Mahan Plaque Trail - Avenue of the Giants

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Difficulty: Easy
Length: 0.8 miles / 1.3 km
Duration: 1 hour or less

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Overview: In 1924, Laura Mahan, President of the local Save-the-Redwoods League and James Mahan, a prominent Eureka attorney, took a personal stand when they learned the forest around you was about to be logged.

Through their direct actions operations were stopped. Pacific Lumber company agreed to continue paying taxes on this land until Save-the-Redwoods League purchased it six years later.

One family's success to preserve these trees has allowed ALL of us the opportunity to enjoy this splendor today. The preservation of redwoods continues though the efforts of Save-the-Redwoods League, the California State Parks and many other individuals and agencies.

Tips: There are many side trails in this area, many of them small loops. In fact we went the wrong way and almost missed the plaque itself. But it's easy to find if you know which path to take by following this guide to POI 3.

If it's been raining some of the paths pool up with water a few inches deep at points.

Points of Interest

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Parking Area/Trailhead

Park here in a small shoulder area off the Avenue of the Giants. There aren't any restrooms available here.

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Redwoods/Junction

The trail diverges to the left here to the Founders Forest. Stay on the path to the right for the Mahan Loop trail.

In the most favorable parts of their range, California’s magnificent coast redwoods can grow more than 320 feet high (about as tall as a 30-story building), with trunks more than 24 feet in diameter at breast-height, and can live for more than 2,000 years. However, ancient coast redwoods are rare — less than 5 percent of the original forest remains today.

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Mahan Plaque

The plaque located here is dedicated to Laura and James Mahan two pioneers in the "Save the Redwoods League". At this site the two discovered that logging had begun and led the movement that resulted in the saving of this grove of trees.