Humboldt Redwoods SP, Burlington Campground

This place gets a spot on our all time favorites list. This is the quintessential place to stay if you’re looking for redwoods and lots of recreation options. There are tons of short trails, long trails, miles of biking one of the most spectacular roads in California, and there is a river for water recreation too. The Burlington Campground sits right in the middle of the Avenue of the Giants, so it’s an excellent home base. There is just enough cell service that you don’t feel too cut off, and just enough grocery places that you can keep yourself supplied. No hookups or solar, so if you don’t have a generator, that could be a limiting factor.

On our approach, we tried two different campgrounds to find a dump which did not pan out. The first was the Benbow SRA Campground, the second was the Benbow KOA. The first has not had a dump for years, despite all the published materials and website that say they do. The KOA will not let you pay to dump in one of the hookup sites, like most KOAs will do. The only option they gave was to pay for a site for the night, just to use the sewer. Thanks to the Campendium app, we found a dump station in the little town of Miranda, behind the grocery store. This one is free if you spend $50 on gas. Otherwise it’s $12.99. Be aware there is no rinse water. We pulled into the campground with batteries full and holding tanks empty.

Our site was a nice one. It was set apart from other campers, so it had privacy and a nice big space to hang out. Our first order of business was to get our bikes set up and head down the Avenue of the Giants to the south. We stopped first at the Visitor Center where there were really nice displays. One exhibit was all about the famous Travel Log. This is roughly the size of Dory, all made out of redwood. That is one way to travel in style!

Some exhibits showed the history of the devastating floods that had wiped out entire towns along the Eel River. One occurred in 1955, and people figured that must have been the worst flood that could happen. They rebuilt afterwards, only to face the monster that came during Christmas of 1964. This one took out bridges and rose 33 feet above flood level. There are markers along the road, showing how high the water got. Absolutely terrifying to think about.

Heading south, you can normally go about fifteen miles, except there is a road closure south of Miranda. We rode all the way to the closure and deemed that to be plenty. Then we turned around and rode back. There are a few little places where you can stop for a bite, or pick up a trinket, or choose from an impressive selection of Big Foot items.

The road is gorgeous and not very trafficky. The eager beavers can speed along on the parallel Highway 101, leaving the Avenue for slow pokers and tree gawkers. From time to time, the trees part and you are treated to a beautiful view of the river. There are named groves with little trails every few miles, and some day use areas for picnics. The temperature is easily ten degrees cooler in the shade of the giant trees.

After an absolutely wonderful day, I made an equally delightful curry flavored dinner. We noted the signs warning of bears, so it was tempting fate to make the trailer smell so delicious. If I were a bear, I would totally come after our trailer.

After dinner, we went on the short loop trail across from the campground. There are only so many ways to say, “Wow, those are big trees!” You get the gist.

The next day’s plan was to do the same, but heading north. We walked the Founders Grove Trail, and then took a detour along Mattole Road. This was the E ticket ride of this stay for sure. It’s hard to imagine anything topping the Avenue of the Giants, but Mattole Road is even better. It continues, sort of, all the way to the Lost Coast, but that part of the road is unadvisable to travel unless you know what you and your car can handle. So it’s basically a dead end around the Albee Creek Campground. That means there is no through traffic and very few cars. It’s narrow, but nicely paved almost the whole way. There are a couple of grove hikes to do, like the Rockefeller Loop, and the Giant Trees Loop. All are spectacular.

We did check out the Albee Creek Campground, for future reference. It’s nice and many of the sites would fit an Alto. It has a very different feel than Burlington, because it is more remote and because it is at the edge of the forest, rather than right in the middle of it. Some of the sites look out onto meadows, while some are in the trees. We couldn’t hit much cell service there, so it would be more like “camping,” which we don’t usually like. Still, worth knowing about.

The last stint of the day was spent going up the Avenue heading north. We had a chilly headwind coming at us, and there is a lot more up and down going in that direction. Not a problem for an E-bike, but it had already been a long day. We ended up turning back at the Immortal Tree, just shy of Pepperwood. Some day we will go back and do the Drury-Chaney Trail.

We absolutely loved our stay here. The campground can’t be beat for getting the full redwood forest experience. I loved my E-bike, once again, and note that there weren’t any bike rental places around. It would have been a lot harder logistically to get this experience. I went through almost half my battery on each day, clocking in about thirty miles both days. I’m happy we have a backup battery, which Aventon gave away for free as part of a promotion. This does mean we need to use the generator when we don’t have hookups, but that is not a big deal. I highly recommend this place as a California classic!

Total miles from Standish Hickey: 51.6, 16.8, 2 hours 6 min. Site 56, very nice and private. 1-2 bars LTE of Verizon. Sometimes ATT, but sometimes nope. Campground Wifi, but it doesn’t really do anything. No solar. Water spigots. No dump, but there is a dump in Miranda behind the grocery store for $12.99. Free if you spend $50 on gas.