Azalea State Natural Reserve

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I probably ought to have visited this little postage stamp sized piece of the state park system. There is no entry fee, but it does only offer a small, rough parking lot, a pair of picnic tables, and a pair of loop trails that don't quite make a mile together. It is suggested that one should visit in April or May, the same suggestion that didn't work out for me so well in visiting the rhododendrons in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. (Azaleas are also genus Rhododendron.) I expect June would be better, but I've noticed a few buds on the plants in way too much sunshine, so thought I might as well see it now. It is easy enough to come back.

sign at the far end of the parking lot — Signs direct traffic to the right road, but the parking itself is only signed at the far end.

I picked the trail heading west past the sign to start. There's some nice trees along the way, but past the first big one, I was immediately struck by how much ivy has been allowed to run over the area. It is everywhere and climbing some 40 feet up the trees. It's been allowed to go for a long time.

narrow trail with a bridge over a small creek — A little bit of trail and bridge as it crosses over the small creek. The green cover below the trail is ivy where it is not so bad.

I didn't see so many azaleas. Really, none. They aren't being showy at the moment, of course. Probably none of the areas are quite as sunny as those spaces where cultivated species are starting to bloom.

wide trail area through thick vegetation — Even where the vegetation is thick, it is all kept well back from the trail.

nice trees — The nude deciduous trees leave the more distant nice evergreens visible.

I crossed another bridge over the little creek, already swinging back toward the parking lot. There does seem to be quite a wide variety of plants in the area.

white tall mushrooms on the traditional shape — Mushrooms in the leaf litter.

The trail split with the right going right back to the parking lot. I kept left, but it just delayed getting back to the lot by a few feet. I was already done with the first loop.

parking lot with four cars and two picnic tables — Back to the parking lot. Quite a lot of cars considering no one else was on the trail.

The second loop is across the road, so that's where I went.

trail on the far side — There is a small sign just behind the brush on the left to mark the second loop on the far side of the road.

The trail quickly split and I took the left side. There is a bit more hill on this side of the road and the trail makes a few little switchbacks to climb into the forest of large evergreens and worse ivy.

grass at large width cut through growth — The trail through a gradation of plants.

leaf buds and lichen — It's always fun to see the new growth and the deciduous trees are budding.

under the bigger trees — Looking back out from under the high evergreens that were the background layer in the view at the start.

I found the only bit of trail in need of work at the top. A large tree (covered in vines, but not all ivy vines) came down across the trail recently, but is easy to pass around to the left. There is also one bridge that has lost 75% of the railings it once had. Other than that, there is not even so much as a blackberry reaching out to scratch passers by.

bridge and trees — Something bad happened to that bridge. There's a couple trees bushy with vines, too.

elevation comes with views, almost seen through the trees — A little elevation gives a view, if an open spot can be found. Looking out on the flats across the Mad River.

The trail has some more little switchbacks as it drops back down.

fat tree — A nice laurel tree below the switchback.

I paused on the way back to examine the firs that cluster near the junction a little more closely. They have particularly long needles that vary with size along the branch, getting shorter near the branch points and tapering off significantly at the end. They need some iron, but I'm not sure of anything else about them.

conifer and brush — A young grand fir at the edge of the trail space? It has a drooping Brewers spruce behind to the right.

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Comments

Chris Valle-Riestra said…

Whenever you see a postage stamp size park that has no single flashy feature, it's a good bet there's a story behind it. According to a vegetation management plan for the reserve that Humboldt State students recently prepared, the state acquired Azalea State Reserve in 1943 with funds raised through the efforts of Mrs. George (Ora) Parrish, a citizen concerned with preserving natural stands of western azaleas. Land was later added with funds raised by the Save-the-Redwoods League, and other land was a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Beecher Dixon and the descendants of Albert Hunt. It's nice that the modest efforts of a few individuals can make such a wonderful resource available to the public for years to come.

Sorry to be picky, but I'd double-check that Brewer's spruce ID. Wrong environment entirely. Douglas-firs have a pretty wide range of growth forms. It's common for individual trees to have a weeping appearance like Brewer's spruce.

Just minutes from Arcata--maybe return in a few weeks when those buds are bursting, to look for actual azaleas?

05 February, 2021 00:07

Valerie Norton said…

I intend to go back when there might be flowers erupting. I was expecting to see green leafy bushes and have some idea of how many are there. While the Pacific rhododendron is evergreen, the western azalea is not. I went in with the wrong expectations. I'll probably find that those beautiful buds were the azaleas. There were quite a lot of nude sticks about, especially around the western loop.

Brewers spruce does have quite a small range, but the weeping has made them popular for planting. That a Douglas fir can also take on that shape would certainly explain a few spots I've seen it. There's a couple on a ridge in the Sunny Brae section of the Arcata Community Forest and a really big one off the side of the ridge along the Berry Glen Trail in Redwood National Park. While this one could be planted, that last one seems near impossible.

The size is the reason I've not bothered before. My "short" tag is for things under 6 miles, but under 2, why bother? I've even seen its high point listed on Peakbagger, but hadn't bothered to go bag it. (I still haven't, to be honest. That's a little too silly.) I would definitely go to visit it to help pull down ivy if that's part of the vegetation management plan you've found. Surely the same group that has made a big dent in the ivy in the Arcata Community Forest would be up for it too.

05 February, 2021 10:47

Valerie Norton said…

"California State Parks North Coast Redwoods" (California State Parks North Coast Ranger District) on Facebook and Instagram have been doing a lot of videos over the past year. Now they're getting into the lesser known parks. Today, one Humboldt Fort based interpreter took the walk around the upper, eastern loop of the Azalea State Natural Reserve. (The second part is here.) It was his first time to see it too and he went through approximately the same journey as I did, but on video and with real time comments. He did seem to have a picture of Pacific rhododendron rather than western azalea for his target. They're very pink all over while the azalea can be rather pink but usually doesn't look all pink up close.

13 February, 2021 21:40

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