The intersection of the Bull Creek Flats Trail and Rockefeller Loop
The Rockefeller Grove is on an alluvial floodplain at the confluence of Bull Creek and the Eel River. It’s a quintessential lowland grove and one of the most scenic in Humboldt Redwoods. Although it’s smaller and darker than the nearby Founders’ Grove, it has a lot less traffic noise and is a much better place to appreciate the redwoods.
The entrance road is marked with a small sign that says "Rockefeller Forest / Lower Bull Creek Flats". It descends so steeply into the dark forest that it can be hard to see. Park on the loop at the end of the short road.
Some of the grove’s biggest trees are right at the trailhead.
The trail splits as it leaves the parking lot; stay to the left. Some traffic noise and, in summertime, the sounds of people playing in the river may drift up into the otherwise still, quiet grove. For a few yards there aren’t many big trees, and a tanoak understory makes it hard to see anything. But the scenery soon improves as the trail passes between the cut ends of a huge fallen tree and enters a dense cathedral-like grove of big redwoods.
Near the beginning of the loop
Almost all the redwoods have the deep brown color typical of trees in Humboldt Redwoods. The color is a bit drab and gives the grove a dark look. The trees are so densely packed that at times it seems like all that can be seen are tree trunks. The grove has the classic Bull Creek Flats groundcover of redwood needles dusted with a sparse layer of redwood sorrel and dotted with an occasional fern. An understory of small redwood trees makes the grove difficult to photograph.
Near the intersection with the Bull Creek Flats Trail
At the intersection with the Bull Creek Flats Trail, the woods open up and there’s a magnificent view of a pure redwood stand that has nothing but big trees and redwood sorrel. The redwoods get progressively more impressive as the trail curves through the heart of the grove and approaches the parking area. A short spur trail branches off to a huge fallen tree just off the trail.
The beginning of the Rockefeller Loop
Click any photo to enlarge
