It was a dark and wet winters day up at the Redwood Forest today - good for avoiding the crowds but not so good for the photos.
I've been hearing about this insta famous spot for awhile now however the thought of dealing with massive crowds had meant that I'd never dropped in to check it out. As I was up on the nearby Mt Donna Buang this Friday afternoon, and with the weather a little less than optimal I figured that it might be time to check out the Redwood Forest. My theory being that the shitty weather combined with it being a week day should thin the crowds out a bit. After driving past a sign informing me that there is car parking for 100 vehicles, I arrived to find a virtually deserted car park...sweet!
Apparently there is room for more than 100 vehicles here - If you don't want to be sharing this place with too many others then a visit in the rain, on weekday in winter is not a bad option.
It's a little vague where exactly the track (if there is one) actually goes here. I dropped down between the first row of trees.
With light rain falling I left the ute and dropped into the Redwoods. From my limited observations it appears as though most people don't get a lot further than this initial part of the forest, the perfectly manicured forest floor was a bit of a hint that most people just wandered through this bit. With my track looking pretty well the same as the rest of the forest floor I dropped down to the bottom of the plantation along a perfectly symmetrical row of trees. Once at the bottom end of the plantation I picked up something that more resembled a track and headed to the right to check out a bit more of this reserve.
It looks like most of the punters just wander around this section of the Redwood Forest which is adjacent to the car park.
Redwood Forest, Yarra Ranges National Park.
The Yarra River was probably at minor flood level today.
The walk now basically followed the perimeter of the Redwood Forest for a while. Soon after emerging from beneath the canopy I found myself walking beside the rushing Yarra River before my route then swung up the valley of Cement Creek East Branch, which if anything was even prettier than the Yarra had been. Now here's a controversial statement - with both the watercourses flowing an absolute banka after a lot of recent rain this bit of the walk was actually the highlight for me.
Apart from the huge trees the other notable feature of this walk was the floor covering of red needle like leaves.
Cement Creek East Branch was flowing well.
The track climbed fairly close to Cement Creek East Branch for a fair distance.
Cement Creek East Branch - this was my favourite part of the walk I think.
With the towering Redwoods to my left and the lush native scrub off to my right I eventually left the side of Cement Creek East Branch and started to climb back up towards the ute. My route up here was a fairly convoluted affair as I dipped in and out of the Redwood plantation, although maybe not quite as convoluted as my maps would suggest as I think both my phone and my GPS were struggling to pick up satellites beneath the thick canopy and cloud this afternoon. With the massive car park (it runs for around 500 metres!) visible through the trees I meandered through the forest again as I made my way the last few metres back to the ute.
There were a few of these nest like creations scattered through the forest - I've got no idea why or how.
After leaving the creek I passed by the Redwood Forest Humpy.
After leaving the creek I started climbing back towards the ute along a bit of a convoluted route.
These Redwood Trees look like some kind of medieval torture devices.
What could possibly go wrong?
The Dirt.
According to my GPS I walked around 2.6 kilometres and climbed about 36 metres on this easy stroll. I'm thinking that this place is probably best seem on a blue sky day, however from what I can tell if you visit on a good day you'll be feeling the serenity with 100's of other punters. This is a funny walk, for a lot of the walk you can really just ramble through the Redwood Forest in any direction, there is a 4wd track that basically heads around the circumference of the plantation but once beneath the trees you can largely make up your own little adventure. I'm really not sure that I liked this walk that much, yes it was interesting checking out the Redwoods, however the obvious environmental issues and the fact that it is over hyped left me feeling a little flat - maybe its just me though as going by the numbers I'm in the minority here. I used my Alltrails App along with my GPS topos on the stroll this afternoon.
Relevant Posts.
Redwood Forest, Yarra Ranges National Park.
Here's another one of those nests. One of my friends who has visited here before told me after I got home that when she visited they had human excrement and toilet paper in them! Thankfully I didn't climb into any of these nests this afternoon to get a photo! And that's the reason folks that we can't have nice things!
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