Redwood tree tops in the mist along Lady Bird Johnson Grove Trail at Redwood National Park, Redwood National and State Parks / Rebecca Latson

Imagine wandering a shaded forest trail lit in spots by pale sunlight filtering through mist swirling around the crowns of tall, tall trees. At your feet, a forest floor lies carpeted by feathered fern fronds in varying shades of green, cushioning the burled bottoms of these same trees. You’ll smell the forest scents and maybe a little salt air from the Pacific Ocean beyond. You might hear the intermittent drip of water onto the forest floor and perhaps the muted soliloquy of a lone bird hidden somewhere within the branches. These are the sights and sounds greeting you during a visit to Redwood National and State Parks in northern California, home to the tallest trees in the world: the coastal redwoods.

This national park is a testament to the partnership of federal (National Park Service) and state (California Department of Parks and Recreation) agencies cooperatively managing lands on which thrive the remaining swaths of coastal redwood trees, some of which are between 800-2,000 years old.

Visit Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, or Redwood National Park, and you will walk among trees found nowhere else in the world, now protected, preserved, and maintained for present and future generations’ enjoyment.

It wasn’t always like this, however.

Once, 2 million acres of redwood forests blanketed the landscape from Big Sur to Southwestern Oregon. By the mid-1800s, the influx of prospectors, farmers, and businesses created a huge demand for redwood lumber, with its resistance to insects and decay, easy workability, and minimal shrinkage and swelling. By the 1960s, industrial logging had removed almost ninety percent of all the original redwoods. Today, only about five percent of the original old-growth redwood forests remain.

Redwood National Park was established in 1968, and in 1994, the California Department of Parks and Recreation and the National Park Service agreed to jointly manage the four-park area for maximum resource protection. Today, you can hike, bike, paddle, horseback ride, and take scenic drives along winding roads to and through stands of incredibly tall trees. Stout Memorial Grove and Grove of Titans Trail, both in Jedediah Smith State Park, as well as Lady Bird Johnson Grove Trail in Redwood National Park are great introductions to the coastal redwoods.

You can even walk along stretches of Pacific coast shoreline to tidepool, beachcomb, and watch a sunset. Visit any time of the year (but particularly between February and June) to encounter blooming rhododendrons and colorful forest and meadow wildflowers. Bring your binoculars and camera to photograph the wildlife you might spot, including sea lions and river otters along the coastline, coastal estuaries, and surf, and Roosevelt elk in such aptly-named places as Elk Meadow and Elk Prairie at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.

You can drive from park to park in a day and get a feel for the park’s character, but to really explore and understand these trees and their surrounding landscape, you might want to stay an extra day or two. There is no in-park lodging, but there are eight basic campground cabins equally divided between Jedediah Smith Redwoods and Prairie Creek Redwoods state parks, as well as lodging in the nearby towns just outside the parks’ boundaries. If you’d rather pitch a tent or park your RV directly beneath the stars, there are four developed frontcountry campgrounds. And, if you really want to get away from it all, there are seven designated backcountry campsites (you’ll need a free permit for backcountry camping).

To learn more about these iconic trees, you can listen to Traveler Podcast Episode 312: The Ghost Forest in which the Traveler interviews author Greg King, who talks about some of the stories involving these trees in his book, The Ghost Forest: Racists, Radicals, and Real Estate in the California Redwoods.

You can also read more about Redwood National and State Parks by heading to a couple of Traveler articles on this page, and this page.

Traveler’s Choice For: forests, hiking, photography