Historic Tomlinson and Lyons Ranch Tour

Take an expedition to the Bald Hills with our tour leader Jim Wheeler, who has been an interpreter and ranger for Redwood National Park for 28 years, and enjoy a Salmon and Chicken BBQ at the Tomlinson Ranch House. As we visit the Lyons and Tomlinson ranches, about fifteen miles up Bald Hills Road on the crest of the range, we will explore old horse barns, bunkhouses, orchards, and prairies, with a stop for lunch at Schoolhouse Peak, as Jim Wheeler shares the local history on topics including George Gans, Jedediah Smith, the Yurok Jump Dance, the Trinidad Trail, war with the Chilula, the Tomlinson and Lyons families, and the wild tale of Humboldt’s most famous bank robbery. Our tour culminates with a BBQ at the Tomlinson Ranch House with grilled salmon, chicken, and vegetables, and bread, salad, and pie, served by the Humboldt County Historical Society Board of Directors. The Tomlinson Ranch House, built in 1922 by Kiah Tomlinson, is an eighteen-room bungalow on the one-time stage line from Trinidad to Orleans. The Tomlinson family prepared meals for travelers who stayed at the house on a ten-foot-long wood stove that could cook twenty-five hotcakes at a time, and which is just one of the things we will see at the historic Tomlinson house. Please call the Historical Society office at 445-4342 to purchase tickets for this historical tour and BBQ. Tickets are $40 per person. Directions are provided. To offer rides in your vehicle, or to secure rides, please call the Historical Society office at 445-4342. (Should the Bald Hills area be smoky in the days preceding this event, we will contact our ticket holders and refund tickets.)