Redwood National Park: Standing Under the Tallest Trees on Earth

Coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) are the tallest living things on Earth. The current record holder, Hyperion, stands 115.92 metres in Redwood National Park and was discovered in 2006. Its location is kept deliberately obscure to prevent the off-trail trampling that has damaged other known specimen trees. This is not a tourist destination in the conventional sense; it is a place where the scale of the natural world quietly overwhelms any framework you brought with you.

The national park itself covers about 45,000 acres but is managed jointly with three California state parks (Jedediah Smith, Del Norte Coast, and Prairie Creek Redwoods) that together form a de facto 139,000-acre complex. The national park entrance is free; the state parks charge a $12 per vehicle day-use fee.

What to Actually Do

The Lady Bird Johnson Grove is accessible by a 1-mile loop trail on a ridge above the Redwood Creek valley. The trees here are old-growth, with trunks 6-8 feet in diameter and crowns disappearing into the fog. The grove was dedicated to Lady Bird Johnson in 1969 and receives moderate traffic but not the crowds of the state park beaches. It is the most accessible old-growth experience in the national park proper.

Tall Trees Grove in the national park requires a free permit (available online through recreation.gov) because the road is gated and limited to 50 cars per day. The grove has some of the tallest trees in the park, a 4-mile round-trip trail, and the combination of permit requirement and gravel road keeps crowds minimal. The silence in the grove on a weekday morning is complete.

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park has the Fern Canyon, a narrow ravine with 50-foot walls covered entirely in ferns. The 0.7-mile loop trail crosses and recrosses a creek; waterproof footwear is practical rather than optional. It was used as a filming location for Jurassic Park 2 and more recently The Force Awakens. The elk herd that lives in the meadow adjacent to the park entrance is often visible from the road.

Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park in the north has the Howland Hill Road, a roughly 10-mile unpaved drive through old-growth forest that most rental cars can handle in dry conditions. The trees are among the densest in the park system and the road is narrow enough that you are driving between trunks that would block the road if they fell. This is the best single experience in the park if you have only one stop.

The Avenue of the Giants

Technically outside the national park system, the Avenue of the Giants is a 32-mile section of old Highway 101 running through Humboldt Redwoods State Park, about 80 kilometres south of Redwood National Park. The trees along this road are among the tallest in the world, the Founders Grove is a 1-mile loop through exceptional old-growth, and the Shrine Drive-Thru Tree (a private tourist attraction with a living tree that has had a car-sized tunnel cut through it) is worth the $10 fee for the absurdity if nothing else.

Humboldt Redwoods has the largest remaining continuous stand of old-growth coast redwoods. Adding this to a Redwood National Park trip makes for an excellent two-day itinerary through northern California.

Practical Logistics

The park’s main visitor facilities are in Crescent City (north section) and Orick (south section). Crescent City is a small, functional city with motels and basic restaurants. Orick has almost nothing; Eureka (75 kilometres south) is the practical base for the southern park sections.

The driving time from San Francisco to Crescent City is about 5-6 hours. From Portland, Oregon, it is about 4 hours to the Jedediah Smith section. The park is genuinely remote by Northern California standards.

Fog is part of the redwood ecosystem: the trees depend on coastal fog for much of their moisture during the dry season. This means visibility in the forest is often low and the light is dim, which is atmospheric in the way that bright sunshine is not. The best photography light is on overcast days, not clear ones.

The Roosevelt elk herd in Prairie Creek numbers over 100 animals. Early morning on the Elk Prairie near the campground is where sightings are most reliable. Bull elk in October during rut are impressive; maintain a 50-yard distance regardless of how approachable they appear.

June through August is peak season and the campgrounds fill. Reservations through reservecalifornia.com are required. May and September have smaller crowds, more fog, and lower accommodation prices.