Aug 25 – 26: Redwood National and State Parks, California
Driving Route:
August 25th
Three hours to go a hundred and fifty miles. Glad we were out of the park by 5:30 am. Wasn’t what I would call easy driving but mostly it was because I got stuck in a clump of cars that seemed to be scared to use the gas pedal. I think they were caravanning together. I was thankful when they all finally pulled over because it didn’t matter how many times Benny and I pulled into an overlook or viewpoint to take a picture, we always caught up with them and could never seem to get out ahead of them.
Some of the places we stopped along the route was Natural Bridge, Prospect State Scenic Viewpoint, we drove through the Jedidiah Stewart State Rec Area, we got gas and cold drinks in the town of Shady Cove, I stopped to check a tire outside of Dodge Bridge County Park, stopped to check the same tire outside of Valley of the Rogue State Park, then really got into the curvy road when it went through Smith River National Rec area. Finally, we arrived at Red Wood National and State Parks and we were ready to get the wiggles out that getting in and out of the van hadn’t.
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We started with the Simpson-Reed Trail that wasn’t quite a mile long, but still took almost an hour to do. There was very limited parking and none for RV or trailers. The van just barely fit. It was located in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. The trail itself was beautiful. It took us around redwood groves, creeks, nurse logs, ferns, hemlocks, huckleberries and a wide variety of other forest features and creatures. There were several sign-thingies that explained things and made the trail interesting as well as pretty. There were a lot of things about the trail that made it a good first one.
First of all, there’s the location, just three miles of curving through the redwoods on Highway 199 east of its junction with Highway 101. It’s about a 15-minute drive from downtown Crescent City. There’s no more accessible route into what one hiking books I read calls “breathtakingly big redwoods.” Uh huh, them were some biiiig trees. The path is level and mostly smooth through a double-loop route that, while on the short side, delivers a treasure trove of visual delights. It is an accessible trail which is great for those that need it, but all that accessibility is also a problem, including for parking. If your vehicle isn’t the size of a roller skate, you are going to have a problem. Like I said, Benny and I just barely got a space.
Benny and I parked then walked a few yards along the road to reach the trailhead that only stood out because there was a handicapped parking area and a small restroom building. We took the trail and then turned right when we reached the first T intersection a few yards further on. To keep from getting lost or turned around we turned right at each subsequent intersection. And since dyslexia sometimes tries to rule my actions, I put a hair tie on my right wrist and when in doubt, always knew to turn the direction of that wrist. Just to be on the safe side of things, I tied a bandana on Benny’s right wrist and told him if we got separated – which wasn’t likely, but I try to be prepared for the unlikely – he was to do the same thing until he came back to the bathroom building and wait for me or a real live ranger in that spot.
His eyes grew wide for just a moment then said, almost like my own mantra, “Better safe than sorry and prior planning prevents poor perflormance. This is for just in case, so we don’t have to worry.” It made me wonder just how many times I’ve said that under my breath during his lifetime that he had it memorized. And I didn’t correct him saying “perflormance” instead of performance. I knew what he meant. More importantly he knew what he meant.
That trail is not the place to go for the silent treatment. Between people of all ages, languages, and volume knobs, plus highway traffic, silence is the last thing you are going to get for most of the way. The roar of 18-wheelers blazing down 199 was overwhelming at first. It nearly activated our APD. Fortunately the roar of cars, the crashing of freight containers, and the squeal of brakes dissipated several hundred feet into the forest. What didn’t go away was the sound of humans acting human. But what the heck, the view was worth dealing with it and people were for the most part friendly and interested in their fellow hikers. There was one group of French kids I could have done without, but that was mostly because their parental units had the kind of “hands off” to nonexistent parenting habits that drive me crazy and wasn’t doing much for Benny either until they rushed ahead of us on the trail.
The “hike” was more of a stroll, but then again, as I heard one man say when his wife was complaining he was moving too slow, not everyone goes into the woods looking for a cardiovascular workout.
The scenery was pretty consistent throughout the loop, but the biggest trees seemed to be mostly around the beginning and end of the loop. Downed trees were scattered along the side of the trail as was the occasional bench. The height of the canopy was up to 150 feet above the ground, even before the first branches. As the trail extended out from the road it eventually ran into a small creek. The black burls set against the high growing ferns give the trail a weird feeling, as if a dinosaur (or Ewok) might suddenly come crashing through the forest. The Peterson Memorial trail extends the loop a bit further before the trail returns to the roar of traffic. Near the end of the loop, there was an especially large dark tree with its top broken off. I don’t want to be in a storm that can do that kind of damage to that size tree.
Hidden in the woods just a few yards further up Walker Road from the Simpson-Reed Trail is a short, unmarked path with the same excessive jungle-like lushness. Got that description from a guy tossing his hands about and complaining to his partner. Apparently he wasn’t having a good time. I would have offered him some bug repellent but I’m not sure that would have corrected his attitude. It sure looked like his partner was about to do some correcting so I hurried Benny and I along. There were lichens hanging from tree branches, foliage everywhere, and some pretty impressive trees. Despite the bit of company we kept running into, the meandering, little-visited track through Metcalf Grove felt wilder than the wide gravel path of Simpson-Reed.
Getting unwedged from the parking area was not fun. Too many people wanted the spot and they actually wound up blocking me and a few other cars in while they were fighting over it. Finally I got them to understand they needed to back up and back off and I popped us out of there like a cork in a narrow-necked bottle using my high clearance and four-wheel drive so we could head on to the Foothill Trail Loop. This trail was longer but flat. The 2.5-mile-long trail meandered along a creek, under some of the tallest redwood trees in the world, past interpretive sign-thingies, and led us right back to where we started.
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The first 300 yards of the trail cover, to paraphrase a park volunteer we met at the trailhead, arguably the finest stretch of redwood forest in the park. Immediately the titans of the forest are visible on the right, rising high above an understory of verdant ferns. I borrowed the word “verdant” from a sign. Not sure I would ever use it otherwise. A wooden bridge over Prairie Creek, followed by a short boardwalk section, led to a grove of imposing redwoods, a sight no photo could do justice. At 1/10 mile, we bore right at the first of several trail junctions.
It is not until at a quarter mile that Prairie Creek appears again, this time flanked by redwoods on both sides. The redwoods in this section come in spurts, with dense groves interrupted by stretches of smaller—and younger—trees: Sitka spruces, maples, firs, and hemlocks.
A slight uphill at around the ½ mile mark gave way to flat terrain again as the trail followed the creek on the right. The path crossed a tricky spot at 6/10 mile where part of the trail had eroded away, creating an obstacle that caused the trail to lose its accessibility status. Beyond that however, the route returns to a wide and smooth trail, passing through a pair of tunnels carved through giant fallen logs.
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The ancient trees continue to dot the landscape as the trail crosses another bridge at 0.85 miles and then a brushy clearing at around the one-mile mark which offered a brief respite from the tree canopy. Here the path crossed a minor stream blanketed with ferns and hungry mosquitos. Back in the woods, the trail splits at 1.25 miles. We again bore right, leaving the mini vampires and approaching Newton B Drury Parkway. The footpath surprised me and crossed the road at 1.35 miles. It wasn’t easy to cross due to traffic and lack of any kind of pedestrian right of way but all of us finally made it across in a bunch when a ranger stopped, forcing other vehicles to stop as well.
The eastbound path bent south and wove through dense thicket, though old-growth redwoods were disappointingly sparse. The trail wasn’t disappointing, just if you were there for the big trees there weren’t many in that section. The redwoods returned around a w
ayside, with its viewing platform and sign-thingies located around the "Big Tree". The walk to the Big Tree is less than 200 yards from a parking area which we could have used had we wanted to hike the trail from that point. This location is popular with visitors, tour groups, and charter busses that have less than half an hour to experience any redwoods. In other words, I’m glad we parked where we did because of how tight and busy the parking areas were at that point.
Near that section were some audio boxes that allowed us to hear the local Yurok tribe elders talk about redwood trees. It was pretty neat and Benny was fascinated. There were also vault toilets that we took advantage of during a lull in the crowds.
After the toilets we got to look at the Big Tree. Wow. Soaring to a height of 304 ft, we had a difficult time seeing the top of The Big Tree itself, but with a circumference of 68 feet it wasn't difficult to appreciate its size. It is estimated that the tree is 1500 years old. The Big Tree itself sits within a grove of similar such trees, though none quite as big or old.
After the Big Tree, we stayed straight. Leaving the cars and crowds behind, the trail passed under a group of moss-laden trees. They looked otherworldly if you want to know the truth, like they were artificial sets from some fantasy or sci-fi movie. But they were all real.
At around 1.9 miles, the old-growth redwoods returned in earnest, with a beautiful grove just off to the left. Mixed in are several redwood look-alikes: Douglas firs and western hemlocks, many of which grow out of the roots of the redwoods themselves. We crossed a service road at 2.05 miles, then entered the
Rotary Memorial Grove, a garden of titanic trees, complete with several benches to park on if you want to absorb the atmosphere or just relax for a minute.
The trail reached its high point when it passed a massive trunk on the left at 2.35 miles. Beyond that point is the open fields of
Elk Prairie. The trail forks and you bear to the left and cross a bridge over
Boyes Creek. Less than a minute later, you follow the path as it goes under the Newton B. Drury Parkway. By 2.6 miles, we had completed the loop and were back at the trail’s start. And trust me, people were once again eager for the parking spot we were vacating just not as crazy rude about it.
I called ahead and we were still a bit of time from being able to check in at our camp site so it was a good thing I had another hike we could go on. Trillium Falls was located in the south of the parks.
The hike started just off Highway 101, in a clearing that was once the site of the Arcata Redwood Company sawmill. The sawmill has been removed and the clearing restored to a grass-covered field where elk occasionally browse. The parking area gets pretty busy even when there aren't any elk to be seen, but it doesn’t usually fill up, or so I was given to understand by an older couple who come to the parks quite often and admired my ability to park the Ark with so straight and quickly to get out of other drivers’ way. I told them my father had been a truck driver and would have accepted no less, leaving out the part about how young I was when he taught me. They both laughed and kept walking and Benny and I started off as well.
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From the parking lot, we descended on one of the paved access trails, and turned right onto the paved Davison Trail. After just a few yards, the Trillium Falls Trail branched off to the right, through some blackberry brambles and then into the redwoods. The first little bit of old growth was especially spectacular. As the trail switchbacked uphill, the redwoods became a little more normalish if such a redwood exists.
The trail then descended slightly to a long metal footbridge that provided a view of Trillium Falls, a little cascade that was surrounded by maples and ferns.
After the waterfall, the redwoods get a lot smaller and the woods become choked with small spruce trees. Dense thickets of young trees seem to be common at the fringes of old-growth groves where the neighboring land has been logged. There were also a lot of huckleberry shrubs lining the trail, so although there are still redwoods around, you can’t see much of them in this section. Just after the trail descends and crosses a dirt logging road, the woods opened up and the trees got a lot bigger again. The best scenery and most impressive redwoods of the hike are here, around the southern tip of the trail loop. The trail turned north and, near its end, approached the edge of the forest. This part of the grove is much less attractive; however, it still had a few good-sized trees.
The trail unceremoniously dumped us onto a dirt road, at which point the redwoods abruptly ended. The last one-third mile on the dirt road is still very pleasant, though, with attractive alders leaning over the road. The lack of redwoods in this area appeared to be natural and not due to logging.
It was time to turn around and head towards camp but I was going to do is slow. I wanted to stop at the
Lady Bird Johnson Grove, but it was a no-go for the van. We stuck to the
Newton B. Drury Scenic Road (10 miles). Now we can say we’ve crossed the road on foot and by vehicle. We stopped at the Jedediah Smith Visitor Center. The rangers were really busy but I managed to snag a copy of the Junior Ranger Booklet from a park volunteer manning one corner the information desk.
With our reservations figured out and our site number in hand we quickly went to park before any more confusion could take place. Dang those blasted campsite rustlers anyway. I hated kicking the group out, but they played the game and lost, assuming I’d just roll over and accept the hand they tried to deal me. I was less inclined to sympathy when I heard them running their mouths and the kind of language they were using. I’m no prude and more than a bit of sailor in me still, but even I draw the line at some of the disgusting stuff they were dishing out. I’m glad they didn’t know our “persona” of Aunt Gus and Little Bear as I’m pretty positive they would have tried to hack me or at the very least leave nasty comments and try and affect my reputation.
After we parked, I found one more trail for us to work off the upset.
Stout Memorial Grove Trail (1-mile roundtrip) - These 300-foot trees are considered by many as the heart of Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. It is a majestic 44-acre grove of old-growth redwoods and a popular summer destination. The trail is a short 0.5 mile in length and a short spur trail descended down twenty feet to the Smith River. In summer many people picnic, paddle, and swim at this cobbled beach. In summer this is where the hikers' bridge crosses the Smith River.
Once back at the camp the day seemed to be settling down for everyone and Benny and I could finally relax a bit. I’m trying so that Benny doesn’t develop my anti-people personality traits but honestly there are days it isn’t easy. This campground is a little more expensive and doesn’t have any discounts but what do you expect for California? Another challenge is that with all the tree coverage we’ll have to be economical about the solar usage, especially since there are no hook ups in the park, not even hook ups for electric vehicles which I found very strange.
The campground was also under fire restrictions which made dinner prep interesting. I wound up using the range top in the Ark and heating water to cook up just enough pasta to make salmon caprese. Then I took more hot water and set some overnight oatmeal up for our breakfast. We both took quick showers and Benny has fallen asleep with the crew and his Junior Ranger papers which I need to rescue from being drooled on.
I was going to take Benny to the Pacific Ocean along Hwy 101 tomorrow and do some tidepooling, but there were several rockslides along the highway that had sections closed, impassable, unsafe, or blocked our access to the locations I wanted to go. Decided in the end to listen to the warnings of the other people in camp that said avoid it. Instead, we are going to do a neat trail that someone described like stepping into a terrarium because some of the near vertical walls are covered in ferns.