Redwood National and State Parks
California, August 2017
“Most people know Redwood as home to the tallest trees on Earth. The parks also protect vast prairies, oak woodlands, wild riverways, and nearly 40 miles of rugged coastline.” – NPS
Trip Highlights: Tall Trees Grove * Elk Meadows * Gold Bluffs Beach * Fern Canyon * Prairie Creek Visitors Center * Back at Gold Bluffs * Stout Grove
Katie with the appropriate attire for our drive from Lassen Volcanic to the Redwoods:
We made it to our campsite at Gold Bluffs Beach at 8pm in the waning light. It was delightfully cool here, probably in the 60s (as opposed to our stop in insanely hot Redding). Our site was amazing – spaced nicely from our neighbors (which was good since there aren’t a lot of trees for privacy), close to the bathrooms, and as close to the mighty surf as possible. The kids’ joy couldn’t be contained. They ran barefoot in the sand down to the surf. With wonder, Maggie had the thought, “What if we lived here?”
Becoming the hallmark of the trip, we had dinner by lantern again. No matter, we’re loving life outside and on the road!
The morning was foggy/smoky so our views were a bit limited but we love being on the beach. The kids ran and played in the sand a bunch. The ocean air and sounds of the surf are so refreshing!
The Gold Bluffs Campground is fairly isolated. This is a positive feature in my book but something to consider when planning supplies and travel times. We bought firewood from the Ranger making the rounds but otherwise there are not very many amenities and the drive back to the highway is almost a half an hour despite only being about 6 miles due to the windy gravel road. Nothing the van couldn’t handle, just very slow and bumpy.
Tall Trees Grove
We left late morning and went to the Thomas Kuchel Visitor Center, primarily to get the gate code for the Tall Trees Grove Trail. They limit the number of people on this trail so we made a concerted effort to try to get the code today in case we needed to try again tomorrow. There was no problem, though (sounds like they only hit their limit on busy weekends).
By one o’clock, we were at the trailhead. We stopped at a lookout on the drive there but the smoke still obscured almost everything. This part of the Redwoods is truly the national park. Generally speaking, “The Redwoods” is a combination of the national park and several state parks under joint management. Between them all, there are so many sites worth seeing!
The Tall Trees Grove trail heads downhill from the parking lot for 1.5 miles and then does a mile loop through the grove. This is the site of the former world’s tallest tree, Libby, before its top died off and a taller one elsewhere in the park took the title (at an undisclosed location).
We stopped partway down to have lunch where a tunnel had been cut through a fallen tree – fun spot!
Suffice to say, the redwoods are breathtaking! Katie had high expectations for this park and it didn’t disappoint. I had my reservations about how amazing trees could be but they truly are a sight to behold. They are so massive and dwarf the vegetation around them so much that they almost don’t even register to the brain as a tree. And being hundreds of years old, it is fun to think about what history they have lived through.
It was a bit warm but we kept on the move for the most part. At one point, we passed someone just lying on a log soaking in this magnificent forest. If we had come without kids, we could have whiled away hours that way. Especially since it was so peaceful given the limited number of hikers.
Elk Meadows
On the drive back out, we checked the outlook again . . . still no view. But as we passed through Elk Meadows on the way back to camp, we were blessed to see some elk. Not only that but it was two bulls sparing. They were probably a hundred yards away but, wow, what a sound! We watched them for quite a while before tearing Katie away.
Gold Bluffs Beach
It’s a dusty road to the Gold Bluffs Campground – everything looks like it’s covered in ash:
Back at the beach, the kids still had tons of energy to run and play in the sand after dinner, even with all the hiking they had done today. They can’t get enough. It was fairly cool and breezy on the beach but we all prefer that to heat. It was a very enjoyable evening watching the sun go down behind the veil of smoke.
More smoke and more playing on the beach today! Elizabeth and I went to the water’s edge early and in the pounding surf was a seal! I’m not sure what he was up to but we followed him as best we could as he appeared and disappeared along the shoreline.
Fern Canyon
We hung out for the majority of the morning and didn’t head out for Fern Canyon until after 11. Fern Canyon was just a little ways down the road from us but in that short stretch of road was a pretty serious stream crossing the road and washing it out. It was a pretty exciting to ford it in a minivan! It didn’t seem to discourage too many people though – the parking lot was quite full.
While we were getting ready for the trek, someone called out for Katie by name from across the parking lot. Elizabeth’s good friend from class and her family were here! We had no idea they were coming to the Redwoods, let alone be at Fern Canyon at the same time! We struck out on the hike together but eventually we lagged behind as we stopped to take lots of pictures.
Fern Canyon is such a cool place. You hike upstream along a gentle stream and the steep walls of the canyon immediately on each side are covered in giant ferns. Sometimes there’s dry shoreline, some places have boards to walk on, and sometimes you are wading in the stream.
Eventually we came to a tangled mess of logs that prevented us from going upstream any further. It looked to be passable but it would have been real tough going for the kids. Here we caught up with our friends, played a while, and ate.
The sole of my Tevas started coming unglued after jumping in Crater Lake several days earlier but with a little duct tape they got me through.
It was very busy and for good reason. (With some patience, we did our best to keep other people out of our photos : ) It looks like a jungle from the time of the dinosaurs – that’s why they filmed a scene from The Lost World here! This place is amazing – must see!
Prairie Creek Visitor Center
We had lunch back at camp and then drove to the Prairie Creek Visitor Center, where the kids got sworn in as Junior Park Rangers again. We were hoping to get some souvenirs but nothing really excited the kids there. We did a short stroll through the woods and then headed back.
The best part of the outing was that on our drive down the dirt road back to the campground, we came upon a bull elk on the road! As we crept the van along, he leaped onto the hillside to the right of the van and bounded back down behind us, only feet away!
Back at Gold Bluffs
We reveled in the awesome setting of our camp for the remainder of the evening. Katie and I relaxed in our inflatable couches will the kids played in the surf again and then we capped the day with s’mores after dark.
Our trip is coming to a close : ( We packed up and drove north on 101. We made a stop at Trees of Mystery, where everyone successfully found souvenirs (and yummy fudge) and ran into our friends again! By lunchtime, we were at Crescent City.
Stout Grove
There was one more place we wanted to see before leaving the Redwood parks behind: Stout Grove. (There are lots of places we would love to check out, actually, but we barely had time for this one! We’ll have to come back!)
It was definitely worth taking the time to see Stout Grove. With less understory, it felt more expansive than some of the other groves and there are a lot of cool features on the short half mile walk. Beautiful!
The rest of the day was solid driving, like five hours more in order to get to our hotel near Portland. We were all done with being in the van by the end, especially poor Annie. We didn’t get there until 8pm but despite how late it was, we had pizza delivered and played in pool. This was a great note to end the day on – food and family time revived our good moods.
The following day, we made it back to our corner of Washington state. Another amazing trip in the books!