ROADTRIP NORTH OF CALIFORNIA: REDWOOD NATIONAL PARK

After the super experience in the interior of Oregon, visiting one of its wonders such as Crater Lake, today it is time to return to the coast, already in the state of California. But the protagonists of the day will be neither the beaches nor the cliffs, but the forests of giants! Yes, we talk about the biggest tree in the world, the sequoia. In California is one of the most important redwood forests in the United States: the Redwood national park. This was our penultimate stage of the roadtrip through Oregon and California, from Crescent City to Mendocino, and here we tell you our travel diary and our visit to the Redwood National Park.

This is the map of the tour of the Redwood National Park:

In reality, Redwood National Park is a set of state parks that protect redwood forests and their biodiversity. From north to south, following highway 101, these thick forests are crossed (Jedediah smith, North Coast Y Prairie creek), in which suddenly the light disappears and you are surrounded by ancient trees, some of them so famous that they have even name!

The day before, arriving from the interior of Oregon from the visit to Crater Lake, we crossed the State Park of Jedediah smith, and it was the perfect appetizer for what awaited us today. We pass by the main road, Hwy 199, although if you want to deviate to the heart of this park, you can travel the Howland Hill Road (be careful because it is narrow and dirt), where there is a popular 0.5 mile trail called Stout grove trail, which reaches the Stout Tree, the largest tree in this forest, and the Smith River.

From here to the south, following the line of the Pacific coast in the state of California, optimal conditions exist for the highest living beings on the planet to develop all their power. And you will see that to visit them is not difficult, and there are some short walks of the most spectacular. This was ours Redwood National Park itinerary.

We left early from Crescent City with two very hot coffees in hand. We put them in the round holes of the car (without which the Americans would go crazy) and do not touch them until we reach the Crescent Beach Overlook. This part of the Oregon and California coast is characterized by its thick fogs (without which on the other hand, redwoods could not exist), and this point was no exception. But we did not care too much, coffee was the perfect excuse to meet again with these wild cliffs so wonderful, that the fog is even more impressive.

One of the photographs most requested by visitors to Redwood National Park is one in which you are seen crossing an arc or tunnel made in a giant sequoia with your car. They are called "Drive Thru Tree”And around here there are several of them (Klamath Tour Thru Tree, Shrine Drive Thru Tree, Chandelier Drive Thru Tree…), but they are paid (calculates about 6-10 $) and the really nice thing about a forest is not to see holes in your trees, right? So we follow the route to get to the core, interesting ... to Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. After Klamath you will find a sign that indicates the possibility of deviating to follow the alternative scenic route along the “Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway". And now is when you start freaking out ...

Drive the car along the road through this giant forest, it shakes a little, but we propose a much more entertaining plan. In the park Prairie creek there is a great protagonist, the “Big tree“, And it is the best excuse to get out of the car, stretch your legs, and make a short and simple walk but one of the best in Redwood. Is a loop-shaped tour very short (0.5 km) that takes you to this huge tree almost 90 meters high, surrounded by other huge trees, which will make you feel a tiny and insignificant bug. And if not, look:

A little further on is the Prairie Creek Visitor Center, where they can give you a lot of information and maps of the park, and it is, next to the Elk Meadow which is a few kilometers away, a good place to try to see the roosevelt elk, the largest species of deer on the planet. We went into an incognito session so as not to scare them in case of crossing with them, but after a good while, we could only see a handful of smaller deer, we settled.

From this visitor center there is a road towards the coast, which leads to the Fern Canyon Yet the Gold Bluffs Beach. We understand that to access you have to pay a $ 10 entry, and looking at the clock (and the wallet), we decided to move on. By the way, this was one of the stages of the movie "The Lost World: Jurassic Park", in which a tropical jungle was recreated.

We follow our route through the Redwood National Park and very close we find other visitor center: the Kuchel Visitor Center, in a very cool environment, next to a wild beach and with lots of pamphlets and information. Before arriving, there is a detour that takes you to the parking lot to start a walk: the “Lady Bird Johnson Grove Trail“, But we prefer to pass by. So we finished our way through Prairie Creek Park and changed the shadows of the forests for the blue of the Pacific ... But not for long ...

If you display a map of this area (well, if you open Google Maps) and plan the route, there is a name that will get your attention: “Avenue of the Giants". It is a scenic route of 50 km, which runs parallel to the national highway, entering a thick and ancient forest of redwoods, of giants, in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Undoubtedly one of the biggest attractions of the roadtrip through northern California.

Here you could spend a whole day, there are lots of trails and interesting places (including the largest tree in the world, called Hyperion, of 115 meters, of which its specific location is kept secret), but we focus on making the Founders Grove Trail, probably the most famous path of Humboldt Redwoods, as it is easy to reach, easy to travel and impresses even after coming from the other parks. It has a circular route of 850 meters, in which there are two trees that stand out above the rest: the Founders tree 105 meters high, and the Dyerville Giant 120 meters, this shot down. It is the most popular loop, although from this tree you can extend the tour of the Mahan Loop.

In the town of Leggett we take the turnoff towards the coast and make the last km along the historic Hwy 1, until arriving at Mendocino, our last stop before arriving in San Francisco and ending this roadtrip either by Oregon and Calinornia. No doubt the Redwood national park It has become one of the essentials of this tour, and here we have told you how we visit it remos Hopefully it will help you on your trip!