you.   As your eyes scan the forest floor in awe of the vibrant ferns scattered all around, impressed with the sheer size of these giant redwood trees, something catches your eye in the distance.  Up ahead you see something glistening in a small sliver of light that appears to be white.  As curiosity gets the better of you, you decide to investigate.  As you get closer to the unknown object you think to yourself, “What’s a journey without a little adventure”.  Crossing down in and over a dry creek bed, you pull yourself up to the other side.  Hoisting yourself up you let out a small gasp as you see what is glowing right in front of you!  Standing tall is a bright, white Albino tree!

Humboldt County is known for its redwoods but have you heard of one that is actually white?  There are in fact roughly 50 known albino redwoods in existence, and six of them can be found in Humboldt Redwoods State Park!  Two of these rare trees are just a short walk from the Avenue of the Giants, a 31 mile stretch of that cuts through Humboldt Redwoods State Park.  One, the 30-foot high Christmas Tree is located in the Women’s Federation Grove, a few miles just north of the small town of Weott.  The other, the 20-foot tall Spirit Tree, sprouts from the base of a giant redwood in a grove about three miles north of the town Redcrest.

The forest ghosts tend to hide in the darkest parts of our old growth forests and often leave visitors astounded!  Their snow-white needles lack any pigmentation, which often makes them “glow” against the backdrop of their shady environments.   Without any pigmentation, this means that their needles are white rather than green.  Without chlorophyll, the green substance that allows plants to convert sunlight into food, the ghost redwoods attach themselves onto the roots of nearby normal redwoods for sustenance.

While very rare, the trees have actually been recorded in Native Amercian legends.  The story goes that some tribes once used them for cleansing ceremonies, according to one historian.

These tall forest ghosts that hide within the depths of our parklands, are a definite must see!  They glisten amongst our shaded woodlands often giving our forests a wintertime glow!

As you pack your bags, boots, walking stick and map out your next trip to Humboldt, here is a helpful link to the Leave No Trace website, which encourages seven very important principles of outdoor ethics: https://lnt.org/learn/7-principles .

“Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations!”

For more information about our area visit our website at http://www.garberville.org or email [email protected]

#Destinationhumboldt!

Acclaimed albino redwood expert Tom Stapleton will be at Humboldt Redwood State Park on September 1st. He is leading an interpretive walk on the Albinos that meets at the Visitor Center at 11AM.

Note: Redheaded Blackbelt is a member of the Southern Humboldt Chamber of Commerce.
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17 Comments
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Dan F
Guest
Dan F
5 years ago

Shhh, don’t speak too loudly or too much, otherwise some Nut Case with a Chainsaw will be trying to cut them down!!! :C

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  Dan F

I was just thinking that. Not that it would survive the cut. It’s terrible to think that way but it’s impossible not to.

Jkoa
Guest
Jkoa
5 years ago
Reply to  Guest

Its a sucker tree. ..

Dan F
Guest
Dan F
5 years ago
Reply to  Jkoa

So what, it’s still pleasant to look at & unusual to see!!!

Dan F
Guest
Dan F
5 years ago
Reply to  Guest

Sadly you are correct on both counts!!!

Hubertus
Guest
Hubertus
5 years ago
Reply to  Dan F

This particular example is right on one of the main trails through a relatively busy state park – it’s hardly a secret, I’ve seen it many times.

Flatgirl
Guest
Flatgirl
5 years ago

Showing this and describing location should be a crime😡
You have further endangered this rare phenomenon

Mobius Moggie
Guest
Mobius Moggie
5 years ago

These are rare and should never be publicized! They will get destroyed. We need to keep them secret.

farce
Guest
farce
5 years ago
Reply to  Mobius Moggie

I sincerely agree. It’s unfortunate but true. Pimping out our rare natural wonders to outsiders because we destroyed our local weed economy? Bummer to see this and sad to hear that as a justification.

Kym Kemp
Admin
5 years ago
Reply to  farce

The State Parks is offering a guided tour. Note the sentence at the end of the article. I expect that they wouldn’t do that if they believed there would be issues.

Dan F
Guest
Dan F
5 years ago

Give it a try, see if it works, then report back to the rest of us!!!

Not thinking this through
Guest
Not thinking this through
5 years ago

Shame on you exploiters.
It was kind of a secret. Now you will see you need to protect it. Hope you can sleep at night.
My opinion. Some tourist cultures with harvest it all, like abalone. Sad days her in sohum.

Dawn
Guest
Dawn
5 years ago

The Chinese would! Now that there are no more Rhinos to kill for their horns, they have to find something else for that.

Kym Kemp
Admin
5 years ago

Note that the State Parks is offering a guided tour to the Albino trees and note I googled Albino Trees location because I thought it might still be a secret. Here are some of the links which give locations–note one of these is Save the Redwoods:

https://www.visitredwoods.com/listing/ten-must-see-redwood-trees/252/
https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/It-s-no-snow-job-handful-of-redwoods-are-rare-2519371.php
http://www.times-standard.com/article/NJ/20170901/NEWS/170909979
https://www.savetheredwoods.org/blog/path/monsters-and-ghosts-await-in-the-northern-redwoods/

Redwood
Guest
Redwood
5 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Yes, but the only article that gives precise directions to one is the SF Gate article and I know that tree and how to get there and these directions aren’t accurate. Ha!

Ernie Wasson
Guest
Ernie Wasson
5 years ago

There is also an albino redwood on the U.C. Berkeley campus very near one of the bridges over the creek that runs thru the main campus and in SF walk thru the redwood groves in the Botanic Garden and you just might see one! The white foliage turns brown with age and during the times when the mother tree is growing more slowly. In Humboldt Redwoods State Park there is also an albino sprout growing off a burl approx. 70+ ft. above the ground. Take the loop trail thru the main grove and keep looking up the trees with burls.

tech
Guest
tech
5 years ago
Reply to  Ernie Wasson

There are four or five in Founders Grove Alone.