Redwood National and State Parks

Redwood National and State Parks Album.

It was an absolutely amazing trip to the Redwood National and State parks in May, 2013. It was a great escape from the scorching heat of Sacramento that long weekend. Unlike other tourist destinations, these parks were pretty quite and not crowded at all. The weather was beautiful, spring like and a little cold at night. The entire Redwood coast is beautiful, offering lot of hikes and great oceanic views.

These parks are up north, towards the Oregon coast. Long drive but for sure worth it. Here was our itinerary for the 3 full days we had there:

1. Drove late Friday evening stayed the night at Redding to reduce the travel time next morning. Went to check out the Redding Sun Dial Bridge late night. The bridge is open until real late night. We did not know if it were but once we were there, we obviously found out. Looks amazing at night.

2. Started early morning Saturday from Redding for Crescent City. Stopped at the Visitors center on the way. Got a map and some suggestions from them which were very useful. We stopped at Redwood National Park on the way for some easy hikes. We drove the unpaved Howland Hill Road in Crescent City and took the Newton Drury scenic route. It's old 101 and is a lovely drive through big redwoods. The freeway has signs for the scenic Newton Drury route. I think the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park is on that route. We did some easy hikes there. They were mostly very shaded with big trees. Amazingly, there is no real entrance for the parks since these parks and forests extend over miles and miles. There is no fee for these parks, and even then they are very well managed with good restrooms.

3. Stayed at Crescent City for the night and started next morning for Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park. It was an absolutely amazing park with again lot of big trees and a beautiful river flowing through the park. Gorgeous colors there. There was a $7 fee for entrance. Then we proceeded back towards Eureka, doing some moderate to easy hikes on the way.

4. Stayed at Eureka for night. Drove through the beautiful, very scenic 31-miles Avenue of Giants instead of taking the 101 freeway, on the way back home. This is old-101 and parallels freeway 101. We stopped at the Drive-Through Tree (Myers Flat) Park which is privately owned tree inside a small park. The owner has made couple of very nice tree houses inside the little area he owns. It is on the way while on Avenue of Giants highway. The freeway 101 is pretty nicely marked for entrance to Avenue of Giants. Hard to miss. And the Avenue of Giants has many exit points to the freeway. There are restrooms on the 31-mile stretch and some very nice shaded hikes. There are three drive-thru' trees: Klamath, Myers Flat and Leggett. All of them are pretty much on the way. Remember to take cash for driving through these trees.

We missed the Fern Canyon trail due to short time which is worth a visit. 3-full days are enough if you want to do easy to moderate hikes up there. For more strenuous hikes, more days, the better. Stopping at the Visitors center is a great idea since they are pretty informative. A great trip overall!

Redwood National and State Parks Album.