Gnarliest Tree in Avatar Grove

Avatar Grove , home of Canada’s Gnarliest Tree

Avatar Grove is a fun little hike where you get to see ancient cedars and Canada’s Gnarliest Tree.

Avatar Grove is located in Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island. To get there take Hwy 14/West Coast Hwy to Port Renfrew. Once in Port Renfrew you will take Deering Road north to the end of the road. You then need to turn left onto Gordon River Main Rd. When you reach a Y in the road continue to the left then the following Y turn right. Continue past the pavement and onto the gravel road, you will keep going even if you suspect you may have missed it. You will cross 4 bridges in total and shortly after the 4th bridge the trail signs for Avatar Grove will be visible on the left side. This road can be rough so best to have a vehicle with higher clearance. Ancient Forest Alliance provides a map of the area and other large trees worth a visit.

The trail on the right side of the road takes you to the Gnarliest tree, and the trail on the left side takes you down into a forest with many tree nurseries.

Amazed at the roots of a tree that had fallen over on the lower Avatar Grove trail

When going ensure you have proper footwear as the trail can be wet, muddy and slippery. Take your time and be amazed by the ancient trees. My children loved making up stories about who lived in some of the trees. There are large cracks in some of the trees where you can stand inside the trunks, allowing you to have a great appreciation of how large these trees truly are.

When hiking to the Gnarliest tree, keep your eyes peeled for faces carved into some of the trees which can keep kids busy.

One of the carved faces hidden in the trees

The Gnarliest tree is roped off around it, so please respect the signs and stay on the outside of the rope. This is to help protect the tree.

Spread the love
    9    
 
 
        
9
Shares

Previous

Symphony Sundays with the CPO

Next

Mystic Beach – a great family hike

23 Comments

  1. I love visiting Canada and I definitely need to add this destination on my bucket list to see these gnarly trees! Fascinating.

  2. Wow, this is actually pretty mind blowing. I hope the trail is protected by more then a rope , so I can visit this in the future as it is on your pictures. ‘Cause it has needed a few hundreds year to grow this big but only takes a few seconds to be destroyed.

    • coachkatye

      Previously there wasn’t even the rope, but they added the rope to protect the roots of the tree as people were trampling the area too much. Most of the trail has no roping or anything, just this tree as it is the main attraction. Currently this is an area that is not heavily visited due to it being more remote and the road is pretty rough in. Attention was drawn to this in an attempt to protect this portion of the old growth forest from logging in the area.

  3. Absolutely love this!! My daughters would love this! Maybe I will be able to take them one day. Thanks for sharing!

    • coachkatye

      It is a pretty neat thing to see and my kids loved exploring this area.

  4. Those are awesome! Can we talk about how cool the faces in the trees are too? Hah. The closest places like that around here are about 3-5 hours away. Thank you for sharing.

    • coachkatye

      Yes the carved faces, once we noticed them made it even more fun.

  5. I am so grateful for your post. Really looking forward to read more. Great. Elysha Roddie Marie-Jeanne

  6. Some truly quality content on this site, bookmarked . Arleyne Eugen Ambrosio

  7. Like!! I blog frequently and I really thank you for your content. The article has truly peaked my interest. Stephenie Smitty Sal

  8. My partner and I stumbled over here coming from a different web page and thought I should check things out. I like what I see so i am just following you. Look forward to looking over your web page again. Melicent Noach Massingill

  9. Pretty! This has been an extremely wonderful post. Thank you for providing these details. Nike Jarred Kancler

  10. Way cool! Some very valid points! I appreciate you writing this write-up and the rest of the site is also very good. Katie Kirk Zach Cordy Alisander Olodort

  11. Pretty! This was an incredibly wonderful article. Thank you for supplying this info. Libbi Killian Zoeller

  12. You produce quality content, congratulations on this Gilligan Gardy Bohannon

  13. I have to thank you for the efforts you have put in penning this website.
    I am hoping to see the same high-grade content from you later on as well.

    In fact, your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my very own website now ;
    )

  14. Pretty great post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wished to
    mention that I have really loved browsing your blog posts.
    In any case I will be subscribing in your feed and I
    hope you write once more soon! 0mniartist asmr

  15. I’ve been absent for some time, but now I remember why I used to love this web site. Thank you, I抣l try and check back more often. How frequently you update your website?

  16. I couldn’t refrain from commenting. Exceptionally well written!

  17. Outstanding post however , I was wondering if you could write a litte more on this topic? I’d be very thankful if you could elaborate a little bit more. Bless you!

  18. Asa

    I was able to find good information from your blog articles.

  19. wow, awesome article.Really thank you! Cool.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén