If you’re looking for a mind blowing road trip – might we suggest Humboldt County as in the towns of Eureka, Fortuna and Arcata. We loved these fun facts collected by the folks at the Eureka-Humboldt Visitors Bureau so much we had to share. The best in my opinion, just might be the last one. I know have a deeper understanding of the origins and possible inspirations for my favorite cartoon.
Fun Facts for Reporters Pad
• Half the remaining old-growth redwoods are in Redwood National Park and along the Avenue of the Giants.
• The world’s tallest tree, in Redwood National Park, is 380 feet high, six stories taller than the Statue of Liberty.
• The 20 tallest trees in the world are all redwoods in Humboldt County.
• Redwood National & State Parks is one of few places designated both a World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve.
• Fern Canyon in Redwood National & State Parks, which starred in the second Jurassic Park movie, has sheer 50-foot walls draped in luxuriant ferns and delicate waterfalls.
• Look for Roosevelt elk, North America’s largest, in Redwood National & State Parks, which shelters one of the largest populations of this rare species.
• The Redwood Coast has three living drive-thru trees, all right off Highway 101.
• The Avenue of the Giants, 3½ hours north of San Francisco, is considered one of the top forest drives in the world.
• At 10,000 acres, the Rockefeller Forest in Humboldt Redwoods State Park is the single largest stand of old growth redwoods.
• The One-Log House along Highway 101 south of Garberville is comprised of a single redwood trunk.
• The second-most viewed amateur film ever is the 1967 Patterson-Gimlin footage of the Bluff Creek Bigfoot.
• The California county with the most Bigfoot sightings is Humboldt.
• The term Bigfoot was coined by a Eureka newspaper after a series of mysterious encounters in 1958 with the legendary man-ape near Willow Creek.
• Humboldt County has more artists per capita than any other California county.
• Eureka has been ranked number one by the annual best-selling book 100 Best Art Towns in America.
• Known as the Victorian Seaport, Eureka has more Victorian buildings per capita than anywhere in California.
• The most photographed Victorian home in the nation is the Carson Mansion in Eureka.
• Eureka was the inspiration for Duckberg, the hometown of Disney characters Scrooge and Donald Duck.
• The oldest operating passenger ferry in the United States is the Madaket in Humboldt Bay.
• The Samoa Cookhouse, the last surviving lumber camp style eatery in the West, has served hearty meals since 1893.
• The Eureka Inn once hosted three U.S. presidents at the same time: Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.
• The entire Victorian village of Ferndale has been designated a state historical landmark, the only town to have such a distinction.
• Ferndale boasts the world’s tallest living Christmas tree, which, curiously, is not a redwood.
• The town of Ferndale lays claim to the westernmost bar in the continental United States.
• The town of Fortuna hosts the West’s oldest rodeo each July.
• The Hoopa Valley in Humboldt County is California’s largest Indian reservation.
• Two-thirds of all oysters consumed in California originate in Humboldt Bay.
• Two million birds make their permanent or migratory home in Humboldt Bay, California’s second largest, which is along the Pacific Coast Flyway.
• The oldest continuously operating movie theater in the nation is the Minor Theater in Arcata.
• California’s oldest county fair, which takes place each August in Ferndale, began in 1896.
• The longest stretch of undeveloped beachfront in the continental United States is California’s Lost Coast.
• The abandoned Punta Gorda Light Station, a popular Lost Coast hiking destination near Ferndale, is known as the Alcatraz of lighthouses.
• Humboldt is packed with public parks, including four federal, 10 state, 16 county and dozens of city recreational areas, reserves, beaches and forests.
• The town of Orick in Redwood National Park is known as the Burl Art Capital of California.
• The world’s tallest totem in the town McKinleyville is 160-foot high.
• The SpongeBob SquarePants creator studied marine science at Humboldt State University and drew inspiration for the show’s Krusty Krab café from working at a local eatery, Stars Burgers.
• Photos courtesy Don Forthuber (top) and Loren Clarke (middle)
Mimi Towle has been the editor of Marin Magazine for over a decade. She lived with her family in Sycamore Park and Strawberry and thoroughly enjoyed raising two daughters in the mayhem of Marin’s youth sports; soccer, swim, volleyball, ballet, hip hop, gymnastics and many many hours spent at Miwok Stables. Her community involvements include volunteering at her daughter’s schools, coaching soccer and volleyball (glorified snack mom), being on the board of both Richardson Bay Audubon Center. Currently residing on a floating home in Sausalito, she enjoys all water activity, including learning how to steer a 6-person canoe for the Tamalpais Outrigger Canoe Club. Born and raised in Hawaii, her fondness for the islands has on occasion made its way into the pages of the magazine.
