Redwoods is more than just one park. There’s a whole bunch of them to explore!
Redwood National and State Parks are located on the northern coast of California. While there is only one national park dedicated to the stately redwood tree, there are a lot of California state parks protecting them from Big Sur, south of San Francisco all the way to the Oregon border. The National Park Service partners with the state of California to administer three state parks, along with the national park.
These parks aren’t all forest, including beaches, coastlines and prairies. There is even a few smaller state parks and recreation areas sprinkled in around the bigger redwood parks. I camped at Gold Bluffs Beach, part of Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park and also visited Redwoods National Park.
Before we start with all the tree pictures:
Wilson Creek Beach, at False Klamath, on a nice foggy Northern Californian morning.
Paul Bunyan and Babe at Trees of Mystery. Paul’s ax is 27 ft long according to the sign.
Now for the trees. I started at a trail loop at Prairie Creek Redwoods, taking the Prairie Creek Trail to the Circle, to the Foothill, to the Cathedral Trees Trail back to the Visitor Center. It was very lovely but a bit confusing. Signs were lacking.
The trail started super overgrown with moss and ferns. Love it.
The forest was dense with younger redwoods in this section.
I love the shadows.
Lots of moss.
The trail continued along, winding around the bases of giant redwoods.
So many wonderful ferns.
Nature’s cathedral.
Double tree tunnel!
A bridge through the trees.
It’s amazing what tree roots do when faced with a struggle.
“Big Tree” is 286 ft (87.2 m) tall, 23.7 ft (7.2 m) across, 74.5 ft (22.7 m) around) and about 1,500 years old. Impressive!
Banana slug! The only one I saw.
Next up was the Lady Bird Johnson Grove at Redwoods National Park. I didn’t have any more time for another trail unfortunately.
One of the first cool things I found on the trail was this really cool burned-out tree that is still alive! The fire, or lighting, burned out the entire center of the tree.
Part of the trail was super wide. Nice in Covid times.
Then it narrowed but was one way. Also, super nice and pretty. Let’s not forget the pretty.
Very pretty.
I’m very glad this was the chosen trail.
There were giant trees and younger trees in this grove. It was a nice combination.
I’m totally in love with redwood forests now.
Must go back!
After the Lady Bird Johnson Grove, I headed back to the campsite to watch the sunset again. It was a good sunset. However, the pictures from the night before turned out better.
Gold Bluffs Beach at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.
It was a very good sunset. It was probably from the wildfires unfortunately. They create excellent ones.
Redwood National and State Parks are a must see in Northern California. In fact, any park dedicated to a redwood, or a sequoia is a must see (like Humboldt Redwoods or Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks). These are truly amazing trees that you can’t begin to appreciate the size of until you are standing right next to. So, if you find yourself in Northern California, check out a giant tree while you are there.
Check out my next update where I visit a volcano in Northern California!
or
Check out more amazing places in California!
