Redwoods National Park
What does it take to make you realize something is spectacular? What if one of the most popular movies of all time used the backdrop of a place to portray a forested moon in a galaxy far, far away? That’s Redwoods National Park, the setting for the home of the Ewoks in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.
That’s precisely where we started our exploration of this combination of state and national parks. The Boy Scout Tree trail is a 5.6-mile hike through the most remarkable California Redwoods you’ve ever seen. There’s a waterfall at the end, which is a great place for lunch, if not so remarkable. (Maybe it just seems small next to the bohemouth trees.) But walking through here you can just imagine Luke and Leia evading storm troopers on their speeders.
The venture through Redwood is tree-lined road after tree-lined trail after tree-lined campground — you get the idea. Some areas are probably better than others, but for us it was all new and spectacular.
Howland Road was an amazing drive. We missed the Grove of Titans (a new trail), which we heard as awesome. We loved Stout Grove, which gave a bit of a different vibe. A Ranger told us that Tall Tree wasn’t worth the time and that because we didn’t get a permit to Fern Canyon, we’d have to skip it. We’re usually very good about knowing what needs permits; we just missed this one. So, we followed recommendations to Walker Road and Lieffer Loop Trail (~1.5 miles), which had some astounding hollowed out trees.
The memory that sort of sticks is the Mill Creek campground, where you’re not on a special trail or famous road. You’re just pulled onto a small camping pad with a firepit and a bathroom down the trail. But your walk to the bathroom or around the area snakes between the biggest trees you’ve ever seen. You realize that you are living in their world, and it’s quite humbling.
The next morning took us to Enders Road and Crescent Beach overlook. Driving south through the constant thick fog that haunts this coast we called an audible and made a stop outside the park at the Trees of Mystery attraction. Normally we try to avoid the cheesy tourist traps — and maybe this is one — but the kids are kids and they wanted to do it. Se we did the canopy walk, the gondola ride, and saw the worlds largest privately owned tree.
When we returned to th trees that are owned by all the American people, we set our boots onto the Klamath Coastal loop, had lunch at High Bluff, and saw what we thought might be a California Condor over the ocean. (There’s only four in the Redwoods area, so maybe not.)
That night we bedded down at Elk Prairie, and the next morning we woke up early with the intention to see animals. We caught bachelor Elk in the aptly named Elk Prairie, deer across the road, and Elk cows with juveniles. While driving Bald Hills Road, we got our fist bear sighting of the trip, as a black bear cub ran across the road in front of us.
We then hiked Lady Bird Johnson Grove and grabbed those Junior Ranger badges at Kuechel Visitor Center. Lunch in Eureka, and we were off to Lassen!
Wildlife count: seals, elk, mule deer, black bear, slug, chipmunks, bald eagle, turkey vulture, osprey, and maybe, just maybe a California condor.