Redwood Coast Parks
Home of the world’s tallest trees
REACHING MORE THAN 350 FEET skyward, coast redwoods are the tallest living things on the planet, forming forest cathedrals where the only sounds other than your footsteps are often the songs of elusive birds or perhaps the bugling of Roosevelt elk.
Located in California’s upper northwest, Redwood National Park and contiguous state parks form an unbroken reserve for these swaying giants, many higher than a 30-story building. And these remarkably verdant groves are often nearly deserted, a stark contrast to the bustling hordes that parade through redwood groves closer to urban centers, such as Muir Woods near San Francisco.
Less than five percent of the West’s oldgrowth redwood forests remain, but at Redwood National and State Parks you can walk for miles and miles, craning your neck or reclining on the soft forest floor. Ten of the sixteen tallest trees in the world live here, including the 380-foot Hyperion. To protect this tree the park doesn’t share its location, but you can see several other giants in the park’s Tall Trees Grove, a fourmile-roundtrip hike with a steep 800-foot descent to Redwood Creek. Equally stunning trees can be seen by hiking the less strenuous and more accessible Prairie Creek Foothill Trail Loop.
Why drive five hours north from San Francisco to the Redwood parks when you can travel 40 minutes to Muir Woods? “There is a singularity and order of magnitude,” says former park ranger turned redwood advocate Richard Stenger. “It’s the forest equivalent of being on top of Mount Everest.” On the way, you can explore the Avenue of the Giants, a 31-mile detour off Highway 101 that weaves through towering redwood trees.
To make the most of a trip here, visitors should spend three days in the area. Day 1: take in the gargantuan redwoods (entry to the Redwood parks is free). Day 2: explore Fern Canyon, the setting for a Jurassic Park film, which Stenger calls “a living remnant from the dinosaur age.” Day 3: relax on nearby beaches. Big Lagoon State Park offers a chance to fish, swim (the water is chilly) or kayak. A hidden gem is Agate Beach near Patrick’s Point, which sparkles with sea-polished semiprecious stones.