Looking up at tall trees, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, Redwood National and State Parks / Rebecca Latson

As part of an assignment for the Traveler, I drove from my home in central Washington down to Redwood National and State Parks along the northern California coast. I spent exactly three days visiting this area. I’m here to tell you, the trees are really tall, really impressive, and no photograph does justice to them. I’m also here to say that, while this park is mainly about the trees, there are also prairie and coastal landscapes to enjoy.

First of all, just what’s up with this national and state park thing? It’s not one or the other? According to the park newsletter: “In May, 1994, the National Park Service and California State Parks agreed to cooperatively manage their contiguous parklands.” This means if you visit any of these parks’ fee areas (state or national), you can enter using your America The Beautiful annual pass (“Annual,” “Military,” “Senior,” “Access,” “Volunteer”).

Getting There And Staying There

From my home to my lodging in Crescent City, it’s about a 9-hour drive, most of which is along Interstate 5 South. If you brave air travel at this time and fly into Portland, Oregon, it will take you 5-6 hours to drive to the park in your rental vehicle. From San Francisco, it takes approximately 7 hours on Highway 101 or 8 hours on Interstate 5 North. Whichever way you slice it, the drive takes anywhere from half a day to most of a day.

I stayed in Crescent City because it has a decent choice of accommodations for a town of about 7,000+ people. I also thought about looking for a room in Klamath and Orick, but both of these places are quite small with really limited choices.

There’s no brick-and-mortar lodging within the parks, but there are four developed campgrounds, all of which are reservable. If you choose to camp, you’d better make your site reservations way ahead of time. To learn more about camping options, click here.

I chose motel-style lodging because I could park my car in front of my room and I didn’t have to worry about crowded hotel hallways or elevators during the coronavirus pandemic.

I brought all my own food, freeze-dried, and canned ready-to-eat, in addition to all the fun snack stuff. The whole restaurant thing during this pandemic is a little confusing. Some California restaurants are apparently open for limited indoor dining, while others are outdoor or take-out only.

Gas stations are open, of course, and I paid an average of $3.49/gallon of regular, more or less.

Make sure to bring some masks with you, as California requires them to be worn indoors, at this point in time. The parks advise you to mask up while hiking the trails, but I didn’t see many people doing that during my own stay.

So, let’s say you have three days to spend exploring the many facets of Redwoods. Here’s what I did with my three days, in addition to a couple of suggestions for things you can do that I did not.

Day 1: Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, Coastal Vistas, and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

For an introduction to old-growth coast redwoods, Stout Grove loop trail in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park is awesome. Even the narrow, bumpy, dirt-and-gravel Howland Hill Road to the trailhead parking lot is pretty impressive. You should know as of this writing, the road is closed from the west side (within the Crescent City area) due to construction, but it *is* open on the east side. Getting to the road’s east entrance can be confusing, so have a map handy. The east side of Howland Hill Road is accessible via a right-hand turn a few miles further east from the Hiouchi Visitor Center along State Highway 199.

Dwarfed by tall trees at Stout Grove, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, Redwood National and State Parks / Rebecca Latson

Stout Grove trail is a short, level, .7-mile loop, so it would be easy for you to finish in less than an hour. My advice is to take your time to really get a feel for the area and this park. I spent the better part of two hours slowly wandering and photographing, marveling not only at the neck-craning height of these redwoods, but also at the huge, shallow root systems of downed trees (reminding me of the shallow oak tree roots in Texas after a hurricane), the resiliency of burned trees that look like they’ve breathed their last, only to have new life sprouting from the tree tops, and their interesting, ropy bark texture that can be as thick as one foot.

Stick your head (and a flashlight) into one of the hollowed-out trunks and look upward. You might see small, furry bodies of resident bats. I didn’t know this tidbit until after talking to one of the rangers at the Hiouchi Visitor Center. The forest creates a green and brown blanket of quiet stillness. Sunlight and shadow play tag with each other and ethereal mist wraps around the tree tops.

From Stout Grove, return via the way you came and head toward U.S. Highway 101 for a scenic drive south along the coast. Stop at one or more coast vistas to view the teal-green Pacific crashing against rugged sea stacks. There are even a couple of places just off the highway where you can park your car and walk right onto the beach. Don’t be surprised if coastal fog envelops much of the scene for the better part of the day. During my stay there, afternoons provided slightly clearer views, although most days, smoke from the California wildfires created a constant and often thick, opaque wall of yellowish-white, minimizing my seascape views.

A smoky day along the Pacific coast, Redwood National and State Parks / Rebecca Latson

A different, clearer day on the Pacific Coast, Redwood National and State Parks / Rebecca Latson

Keep heading south toward Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, through which runs the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway. This state park deserves a couple of days’ exploration because of all the trailheads accessible directly from the road. When you see a sign that says “Trailhead parking,” you’ll know you are getting close to yet another trail. There’s also elk viewing at Elk Prairie, across from the park’s visitor center. Hopefully, you’ll be luckier than I was. I saw a single bull elk who decided to bed down in the tall, golden grass as I pulled out my long lens.

Lounging in the tall grass at Elk Prairie, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, Redwood National and State Parks / Rebecca Latson

Day 2: Lady Bird Johnson Grove Loop, More of Prairie Creek State Park

A tireless advocate of the environment and the redwoods, Lady Bird Johnson officiated at the dedication of Redwood National Park and this grove of old-growth redwoods was, in turn, dedicated to this former first lady. The 1.3-mile loop trail (some descriptions say it’s 1.5 miles) is another popular hike. Located along the narrow, twisty Bald Hills Road just off of Highway 101, about 1.3 miles north of Orick, this trail has numbered stops correlating with a brochure once available at the trailhead. Due to Covid, the brochure is not currently stocked, so you might want to click here to read and print out a PDF copy for your hike.

A tall redwood along the Lady Bird Johnson Grove loop trail, Redwood National Park, Redwood National and State Parks / Rebecca Latson

From the Lady Bird Johnson Grove trail, head back north to spend more time in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. Pick a trail – any trail – and wander amongst the redwoods. Perhaps you’ll see a tree nymph peeking back at you.

Day 3: Hike the Tall Trees Trail or Klamath River Overlook

One of the things I really wanted to do was hike the Tall Trees Trail. You need a permit for that, and can apply for one online 48 hours ahead of time. Your permit includes the code to unlock the gate so you can continue driving to the trailhead. It’s a “moderately-strenuous” hike that descends 800 feet in elevation, and you should devote the better part of a day to this adventure. I was originally approved for a permit but, during the time of my visit, a downed tree along the trail resulted in that same permit cancellation. The trail re-opened (naturally) on my day of departure. A maximum of 50 permits are issued daily, so flexibility is key to choosing your date. To read more about the Tall Trees, click here. To apply for an online permit, click here.

Another thing I wanted to do was hike the Klamath River Overlook. The photos I’ve seen of this vista (captured on a clear day) are beautiful. However, due to the nearby wildfire smoke flowing in, the coast was usually a wall of yellow-white, with no distant views. I like exercise, but I want that extra reward of a beautiful seascape and that was not forthcoming during my three days in the area.

Since I did neither of these recommended hikes, I hopped back in my car and returned to Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park for more hiking. I used a couple of helpful books, each of which had good descriptions of what I might see along my foray: Best Short Hikes In Redwood National & State Parks, by Jerry & Gisela Rohde, and Hike The Parks: Redwood National & State Parks: Best Day Hikes, Walks, and Sights, by John Soares. I’d also invested in a National Geographic-brand map of Redwoods to help me visually orientate myself regarding directions and distances. The newsletter available at the parks’ visitor centers also contains a helpful map.

I visited during early autumn, but any time of the year is a great time to see these redwood parks. As with national parks elsewhere, summer is probably the busiest time of year for visitation. It was relatively busy during my stay, but definitely not on the scale of a Yosemite, Yellowstone, or Zion. As such, this makes it a lovely choice for a less-crowded trip to a different type of scenery.

On my last day, while wandering along a quiet trail punctuated with the occasional note of birdsong (yes, even the birds seem to quiet down in the presence of such old, tall, sentinels), I encountered another photographer who agreed that one really must see the trees here in order to understand their scale. Now that you have an idea of what can be done in three days, you should definitely put Redwood National and State Parks on your bucket list.

"The woods are lovely, dark, and deep ..." Redwood National and State Parks / Rebecca Latson