I recently updated our Redwood National and State Parks page on our mother site Adventure-Crew.com. Every time I do that for a park, I am filled with longing to see all the places I’ve read about. The national parks are so awesome and have a boundless supply of outdoor adventure just waiting for us to engage in, but sometimes we take them for granted.
My husband reminded me that we have been to Redwood years ago when we took the best vacation we ever had as a family. We flew into San Francisco and rented a car. We then drove up the coast through California, Oregon and eventually Washington where my husband’s parents live. During this drive, we saw two national parks and a national monument. Besides Redwood, we saw Crater Lake National Park and Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. It was a fun trip with not only beautiful coastal scenery and magnificent mountain ranges, but was also a trip down memory lane for my husband. He enjoyed showing us his old stomping grounds from when he lived in California and Oregon. From Fisherman’s Wharf to Portland, OR and Mount St. Helens, we sampled a little of everything there was in-between.
But Redwood National and State Parks remains elusive in my memory. I’m really disappointed in this as the park has a lot to offer the outdoor enthusiast. With 37 miles (60 km) of pristine California coastline, two major rivers and the old-growth redwood groves, you would be hard put to not find something to do there.
You can day hike and backpack any of the 200 miles of trails available. If you prefer to horseback ride, there are also several trails that allow that with camping areas to boot. It’s one of the few parks that allow you to gather firewood for your campsite. You’ll even find trails to bike on.
There is also great fishing in the Klamath River and, California's last major free-flowing river, the Smith River. Both are famous for Salmon and steelhead. Would you rather kayak instead? Try the North Coast rivers, lagoons, harbors, coves, and in the ocean. Each area has its own degree of difficulty.
The Klamath River Overlook (pictured above) allows you to see where the river flows into the Pacific Ocean. The scene is awesome! This is one scene I do remember about the park. If you are lucky you will get a glimpse of a migrating whale as this is a good spot to see the marine wildlife. The seastacks are often filled with resting sea birds looking for safety from predators.
The unique environment makes it the only place in the world where the giant redwoods grow. Just seeing the mammoth base of these trees is amazing. And of course, you can’t forget about the Roosevelt Elk that can be readily seen throughout the parks, but primarily south of the Klamath River in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, Gold Bluffs Beach, along the Bald Hills Road, and in the Orick area. The black bear is also abundant, but not as readily seen.
Another thing I remember about the park was Crescent City where in 1964 a tsunami from an Alaskan earthquake hit the coast and wiped out half of the waterfront business district. The tsunami actually affected the entire California coast, but Crescent City was hit the hardest. The poor city was actually hit by 4 waves with the last being 20-22 feet high. We saw the plaque they put up pertaining to this event and the area we saw had never been built back upon in the 1990’s. The same winter that this happened, the Smith River had flooded its banks in the worst flood in history and a sign along the mountain side indicated the water line to be dozens of feet up the mountain! It was pretty amazing and something you never worry about living in the Midwest.
Redwood is certainly on my list of “must see” national parks. I missed seeing the marine wildlife and we didn’t take the time for any hikes. Next time we’ll bring our bikes and get some backpacking in. This time I promise to take better pictures and take the time to enjoy the journey.