Pygmy Forest: Tower Over Tiny Trees

I love lichen!

In this ancient, pint-sized forest you’ll find 80-year old trees with trunks that are just an inch in diameter. Anyone with an appreciation for nature will marvel over the unique ecology of the pygmy forest. Think of it as a natural-bonsai!

When you meander through the pygmy forest, you’ll discover Mendocino cypress, Bishop pine, and Bolander pine trees not much taller than humans; the same trees that just a half mile away grow upwards of 100 feet. Rodents and lizards dart in and out of the dwarf huckleberries, manzanita, Labrador tea, and rhododendrons. Look for the rare, centuries-old  “Reindeer Lichen,” which helps prevent erosion and run-off.

The pygmy forest only occurs along a thin strip of land about two miles inland from the coast, on the higher of the wave cut terraces formed during the ice age and pushed upwards by shifting tectonic plates. Each terrace is about 100,000 years old! The soil on the pygmy terrace is so acidic and nutrient-deprived it hardens like concrete so very little can survive in it. Just underneath the top soil is a rock-like layer called “hardpan” that is difficult for roots to penetrate, so the plants that do thrive here are severely stunted, despite being perfectly healthy. (One old settler tells of trying to dig his well and only getting down 2 ft after laboring four days and breaking countless tools).

During heavy rains the forest turns into a swamp because the drainage is poor, but a visit after a storm is other-worldly! Eerie, unsettling, twisted—those are just some of the words folks use to describe the pygmy forest. Remember Snow White’s frightful run through a menacing forest? Walt Disney wanted to landscape (in miniature) his Snow White Ride at Disneyland with trees that would evoke that feeling, so he sent his crew up here in 1958 to bring back a dwarf pine. Ironically, it thrived in healthy soil and grew to be 10 stories tall.

The two most visitor-friendly pygmy sites listed here have wooden boardwalks and interpretive signs. The boardwalks help keep you above the puddles in the rain and also protect the fragile forest floor.

Jughandle State Reserve

Pick up an interpretive pamphlet just off the parking lot, which explains the flora and fauna on the 2 mile hike through the ecological staircase (an excellent explanation of the wave-formed terraces mentioned above). You end up at the pygmy forest, after emerging from the towering redwoods on the terrace just before it. A magnificent study in contrasts.

Pygmy Forest Discovery Trail at Van Damme State Park 

For those with limited mobility, or if you’re short on time, there is a parking lot just off this trail, which is accessible from Little River Road. The trail takes 30 minutes. It is also accessible from Van Damme State Park, at the end of a 4 mile trail from the campground by the beach.