National Parks Centennial Bash

Want to say happy 100th to the service? Make for the tall trees.

WHILE HYPERBOLE HAS A WAY... of reigning these days, you wouldn't be going too far by claiming that some of the tallest trees on the planet have seen a few birthdays. Not only that, you could go even further and rightly state that the redwoods of Northern California have passed several centuries, and quietly so, without a lot of fanfare or fuss or brightly wrapped gifts. They're trees, in short, that resonate with the power of time, which makes the Redwoods National and State Parks the ideal place to mark an important occasion.

THAT OCCASION... is the 100th birthday of the National Park Service, an organization that has done much to protect these burl-dotted behemoths, and the beaches, and the mountains, and other wilder spots across the nation. But if you can't journey around the nation to attend all of the centennial parties for the NPS, you can, perhaps, make the one that is happening in the redwoods on the final Sunday of June (or the first Sunday of summer, if that feels more poetic). That's...

JUNE 26, and a whole plethora of celebration-sweet doings'll go down among the trees, from pony rides to live tunes to interesting forays led by rangers. But just saying "meet me at the redwoods" proooobably won't work, given that they cover a rather sizable amount of land. So head for the "former lumber mill at the junction of Highway 101 and Bald Hills Road just north of Orick" for the afternoon jamboree. A photography exhibit, a plaque unveiling, and more birthday-fun activities will fill the five-hour celebration.

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