Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park, State park in Humboldt County, California
Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park is a protected area in northern California with several sections along the Van Duzen River that contain ancient coastal trees. The land spans approximately 170 hectares across multiple groves with trails for visitors to walk through.
An industrialist donated forest land in 1943 to preserve these ancient trees for the future. The protected area grew later when a conservation organization added more groves in the 1980s.
The park is not named after Owen R. Cheatham, the Georgia-Pacific founder whose donation created it in 1943; the name comes from Grizzly Creek. Cheatham Grove, added in 1983 through the Save the Redwoods League, holds a mile-long trail that was a filming site for Return of the Jedi, standing in as the forest moon of Endor.
The main hiking trail is about one mile long and runs through one of the groves with large ancient trees. The area tends to be quiet because it sits some distance from the main highway.
Cheatham Grove, a unit 4 miles west of the main grove, holds an albino redwood along its roughly one-mile trail. The tree lacks normal chlorophyll and shows pale foliage instead of green. The same grove served as a filming location for the forest moon of Endor in Return of the Jedi.
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