John D. Rockefeller Jr. came to lunch in these Humboldt redwoods in 1926, and his checks saved the largest old-growth redwood forest left on Earth

Plenty of road-trippers cruise the Avenue of the Giants, snap a few photos, and keep heading north. The ones who hang a left onto Mattole Road at Dyerville end up somewhere even better: inside the largest remaining contiguous old-growth coast redwood forest in the world.

It’s called Rockefeller Forest, and it exists because of a lunch. Seriously.

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The lunch that turned into two $1 million checks

In the summer of 1926, Newton Drury of the Save the Redwoods League invited the Rockefeller family to lunch at Dyerville Flats, right in the middle of these trees. Less than a year later, John D. Rockefeller Jr. handed the League a $1 million check to buy the grove.

A second $1 million followed in 1929. With matching state money, 9,335 acres were bought from the Pacific Lumber Company in 1931.

Here’s the funny part: Rockefeller didn’t want his family’s name on it. The place went by the Bull Creek-Dyerville Forest until 1951.

The floods that finished the job

Saving the flats didn’t save the hills above them. After World War II, logging boomed across Humboldt County, and the Bull Creek watershed upstream of the forest got hit hard.

Then came a catastrophic flood in 1955 and an even more devastating one in 1964. After that, the park worked to buy the whole watershed to protect the giants below, and restoration of Bull Creek is still going today.

So that pretty creek you’ll stroll past? It’s a big part of why these trees are still standing.

What it actually feels like in there

The first thing you notice is how open it is. Instead of a tangle of brush, the ground is a soft carpet of needles, redwood sorrel, and ferns, and the trunks shoot straight up out of it like pillars holding up the sky.

Humboldt Redwoods State Park protects about 17,000 acres of old-growth redwoods, covering the entire Bull Creek watershed and Rockefeller Forest. Only about 5% of the original old coast redwood forest is left anywhere, which makes this much ancient wood in one place kind of mind-blowing.

The easy way in: Rockefeller Loop

You don’t have to earn this one. The Rockefeller Loop starts about 1.1 miles west of the Avenue of the Giants on Mattole Road, and it’s a short, nearly flat loop of about a mile with only around 100 feet of elevation change.

About halfway around, Bull Creek slides past the trail, and a little side path drops you down to the water. It’s a stroll, not a hike, so it works for kids, stiff road-trip legs, or anyone who just wants to stand very still and stare straight up.

If you only have time for one short walk off the Avenue, make it this one over Founders Grove. It tends to be quieter, and giants hit different when you’re not sharing them with a packed parking lot.

Go deeper at Big Trees

Keep driving Mattole Road to the Big Trees Area, about 4.1 miles west of the Avenue. This is where you’ll find the Giant Tree and the fallen Flatiron Tree, plus a boardwalk that gets you right up to the trunks without trampling the roots.

Mattole Road is narrow and twisty, and it squeezes between some seriously large trunks. Take it slow, because the drive is half the fun.

In summer, the Bull Creek Flats loop links these areas: about 7.6 miles with roughly 870 feet of gain, rated moderate. The full loop relies on a seasonal footbridge that’s usually pulled by late September, so this time of year, check creek conditions at the visitor center before planning anything that crosses Bull Creek.

Don’t skip the fallen giant next door

Back at the Mattole Road turnoff, Founders Grove sits just off the Avenue at mile marker 20.5. Its showstopper is the Dyerville Giant, a redwood that stood more than 360 feet tall before it came crashing down in March 1991.

Today it lies along the short Founders Grove Nature Loop, slowly feeding the forest floor. Walking the length of a tree that size is a strange, humbling thing, and you’ll want a friend in the photo for scale.

The grove’s namesake Founders Tree is still upright, too, and it’s a monster. We’ve got every stop worth pulling over for in our Avenue of the Giants guide, and if you’re building a bigger trip, here’s where to see redwoods in California beyond Humboldt.

Trip tips: grab a rental car to get out here, lock in your hotel before the good rooms are gone, or skip both and book a camper van instead.

So, are you an Avenue-only redwood person, or have you made the left turn onto Mattole Road yet? Tell us your favorite grove in the comments!

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