Valley of the Lost Groves Redwoods
Mutant Redwood |s|
Continued from: Largest Coast Redwoods
Copyright 2009 by Mario Vaden
North of Redwood National Park and Orick, in Prairie Creek redwoods state park, is a primeval looking stand of redwoods, a Valley of the Lost Groves. The redwood groves are in a hidden, ancient looking forest setting. With several "mutant" redwoods.
This valley of redwoods was nicknamed fairly recently. Reference for the grove is mostly word of mouth and not on maps. Virtually off-the-charts for internet references. At the visitor centers, people in the office will not be able to help you if you ask.
Image: Mutant Redwood
The aim of this page is to set for the record that if you do hear about a valley of lost groves, one does exist. And it is not the Grove of Titans, Atlas Grove or Bull Creek Giant area.
Actually, those groves don't seem to have the same feel of antiquity as the Valley of the Lost Groves anyway.
If you ever stumble upon this area, you will probably realize it. It is literally a valley of redwoods: a valley of lost groves. Maybe simimlar to how ancient temple ruins are abandoned over time and engulfed by the forest.
The only information I'm comfortable sharing is this:
The greater part of the grove extends within a valley. A glimpse of the grove's canopy can be seen in the distance from a trail in the park. You may have seen some pics in my albums with the name in the caption.
The most unusual tree may be the Colossus redwood dome. From a distance it looks like a huge heap of organic matter: a living dome of tissue over 20' wide at the base. And its not the the Mutant redwood in the photo shown above. The Colossus is dome shaped. It does not appear to have the characteristics of redwood burl.
Image: Colossus Redwood (a living dome)
Also, 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 what those are.
The Redwood region has dozens of gorgeous hidden valleys, and the Valley of the Lost Groves is about as unique as they come.