People call Guerneville “Stumptown.” In fact, our big annual parade is the Stumptown parade. If you were to grab a shovel and dig in the middle of Main Street (please don’t) you would find giant redwood stumps 20 feet wide holding up the town. The community was founded as a logging and sawmill community, in the days when the coast was covered with virgin redwood forests. The trees were hauled to the coast and shipped to San Francisco, where they were used to rebuild the city after the 1906 quake.
Just outside town, at the end of Armstrong Woods Road, you’ll find Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve, an amazing redwood forest with easy flat hikes (and other options for the more adventurous.) Armstrong Woods is our own local gem, every bit as spectacular as parks like Marin County’s Muir Woods, and a lot less crowded. The park has a staff of volunteer docents who know everything there is to know about coastal redwood forests, and sustainability. They can show you the scars from our recent fires, and the restoration work we’re very proud of.
Have a couple of hours to explore? Ask your driver to take you to the woods!