The Redwood Forest

Overview:

 “From the Red­wood For­est” the great land and beau­ty of Amer­i­ca poet­i­cised and sung after is tru­ly encap­su­lat­ed in the more than 140,000 acres of enchant­i­ng forestry of the Red­wood Nation­al and State parks, that are home to thou­sands of tow­er­ing and majes­tic Red­wood and Giant Sequoia Trees, ancient flo­ra and lush green ferns – all of which are backed by the deep blue incred­i­ble Pacif­ic Ocean and the stun­ning Cal­i­forn­ian Coast­line – which com­bine to make the Red­wood Nation­al and State Parks a tru­ly beau­ti­ful nat­ur­al won­der of the world.  

 Con­sid­ered Nature’s Sky­scrap­ers, the cur­rent liv­ing Red­wood and Giant Sequoia trees are known to be over 2,000 years old, with these stun­ning trees known to have been in exis­tence for more than 250 mil­lion years – and they are eas­i­ly found with many of these great trees crack­ing the sky at 300 foot tall, includ­ing the largest tree on record — the mys­te­ri­ous Hype­r­i­on found deep with­in the Red­wood Nation­al Park – which has been clocked at reach­ing the great heights of 379 feet.  

 The parks them­selves where the Red­woods and Sequoias are found con­sist of more than 26 State Parks and one major Nation­al Park which are com­bined and man­aged togeth­er – with the four lead­ing parks being the Red­wood Nation­al Park and the three state parks of Del Norte Coast, Jede­di­ah Smith and Prairie Creek Red­woods State Park. With it being with­in these four parks where you’ll find the absolute best of the Red­woods – with a series of world class hik­ing trails, includ­ing Tall Trees Grove, Stout Grove, Fern Grove and the Irvine Trail – and scenic dri­ves – includ­ing Avenue of the Giants, the New­ton B. Drury Scenic Dri­ve and How­land Hill – and series of daz­zling beach­es, stun­ning forestry scenery and breath-tak­ing over­looks.  

 In fact, so immense is the beau­ty with­in the Red­wood Nation­al and State Parks that the area has served as not only a back­drop to many a Hol­ly­wood block­buster includ­ing Star Wars, Plan­et of the Apes and Juras­sic Park, but along­side being home to a series of immense dri­ves – includ­ing three Red­wood Trees that explor­ers can dri­ve through for a fun expe­ri­ence and unique pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty – the Parks also lie as the pre­mier attrac­tion on two of the great­est dri­ves on the plan­et, the icon­ic Red­wood High­way and High­way 1. With these two roads com­bin­ing more than 1,500 kilo­me­tres of stun­ning high­way along the Cal­i­forn­ian Coast giv­ing explor­ers breath-tak­ing views of both incred­i­ble beach­es, quaint towns, stun­ning coast­line and of course the absolute best of the Red­wood For­est and the Pacif­ic Ocean.  

 A peace­ful and pow­er­ful reminder of the beau­ty of nature, cur­rent­ly only 5% of the old growth Red­wood For­est remains –yet the still stand­ing Forestry area, which is now thank­ful­ly under pro­tec­tion from log­ging and in the midst of mas­sive con­ser­va­tion areas, is a tru­ly majes­tic and stun­ning area. With a walk and explo­ration with­in this lush green forestry being one of the most peace­ful and enchant­i­ng expe­ri­ences on the plan­et, and when com­bined with the incred­i­ble hik­ing trails, the scenic dri­ves and the stun­ning panoram­ic view­points, there’s no doubt that the tow­er­ing and immense Red­wood Nation­al and State Parks are one of the great­est won­ders of the world.  

 

Where:

 The tow­er­ing and majes­tic Red­woods and Giant Sequoia’s can be found along the beau­ti­ful Cal­i­forn­ian Coast in a series of Nation­al and State Parks that stretch from just below the Port­land Ore­gon Bor­der all the way along High­way 1 past San Fran­cis­co to the beau­ti­ful area of Big Sur just above Los Ange­les.  

Getting there:

Despite being a nat­ur­al par­adise and thou­sands of Red­woods and Sequoia’s – the Red­wood Nation­al and State parks are incred­i­bly acces­si­ble – and you can even tak­en on two of the best road trips on the plan­et to both pass through and arrive at these incred­i­ble won­ders.  

Start­ing with the more tra­di­tion­al and direct routes to the Red­wood Forests, the eas­i­est option is to fly into the inter­na­tion­al air­ports of San Fran­cis­co or Port­land Ore­gon which will put almost on the Cal­i­forn­ian Coast and from here you can have a range of options to arrive at the red­woods.  

For those fly­ing into San Fran­cis­co, the eas­i­est option is to hire a rental Car at the air­port and make you way not only to the won­der of Gold­en Gate Bridge (Click Here) but into the near­by Muir Woods and then north along the Red­wood High­way to explore the many hik­ing trails and state parks that make up the Red­woods.  

Alter­na­tive­ly for those not keen on dri­ving, you can hail an uber to take you to the near­by Muir Woods from Down­town San Fran­cis­co (just be sure to book your return trip in advance or risk get­ting stuck there) for a taste of these incred­i­ble forests – or for those who fan­cy tru­ly stretch­ing their legs ride there and back in a day by hir­ing a bicy­cle from down­town San Fran­cis­co and head­ing over the Gold­en Gate Bridge to arrive at these incred­i­ble woods.  

For these fly­ing to Port­land Ore­gon – which is our rec­om­mend place to start your explo­ration of the Red­wood Forests from, the eas­i­est and best option is unques­tion­ably to take on the Red­wood High­way by hir­ing a rental car from the air­port – and fol­low­ing the road along the coast to explore each of the state parks along this incred­i­ble high­way.  

Once with­in the State Parks do note that there is no shut­tle bus between the parks – so your options are either to day trip using avail­able trans­port to a Red­wood Park or hike from park to park tak­ing advan­tage of the camp­ing facil­i­ties until you reach a major city – with the parks being well marked and easy to nav­i­gate as you can sim­ply keep the Pacif­ic Ocean on your right and head south.  

But for an absolute­ly unfor­get­table and the best eas­i­est and enjoy­able way to get to the Red­woods we’d strong­ly rec­om­mend self-dri­ving between the parks and espe­cial­ly head­ing to Ore­gon then hir­ing a car and tak­ing on first the Red­wood High­way and then the icon­ic High­way 1 to get to and around the Red­wood Nation­al and State Parks – with these two stun­ning high­ways tak­ing you from the top of Ore­gon through the Red­woods and along the absolute best of the Cal­i­forn­ian Coast line all the way down to Los Ange­les and San Diego – for what is undoubt­ed­ly one of the best road trips on the plan­et.  

For a full guide on both the Red­wood High­way and High­way 1 – includ­ing the route, top tips and the best way to expe­ri­ence explor­ing the Red­woods on this icon­ic dri­ve click here.  

 

Best time to Visit: 

 While the Red­woods Area – and the Red­wood High­way and High­way 1 – and of course the pacif­ic ocean are open all year round, the weath­er and sea­son you vis­it can real­ly make or break your trip, so to get the best out of these stun­ning parks and to enjoy the full beau­ty of the Tow­er­ing Red­woods we’d advise tim­ing your vis­it for the sum­mer months of June – August if pos­si­ble, and cer­tain­ly ensur­ing your vis­it between April – Octo­ber if a trip dur­ing sum­mer isn’t pos­si­ble. 

 Vis­it­ing dur­ing this peri­od will see you hit warmer and com­fort­able tem­per­a­tures with plen­ty of Sun­light – mak­ing the views along the pacif­ic coast and with­in the for­est tru­ly spec­tac­u­lar – and it will also see you vis­it­ing dur­ing the off sea­son for rain, which will make the dri­ving con­di­tions and hik­ing trails much eas­i­er, com­fort­able, and enjoy­able.  

 For those who do vis­it dur­ing the wet sea­son – or who hap­pen to vis­it on a rainy day – we’d advise adjust­ing your itin­er­ary a lit­tle and tak­ing advan­tage of the low hand­ing fog to head to the Red­wood Creek look­out – where if you time your vis­it right you’ll get to see the Fog descend­ing over the Red­wood For­est which makes for an incred­i­ble pho­to shot.  

 So while the Red­woods are always open, we’d strong­ly advise head­ing to this won­der dur­ing the Sum­mer months if pos­si­ble, and ensur­ing your vis­it takes place between April – Octo­ber to ensure you get to enjoy the absolute best of this nat­ur­al par­adise.  

 

 Explore:

 Home to some of the tallest and largest trees on the plan­et – and a par­adise of nat­ur­al beau­ty, stun­ning hikes, scenic dri­ves and peace­ful camp­ing, the Red­wood Nation­al Park and State parks stretch across 131,983 acres of incred­i­ble and scenic land and include the icon­ic Red­wood Nation­al Park, as well as a series of state parks includ­ing the three State Parks — Jede­di­ah Smith, Del Norte Coast, Prairie Creek – that come togeth­er to form this incred­i­ble won­der of the world.  

 While a walk through the 40,000 majes­tic and tow­er­ing trees – that can reach as high as 400 feet – is tru­ly a peace­ful and awe-inspir­ing expe­ri­ence, and one enjoyed over cen­turies and espe­cial­ly since the cre­ation of the nation­al park in the 1960’s, you’ll also find these incred­i­ble red­woods home to some fas­ci­nat­ing wildlife – includ­ing the famed Roo­sevelt elk, black bears and the oppor­tu­ni­ty to see whales breach­ing off the Cal­i­forn­ian coast­line – all of which are vis­i­ble on a jour­ney through this incred­i­ble for­est.  

 Eas­i­ly accessed and open year-round with no entrance fee – the Red­wood nation­al and state parks are tru­ly an enchant­i­ng and won­der­ous place – and rep­re­sent the absolute best of both Cal­i­for­nia and the Unit­ed States gold­en land­scape. Whilst it’s pos­si­ble to spend days, weeks and even months walk­ing and explor­ing this majes­tic land­scape, the below are some select­ed high­lights from across the red­wood nation­al parks that will let you take in the best of the Giant sequoias and Cal­i­for­nia red­woods on foot and by car and where you can head for some tru­ly stun­ning views of this immense won­der of the world: 

 

 Giant sequoias and California redwoods 

Con­sid­er­ing the trees them­selves – and the tow­er­ing sequoias and red­woods that line this for­est that make these nation­al parks so unique, you’ll find thou­sands of these stun­ning nat­ur­al beau­ties dot­ted through­out the parks. With the trees typ­i­cal­ly split into two broad cat­e­gories – the Giant Sequoias which nor­mal­ly stretch to be 250 foot tall and 30 feet in diam­e­ter – and the more famous Red­woods that stretch not as wide in diam­e­ter at 25 feet, but can stretch to a sky­line bust­ing 400 foot and have been around for 250 mil­lion years – with some liv­ing for as long as 2,000 years.  

Tru­ly impres­sive a walk amongst these giants to mar­vel at their beau­ty and size is a mag­i­cal and wan­der­lust expe­ri­ence, and though all the trees are won­ders, there are a cou­ple that are stepped in leg­end and that stand taller than their sis­ters, with the below being our top 8 trees to look out for when hik­ing or dri­ving through the Red­woods Nation­al Parks:  

The Hyperion – the tallest tree in the world: 

Start­ing with the big one – the mighty red­wood tree of the Hype­r­i­on stretch­es up to 374.7 feet and yet despite its size was only “dis­cov­ered” in late 2005, with the Hype­r­i­on esti­mat­ed to be as old as 1000 years.  

Accom­pa­nied in height by two oth­er trees – the mighty Icarus (370.1 feet) and Helios (374) feet – the tree is only to believe have been pre­vent­ed grow­ing fur­ther due to con­stant wood­peck­er activ­i­ty – and yet while it’s one to look out for – you’ll have to be very lucky to stum­ble upon it as its exact loca­tion remains a close­ly guard­ed secret to pre­vent van­dal­ism and to allow this incred­i­ble feat of nature to blos­som.  

The drive through Trees: 

A tourist cliché – but still an enjoy­able expe­ri­ence, dri­ving through one of the three dri­ve through trees is a unique expe­ri­ence that allows you to see pass through these incred­i­ble won­ders for an enjoy­able and fun way to expe­ri­ence this won­der.  

The three trees that allow this expe­ri­ence are: 

The Shrine Tree ($10 USD) – A more than 2,500 year old tree that has plen­ty of room for dri­ving through. You’ll find the incred­i­ble shrine tree on the Myers flat part of the Red­woods State Parks – and best of all it’s an easy stop on the Avenue of Giants dri­ve – mak­ing it a con­ve­nient and easy tree to dri­ve through – for a fun and enjoy­able expe­ri­ence and a great pho­to spot.  

The Chan­de­lier Tree ($10 Usd) – Found in the small town of Leggett just after the con­clu­sion of the Red­woods high­way, the Chan­de­lier Tree stands 276 foot high – with the pas­sage through it com­ing in at 7 x 7 allow­ing cars of a good size to pass through. Best of all though this 2,400 year old tree is still grow­ing – so a trip through it can allow you to pass through a liv­ing tree for a unique and unfor­get­table expe­ri­ence in the won­der of the red­woods.   

Kla­math Tree ($5 Usd) – carved using a chain­saw the pas­sage through the Kla­math tree was con­struct­ed that allows for the tree to keep grow­ing – mean­ing you’ll again have a unique chance to pass through a liv­ing tree in the Red­wood State Parks. Found in the town of Kla­math, with­in the Del Norte Coast region – and a great stop for those con­quer­ing the Red­wood High­way, you can expect large queues to form as you approach – but the wait is well worth it as you pass through this liv­ing giant and grab both an incred­i­ble pho­to and expe­ri­ence in the beau­ti­ful red­woods parks.  

The Giant Tree – Liv­ing up to its name – the Giant tree is found deep with­in the Hum­boldt Red­wood Park and while not being the biggest tree is the eas­i­est dis­cov­er­able and glam­orous tree in the whole of the park based on size, diam­e­ter and beau­ty. Con­sid­ered an icon and a sym­bol of the stature of the red­wood forests – you can expect a queue to snap a pho­to against the tree as well as mul­ti­ple hik­ers strolling pass it – but for those who do a true chance to both cap­ture and take in one of the best and biggest liv­ing pieces of nature awaits you.   

Corkscrew Tree – A tru­ly unique tree, the corkscrew tree with­in the Prairie Creek Red­woods State Park stands at 200 feet, but its beau­ty lies not in its height but in its unique cathe­dral ring base, where the trunks of indi­vid­ual red­woods trees have become twist­ed giv­ing an inter­twined and daz­zling effect as the mighty tree reach­es up to the sky – mak­ing for both an awe­some sight and an incred­i­ble tree with­in the red­woods park.  

The Star Wars Tree – One for the Hol­ly­wood fans – the Star Wars tree bought the beau­ty of the red­wood trees to the big screen as a chase scene between the heroes saw them wind­ing their way through the for­est and duck­ing under mighty fall­en trees. Although the fall­en trees no longer lie – a trip through the beau­ty of Hum­boldt Red­woods State Park allows you to walk the same path as the heroes or dri­ve it on the avenue of the giants – adding an ele­ment of Hol­ly­wood glam­our and excite­ment to your explo­ration.  

Albi­no Red­wood – A beau­ti­ful and unique tree – the albi­nos are both some of the rarest and pic­turesque trees across the whole of the red­woods. Known also as the Ghost or Christ­mas trees – and par­tic­u­lar­ly beau­ti­ful in win­ter, the Albi­no tree is unable to pro­duce the clas­sic green pig­ments (chloro­phyll) giv­ing it the incred­i­bly beau­ti­ful white com­plex­ion that makes these trees so stun­ning. An esti­mat­ed 50 of these albi­no trees can be found dot­ted around the State parks – includ­ing six with­in the Hum­boldt Red­woods State Park – and you’ll find the two best (in our view) on the avenue of the giants dri­ve – with the 30-foot Christ­mas tree and 25-foot-tall Spir­it tree both eas­i­ly reach­able and pro­vid­ing a per­fect place to take in the beau­ty of these unique Albi­no Red­woods.  

 

The Redwood State National Parks: 

While there’s no doubt the incred­i­ble Giant Sequoias and tow­er­ing Red­wood trees are a true priv­i­lege and bliss­ful envi­ron­ment in which to walk, pon­der and explore – the Red­wood Nation­al Parks also include not only these awe-inspir­ing majes­tic trees, but thou­sands of acres of pris­tine green­ery, enchant­i­ng beau­ty and stun­ning coast­line and forestry views — mak­ing these incred­i­ble parks a tru­ly spe­cial place to explore and recon­nect with nature.  

Although threat­ened through­out the 21st cen­tu­ry by con­stant log­ging – which has now thank­ful­ly been banned although the scars on the land from log­ging still remain – through a series to exten­sive con­ser­va­tion efforts, the more than 26 state parks run across 70 miles of the pacif­ic coast cre­at­ing an incred­i­ble and thriv­ing eco-sys­tem. Along­side the big three state parks of Jede­di­ah Smith, Del Norte Coast and Prairie Creek– and the icon­ic red­wood Nation­al Park we’ve picked out our favourite spots and rec­om­men­da­tions for explor­ing the Red­wood nation­al and State Parks, which are sum­marised below: 

The Redwood National Park 

Found in the green and pleas­ant lands of the North­west of Cal­i­for­nia, the Red­wood Nation­al Park is known to be home to not only the Hype­r­i­on, but also the top three tallest trees glob­al­ly – as well as 170 miles of incred­i­ble pris­tine green­ery, mead­ows, fields, lakes, forests – and over 40 miles of pris­tine pacif­ic coast­line – offer­ing the absolute best of California’s famous coast.  

Offi­cial­ly made a nation­al park in 1968, a bound­ary change in the late 1970’s see’s the Red­wood Nation­al Park stretch over into the big three state parks of Jede­di­ah Smith, Del Norte Coast and Prairie Creek, with the park being home to rang­ing dense forests that allows the Red­woods and Sequoias to thrive – as well as vast eco-sys­tems that an abun­dance of unique and rare wildlife are able to call home.  

Offer­ing a peace­ful envi­ron­ment – and thank­ful­ly now free of log­ging, the Red­wood Nation­al Park has grown to by incor­po­rate more than 45% of the incred­i­ble Red­woods, and you’ll find many near the famous and beau­ti­ful Red­wood Creek Basim – which lies at the heart and as the cen­tre­piece of this enchant­i­ng for­est.  

 With hun­dreds of miles of mes­meris­ing hik­ing and bik­ing trails – that take you both along the coast and past and through the icon­ic red­woods, as well as camp­ing, riv­er swim­ming and wildlife watch­ing – the mighty Red­wood Nation­al park is one of the most scenic and beau­ti­ful places on the plan­et – and a great place to begin your jour­ney explor­ing the incred­i­ble won­der of both the red­wood and sequoias trees and the nat­ur­al par­adise of the Red­woods Nation­al Parks.  

Jedediah Smith 

Nes­tled inland along the Cal­i­forn­ian coast next to the beau­ti­ful Lake Earl – and eas­i­ly found along Route 199 – the state park of Jede­di­ah Smith is as equal­ly stun­ning as the Red­wood Nation­al Park – and is home to some of the most stun­ning and beau­ti­ful red­wood trees on the plan­et. With the Park’s serene and relaxed atmos­phere and less crowd­ed nature giv­ing way to a tru­ly awe-inspir­ing and peace­ful expe­ri­ence.  

Named after the famous US explor­er Jede­di­ah Smith, who is believed to have passed through the area and not­ed its beau­ty in late 1826, the park fea­tures small­er but more colour­ful and vari­ety red­woods and sequoias – and is known to be home not only to the largest red­wood tree by vol­ume, but also the famous and splen­did Grove of Titans tree areas – whose once secret loca­tion, found in an off trail, has now become pub­lic knowl­edge – allow­ing for explor­ers to vis­it this pris­tine area of wood­land and admire these mirac­u­lous nat­ur­al trees.  

The Grove of Titans is also backed by a series of incred­i­ble hik­ing trails that take you deep with­in the Jede­di­ah Smith for­est park – with the pris­tine green­ery giv­ing way in sec­tions to wild and untamed shrub­bery as well as immac­u­late coastal views, with the Boy Scout trail in par­tic­u­lar­ly earn­ing a rep­u­ta­tion for offer­ing incred­i­ble views on an eas­i­ly hike able path and giv­ing the absolute best of this stun­ning park.  

Home also to a series of Star Wars film loca­tions, the Jede­di­ah Smith’s beau­ty is also found on approach – as a dri­ve up to and through the park on the scenic How­land Hill Road takes explor­ers past a series of tow­er­ing red­woods, into the park, next to idyl­lic veg­e­ta­tion and into the heart of this mes­meris­ing and beau­ti­ful park.  

 

Del Norte Coast:

The place where the tree’s meet the sea – and our pick for the best of stun­ning coastal views and glo­ri­ous red­woods – the Del Norte Coast lies on the coast of Cal­i­for­nia on a steep hill with sweep­ing panoram­ic scenic views over the Pacif­ic Ocean on one side and views deep into the glo­ri­ous Red­wood Forests on the oth­er side.  

Known for its main­ly fog­gy views and aura – which cre­ates incred­i­ble land­scape and pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties, the Del Norte Coast Park cov­ered just over 11,000 acres when first recog­nised in 1925 – but thanks to a series of cam­paigns and con­ser­va­tion efforts the park was expand­ed at the start of the 21st cen­tu­ry – to include the sub­lime 25,000 acres of the Mill Creek water area.  

This water­shed area has giv­en rise to some incred­i­ble groves deep with­in the park – that have grown against the hill to catch immac­u­late sun rays and on fog­gy days a mys­tique and aura com­plex­ion that bounces off the deep blue pacif­ic. Ven­tur­ing fur­ther into the for­est and you’ll find scat­tered areas of trees – and although the hik­ing trails pale in com­par­i­son to the neigh­bour­ing parks, espe­cial­ly as a great high­way runs through the mid­dle of the park – you’ll still find some stun­ning trails that can lead you through the for­est to the ocean includ­ing the well-known Coastal trail and Damna­tion Creek trail – both of which com­bine pris­tine nature with some stun­ning views.  

A great place to camp and eas­i­ly acces­si­ble by car – a trip to the Del Norte Coast com­bines the best of the pacif­ic ocean with some of the immac­u­late red­wood for­est – for a tru­ly spe­cial and stun­ning way to see this incred­i­ble won­der.   

Prairie Creek:

The “Giants For­est” the 14,000 acre Prairie Creek state park is found in the pris­tine coun­ty of Hum­boldt and is home to some of the most unique, tallest and beau­ti­ful Red­woods and Sequoias – includ­ing the famous corkscrew, big tree and Cathe­dral trees – all of which stand more than 300 foot tall.  

Giv­ing explor­ers a great chance to expe­ri­ence and appre­ci­ate the scale and growth of these incred­i­ble won­ders, with the focus of the Prairie Creek being both the impos­ing Fern Canyon – a dark black Canyon nes­tled with­in the for­est and the bliss­ful New­ton Drury Scenic park­way mead­ow – where you’ll find a series of beau­ti­ful elk trees and immac­u­late mead­ows and grass­land – all of which take their source from the famous and beau­ti­ful creek that gives the park its name.  

Explor­ing fur­ther in the park – which is eas­i­ly done by a series of trails includ­ing the gor­geous 3‑mile loop that lets you trav­el through secret tun­nels and into trees – the immac­u­late prairie creek park is a kalei­do­scope of lush green for­est and a liv­ing eco-sys­tem known to be home to mul­ti­ple wildlife as well as wild veg­e­ta­tion and peace­ful green­ery that com­ple­ment the impos­ing trees – mak­ing for stun­ning views and pho­tos.  

Best of all though, a trip through prairie creek and a jour­ney along one of the peace­ful hik­ing trails all lead to the near­by Gold Bluffs beach – a stun­ning sparkling beach that offers gold­en sand, incred­i­ble surf­ing con­di­tions and beau­ti­ful views that stretch over the Pacif­ic Ocean into the hori­zon.  

 

Further Afield:  

Along­side the mighty nation­al park and the three stun­ning main state parks, there’s a range of addi­tion­al state parks that come togeth­er to form the not only a unique eco-sys­tem and the wider Red­wood and Nation­al State Park com­plex, but that are also home to tow­er­ing red­woods and offer stun­ning views, hik­ing expe­ri­ences and diverse ways to explore the incred­i­ble trees and scenery of the Red­wood area.  

Set against the back­drop of 70 miles of majes­tic Cal­i­forn­ian coast­line, the more than 25 state parks con­tain too much beau­ty and land to detail in full, so we’ve picked out our favourite state parks and unique expe­ri­ences with­in them that can help you explore, tra­verse, and expe­ri­ence the absolute best of these nation­al state parks and their red­woods and sequoias: 

Muir Woods National Monument 

Start­ing with per­haps the most famous out­side the big four parks, the Muir Woods Nation­al Mon­u­ment allows explor­ers to step back in time and re-trace the steps of the famous explor­er John Muir – after whom the park is named – as you jour­ney through this quaint and peace­ful for­est sur­round­ed by lush green nature and tow­er­ing Red­wood Trees.  

The first nation­al mon­u­ment with­in the Unites States to be cre­at­ed based on land donat­ed from an indi­vid­ual, the Muir Woods Nation­al Mon­u­ment lies on the out­skirts of San Fran­cis­co just beyond the Gold­en Gate Bridge and is eas­i­ly reached from the major city – with muir woods hav­ing also played a star­ing role in many Hol­ly­wood block­busters – includ­ing the Plan­et of the Apes.  

Still, it’s the peace­ful­ness, still­ness and qui­et that attracts explor­ers and lets the beau­ty of this for­est radi­ate – as a walk­ing tour through the for­est – espe­cial­ly in the morn­ing where the morn­ing fog cre­ates a spir­i­tu­al atmos­phere – allows the beau­ty of the Red­woods, some of which stretch to more than 250 feet and date back some 800 years — to shine through.  

Small­er in com­par­i­son to neigh­bour­ing parks you’ll find a range of trails over 6 miles – which are reach­able via a down­town shut­tle from San Fran­cis­co – that will allow you to trek and explore the Muir Woods, includ­ing dirt trails, red­wood trails and trails that lead down to the stun­ning pacif­ic coast­line of Muir beach – for an incred­i­ble place to watch the sun­set.  

Acces­si­ble all year round – the Muir Woods is a great option for those who want to walk among the red­woods while based in San Fran­cis­co and sam­ple some of the best beach­es, trails and forestry of the incred­i­ble and lush state parks that the Red­woods call home.  

Hum­boldt Red­woods State Park 

Home to the apt­ly named avenue of the giants, the Hum­boldt Red­woods State Park is the per­fect spot for those who want to explore the ancient red­woods by car – with the avenue wind­ing along the north coast deep into – and through – trees in this stun­ning state park.  

Open year round – and with some top class pick­ing and camp­ing spots, the Hum­boldt Red­woods State Park is found more than 370,000 kilo­me­tres north of San Fran­cis­co and thanks to some tire­less con­ser­va­tion work in the ear­ly 1900’s and ongo­ing crowd­fund­ing work, the park now stretch­es across 53,000 acers of pris­tine and scenic nature – with an esti­mat­ed 40% of this land home to tow­er­ing red­woods.  

Home also to the Rock­e­feller For­est – the world’s largest remain­ing old-growth for­est – where red­wood trees date back hun­dreds of years, and the impos­ing 360-foot-tall Rock­e­feller tree, the Hum­boldt Red­woods State Park is per­haps best known for the Shrine dri­ve through tree – where explor­ers can lit­er­al­ly jour­ney inside one of these incred­i­ble and ancient won­ders.  

Fea­tur­ing a vari­ety of coastal views, swim­ming spots and of course mul­ti­ple hik­ing trails that allows explor­ers to get tru­ly up close and per­son­al to the stun­ning red­woods, the Hum­boldt Red­woods State Park is a great spot to expe­ri­ence and enjoy the full beau­ty of both won­ders of the ancient trees and the pris­tine and sweep­ing nat­ur­al scenery found in the red­woods nation­al state parks.  

 

The Giant Sequoia National Monument 

Stretch­ing across 328,000 acres, the Giant Sequoia Nation­al Mon­u­ment is home to more than half of the Giant Sequoia trees in exis­tence and also one of the top 10 largest sequoia trees on the plan­et – the might Boole tree, that stands at an impos­ing 270 foot high and 110 feet in diam­e­ter – mak­ing this nation­al mon­u­ment a tru­ly majes­tic and awe-inspir­ing nat­ur­al won­der. 

Offi­cial­ly des­ig­nat­ed a nation­al mon­u­ment dur­ing the Clin­ton admin­is­tra­tion at the start of the cen­tu­ry, the Sequoia Nation­al Mon­u­ment is divid­ed into a north­ern and south­ern sec­tion, with the north­ern sec­tion lying on the out­skirts of Kings Canyon Park and the south­ern sec­tion tak­ing in the enchant­i­ng long Mead­ow grove. Across these sec­tions the 33 giant sequoias that are found with­in the mon­u­ment are equal­ly split into six groves, with the groves then equal­ly divid­ed into the north and south sec­tions of the mon­u­ment – giv­ing you a great chance to see the best of the sequoia’s regard­less of which part of the mon­u­ment you find your­self in.  

Feed­ing into the larg­er Giant Sequoia Nation­al Park, the mighty sequoias with­in the Giant Sequoia Nation­al Mon­u­ment a tru­ly spe­cial and peace­ful place in which to won­der, with their being a range of not only adven­ture activ­i­ties – includ­ing swim­ming, climb­ing and horse­back to enjoy – but a series of stun­ning hik­ing trails that weave their way around the sequoia’s allow­ing them to be admired from all angles. 

Best amongst these trails is the apt­ly named trail of a hun­dred giants (see below) that takes trav­ellers on an eas­i­ly hike able mile long trek through a series of sequoia’s that date back thou­sands of years and allows explor­ers to tru­ly explore this incred­i­ble nation­al mon­u­ment and explore the best of majes­tic and tow­er­ing Sequoia trees.  

Big Basin Redwoods State Park 

Offi­cial­ly the old­est state park in Cal­i­for­nia (1902) – the beau­ti­ful big basin red­woods state park lies just over 100 kilo­me­tres from San Fran­cis­co deep in the heart of the San­ta Cruz moun­tains – mak­ing it eas­i­ly reach­able on a day trip and gives explor­ers the chance to take on a range of stun­ning trails that weave through ancient wood­land, tow­er­ing water­falls and lets you take in some absolute­ly stun­ning red­wood trees.  

Stretch­ing across more than 7,000 hectares of stun­ning scenery – includ­ing more than 20,000 acres of red­wood for­est – the big basin park was heav­i­ly hit by a series of thun­der and light­ning storms as well as the Cal­i­for­nia fires towards the end of the 2020 which saw a series of the more than 130-kilo­me­tre trails unfor­tu­nate­ly closed off for a much of the start of the last decade – with a series of restora­tion work still ongo­ing to restore big basin to its for­mer glo­ry.  

Still at its peak, big basin is tru­ly the best of the Red­woods – with the rolling hills host­ing a series of unique flo­ra, and the trails link­ing the park to the majes­tic peaks of the San­ta Cruz moun­tains as well as the warm crys­tal-clear waters and sandy beach­es of Wad­dell beach. 

With the warmth of the beach and the for­est giv­ing way in the evening to glis­ten­ing sun­sets that stretch over the tow­er­ing red­woods for tru­ly stun­ning views – that are fol­lowed by the var­i­ous night­ly camp­fires that pop-up around the camp­sites with­in big basin allow­ing for tales and leg­ends of the for­est to be told for a tru­ly enchant­i­ng expe­ri­ence.  

 

Blithedale Summit Open Space Preserve:

Often over­looked – the views from the Blithedale Sum­mit Open Space Pre­serve are tru­ly some of the best not just in the red­woods parks – but in the world – as a well-defined trail­head carves through lush for­est and up and down rolling hills to take you to the top of both the Corte Madera Ridge Fire Road and the peaks of Mount Tam – where incred­i­ble panoram­ic views of the full scale and beau­ty of this won­der await you.  

A tru­ly majes­tic view – the tri­als fol­low what was once a scenic rail­way that stretched between the mill val­ley and Mount Tamal­pais in the late 19th cen­tu­ry, and on a clear day full views of the Gold­en Gate bridge and the sur­round­ing Marin head­lands appear for explor­ers.  

One of the few parks that is con­sid­ered dog friend­ly – the trail­head also lends itself to  a range of activ­i­ties – includ­ing horse rid­ing for those who don’t fan­cy the steep trek to the sum­mit and wildlife spot­ting — as the more than 600 acres of for­est, red­woods and shrub­bery is home to a vari­ety of wildlife includ­ing noisy wood­peck­ers, curi­ous elk and inquis­i­tive barn owls. 

But regard­less of how you get there – there’s no doubt that the pin­na­cle of the Blithedale Sum­mit Open Space Pre­serve is there stun­ning and sweep­ing views of the red­wood for­est and the Cal­i­forn­ian coast line, and for those who wish to cap­ture the full beau­ty of both the stun­ning red­woods, the lush green forestry and the sparkling pacif­ic ocean – then the sum­mit of this incred­i­ble pre­serve is the spot for you.  

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park 

Nes­tled on the famous pacif­ic coast high­way and off the coast of the pic­turesque and beau­ti­ful big sur, the Julia Pfeif­fer stretch­es from the coast of the pacif­ic ocean and big sur, across stun­ning for­est fea­tur­ing mighty red­woods, into a series of ridges and cliffs – which are topped off with some incred­i­ble water­falls includ­ing the Mcway falls that drop deep into the Mon­terey Bay waters below.  

A great place to come for sun­set – where you can cap­ture both the beau­ty of Big Sur, the pacif­ic coast­line and the red­wood forests from an ele­vat­ed van­tage point – giv­ing you stun­ning panoram­ic views – the Julia Pfeif­fer Park is eas­i­ly reached on one of the best high­ways on the plan­et – High­way 1 which traces along the coast of the Cal­i­for­nia.  

Named after the local res­i­dent Julia Pfeif­fer – the park also offers explor­ers the chance to hike amongst red­woods, with the miles of trails lead­ing explor­ers pass 300-foot-tall red­woods dat­ing back thou­sands of years, incred­i­bly flo­ra and some exquis­ite rolling hills – with a spe­cial small trail tak­ing explor­ers on to the McWay falls – which is one of the high­lights of the Big Sur Coast­line.   

Fea­tur­ing incred­i­ble views – the Julia Pfeif­fer is a true pho­tog­ra­phers and explor­ers dream – and for those who want to com­bined explor­ing the incred­i­ble red­woods, with one of the best dri­ves on the plan­et, the beau­ty of the pacif­ic ocean and mes­meris­ing sun­set views that we can’t rec­om­mend this stun­ning state park enough.  

 

Wildlife Spotting:

As well as being a place of true scenic beau­ty, glo­ri­ous hik­ing trails, and stun­ning tow­er­ing Red­woods, the Red­woods Nation­al and State parks are also home to some beau­ti­ful and rare wildlife – that make a trip through these incred­i­ble won­ders tru­ly spe­cial.  

With the state parks stretch­ing from the North of Cal­i­for­nia all along the Pacif­ic Ocean coast­line, you have the chance to not only spot wood­land elk, deer and an array of birdlife – but also an array of curi­ous water-based mam­mals – includ­ing seals, otter and even Hump­back whales who are known to breach off the waters sur­round­ing the Red­wood parks.  

In no par­tic­u­lar order, here is a quick overview on a few of the incred­i­ble wildlife that you can look out for when explor­ing the Red­woods: 

Birdlife:

A true par­adise for birds, Red­woods and mam­mals are not the only things liv­ing in the Red­wood For­est – as some 90 species of birds are known to reside in the tow­er­ing Red­wood Forests.  

Best seen dur­ing spring – when annu­al migra­tion calls the birds into the com­fort of the forests – and in the wild and untamed forestry includ­ing that found with­in Prairie Creek and the Red­wood Nation­al Park, you’ll find the bird call pro­vides a sooth­ing and wel­come sound­track to com­ple­ment the peace­ful­ness of the for­est – and adds an ele­ment of colour and life to your trip.  

 Among the birds, we’d advise keep­ing your eyes – and ears out for the noisy Pileat­ed Wood­peck­er, the peace­ful hum­ming­bird, the colour­ful West­ern Tan­ag­er and of course the mul­ti­ple owls includ­ing the spot­ted and grey owls – whose pres­ence in the for­est is a real ‘hoot.’ 

Elk 

The largest of the deer fam­i­ly that call the Red­woods home, the Elk of the Red­woods are known to trav­el in Herds — and while beau­ti­ful ani­mals are also known to be phys­i­cal­ly impos­ing weigh­ing up more than 1000 pounds – so we’d advise to observe but keep your dis­tance should you come across any.  

Found across all of the State Parks, the Prairie Creek Red­woods State Park has devel­oped a rep­u­ta­tion for being a great place to spot the Elk – but you can also find them spread across the big four State parks – as well as one some of the scenic dri­ves – includ­ing the New­ton B. Drury Scenic Dri­ve and Gold Bluffs Beach dri­ves.  

Seals 

Found along stretch­es of Gold Bluffs Beach and along the gold­en beach stretch­es of High­way 1 – includ­ing the Seal Beach Nation­al Refuge south of Los Ange­les, you can find colonies of Seals dot­ted along the shore­line of the warm coast­line that accom­pa­nies the mighty Red­wood For­est.  

Known to be loud, unwel­com­ing and in times aggres­sive we’d real­ly advise keep­ing your dis­tance from the seals – but when viewed from a safe area they can add an extra dimen­sion to your trip to the Red­woods – and a unique chance to spot these rare and colour­ful mam­mals.  

Whale Watch­ing 

Seen breach­ing in the deep blue Pacif­ic Ocean – whale watch­ing has become a sta­ple of any trip to the Red­woods in win­ter and spring – as the incred­i­ble coastal views afford­ed from the parks, beach­es and scenic high­ways give explor­ers the chance to watch these majes­tic ani­mals migrat­ing.  

A tru­ly awe­some sight – and one that is often weath­er depen­dent – we’d advise skip­ping the whale tours for view­ing and instead head­ing to some of the best over­looks with­in the parks them­selves to do some whale watch­ing — as the views from Prairie Creek and Del Norte State parks always being a great place to catch a sight of the whales – as are the beach­es of Gold Bluffs or Cres­cent Beach for those who fan­cy a clos­er look.   

But for an absolute­ly spe­cial and roman­tic spot, we’d advise head­ing to High Bluff Over­look along the Kla­math Beach road – and bring­ing along a pic­nic – from where you can watch these incred­i­ble Hump­back whales appear before you while enjoy­ing one of the most scenic and spe­cial spots across the whole of the Red­wood Nation­al State parks.  

 

Hiking trails: 

To real­ly get to know and explore the incred­i­ble trees and beau­ty and won­der of the Red­woods and Sequoias – there’s no bet­ter way than on foot, with a series of hik­ing trails avail­able to allow you to explore, jour­ney and take in both the incred­i­ble trees and the stun­ning serene set­ting of the red­wood nation­al parks.  

A tran­quil and peace­ful expe­ri­ence, that lets you tru­ly con­nect with nature, there are numer­ous trails across the parks – all of which allow you to take in the tow­er­ing trees and some awe-inspir­ing views across both the forests and the coasts.  

With options of short to mul­ti-day treks — rang­ing from com­fort­able to chal­leng­ing ter­rain there tru­ly is some­thing for every­one to explore the incred­i­ble red­wood parks on foot, and we’ve picked out our 10 favourite hikes across the parks that give you the best chance to take in the stun­ning views and won­der of the Red­wood Nation­al and state Parks: 

Hike the Coastal Trail:

Length: 70 miles (full) – divid­ed into sec­tions of vary­ing lengths.  

Dura­tion: 7 days / 1 – 3 days – depend­ing on the route and sec­tions tak­en on.  

Start Point: Cres­cent Beach Del Norte Park.  

Begin­ning with one of the best trails on the plan­et – and unques­tion­ably the best rail that stretch­es through the Red­wood Nation­al and State Parks – the beau­ti­ful coastal trail at its full length is a week­long 70 mile hike that pass­es through three of the big fours parks — Del Norte Coast, Prairie Creek and the Red­woods State Nation­al park – tak­ing explor­ers on a jour­ney along­side tow­er­ing red­woods in peace­ful and quaint forestry, over ram­bling hills and along some of the most sparkling and gold­en beach­es on the Cal­i­forn­ian coast, with panoram­ic and awe-inspir­ing views aplen­ty.  

Begin­ning on a beau­ti­ful spot on the coast – by the cres­cent beach over­look, where explor­ers get their first glimpse of a series of sandy beach­es and the glo­ri­ous Pacif­ic Ocean that awaits them down the trail and cli­max­es at the well named skunk cab­bage sec­tion – that tops off one of the great­est hikes on the plan­et.  

Encom­pass­ing mul­ti­ple dif­fer­ent sec­tions, we’ve picked out what we con­sid­er to be the main 7 sec­tions that we’d advise explor­ers not to miss when con­sid­er­ing walk­ing through. So hav­ing checked the weath­er, stocked up on ade­quate sup­plies and made ade­quate plans for the road ahead, the below is a brief overview of some of the key sec­tions of the coastal trail: 

Crescent Beach Section 

 Length: 3.5 miles 

Start­ing at the head of the trail, with­in the red­wood nation­al park, the trail begins with an easy flat start – tak­ing you past some gor­geous tow­er­ing red­woods and along a quaint path with incred­i­ble forestry beneath you until you fol­low the road down towards the gor­geous cres­cent beach – where the calm­ing waves of the Pacif­ic Ocean await you. 

Hav­ing tak­en a moment, to cap­ture this stun­ning beach and observe the lines of coast­line that stretch down into the hori­zon – that is your road – you can then pick the trail back up again and weave your way into the for­est, where more red­woods and sequoias await you.  

Turn­ing inland and the path will remain nice and flat and steady, offer­ing a supreme walk­ing expe­ri­ence as you come towards a patch of dense for­est that slow­ly opens out to reveal a series of fur­ther tow­er­ing red­wood trees – and green veg­e­ta­tion, which give you a great chance to spot some wild elk that call these forests home.  

Con­tin­u­ing along the path, and fol­low­ing it round after a good 3 miles of hik­ing you’ll come to a switch­back that gives day hik­ers the chance to turn back – or for those tak­ing on the full coastal hike the chance to jour­ney on fur­ther towards one of the next major sec­tions of this stun­ning trail.  

 

Last Chance Section:

 Length: 14 miles 

Begin­ning south of cres­cent city – and fol­low­ing the road round from Cres­cent Beach, the well named last sec­tion tests hik­ers through a series of rough ter­rain, ele­va­tion gain and mul­ti­ple switch­backs – but offers an incred­i­ble and often qui­et and peace­ful expe­ri­ence jour­ney­ing through dense for­est and wan­der­ing beneath tow­er­ing red­woods.  

Pick­ing up the trail, you can expect the first sec­tion to con­tin­ue on being flat – with glo­ri­ous views of the beach below, before a sharp and chal­leng­ing ascent through a series of switch­backs and up a steep hill leads you into the dense and wild for­est that this part of the trail fol­lows.  

After a climb up the hill, the trail will begin to lev­el out, and after around 2 and a half miles, you’ll find the begin­ning noise of traf­fic and ocean goers below gives way to peace­ful for­est – includ­ing lush red alder, tow­er­ing red­woods, and fas­ci­nat­ing and bright­ly coloured flo­ra which com­bine to make this trek tru­ly beau­ti­ful.  

Con­tin­u­ing inland and reach­ing the half way point – you can expect to meet more over­grown ter­rain – and even more impres­sive red­woods some of which top the 300 foot mark, with this sec­tion of the trail being a real throw­back to ancient wood­land and giv­ing explor­ers the best of the untamed red­woods for­est.  

Jour­ney­ing fur­ther along the trail, and you’ll begin to find the lush green veg­e­ta­tion slow­ly gives way – and the sounds of civil­i­sa­tion creep­ing back into play, as you head towards one of the best named sec­tions of the red­wood for­est – the damna­tion creek, that marks the end of this stun­ning sec­tion.  

Demartin Section:

 Length: 12 miles 

Tak­ing you across and through sec­tions of both the Del Norte Coast trail and the Red­wood Nation­al park the Demartin sec­tion begins at Wil­son beach – where you can take in stun­ning views of the great pacif­ic ocean and relax on one of the best beach­es of the Cal­i­forn­ian coast­line before pick­ing up the trail.  

Tak­ing on the trek, the path begins by tak­ing you through lush green mead­ows dot­ted with a series of colour­ful ferns and trees as you wind along a gen­tle path that runs close to the scenic high­way of 101 – giv­ing you some back­ground noise for your trav­els.  

After you pass the one third check­point and the Demartin camp­ing site, the beau­ty of this trail will reveal itself to you – as you emerge into a clear­ing where ancient thou­sand-year-old tow­er­ing red­woods await you, giv­ing you a chance to walk amongst these peace­ful giants and explore and expe­ri­ence the best of these nat­ur­al won­ders – that a series of bears are known to call home.  

Tak­ing time to soak in the pris­tine sur­round­ing – and tak­ing on some of the fall­en ter­rain which may require the occa­sion­al hur­dling of a fall­en tree, the path will then lead you back to more rolling hills and lush green mead­ows that accom­pa­ny views of the Atlantic Ocean on your right hand side.  

Ven­tur­ing fur­ther on and the path will begin to wind down – as unfor­tu­nate­ly will the scenery as you approach a curve in high­way 101 where the trail drops down along­side.  

Klamath Section 

Length: 8 miles.  

Found with­in the beau­ty of the Red­wood Nation­al Park, the Kla­math sec­tion of the coastal trail is one of the most scenic and stun­ning sec­tions of this trail – offer­ing full views of the gor­geous Pacif­ic Ocean as well as the chance to walk amongst the gold­en red­woods deep with­in the nation­al park.  

Begin­ning at the park­ing lot of Lagoon creek, the first sec­tion of this trail takes you com­fort­ably along a well defined and trod­den road away from the busy traf­fic and gives you incred­i­ble views of the ocean – and onto the well named hid­den beach, known for its gold­en sand and pris­tine views.  

Enjoy­ing the delights of the hid­den beach – which often lives up to its names and is desert­ed, the path of the Kla­math sec­tion will then lead you along the shore­line through a series of green mead­ows and into the even bet­ter named trees of mys­tery – where a dirt trek takes you along­side the might red­woods.  

After a short ascent of rough­ly half a mile, you’ll find your­self up on a steady track – and after pass­ing some veg­e­ta­tion you’ll find the beau­ty of this trail opens up before you as you walk among tow­er­ing red­woods that are backed by sweep­ing views and the sound­track of the ocean below – for one of the best and most scenic spots in the whole of the red­wood for­est.  

Tak­ing time to bask in this incred­i­ble for­est – which includes the occa­sion­al albi­no tree – you can then fol­low the path on and enjoy as the ocean views on your right open up with the path that takes you over some rolling mead­ows and through some green fields  and onto a view­ing point of the mighty Kla­math Riv­er which marks the end of this sec­tion of the trail.  

 

Flint Ridge Section 

Length: 9 miles.  

A trail that takes you next to the glar­ing mouth of the Kla­math riv­er, the flint ridge sec­tion begins oppo­site the Dou­glas Memo­r­i­al bridge off High­way 101 on the edge of the West Kla­math Beach and despite being an area still under­go­ing restora­tion and regen­er­a­tion after exten­sive log­ging – this sec­tion of the trail has some of the best and scenic red­wood trails across the nation­al park.  

Begin­ning from the car park – and then fol­low­ing the route along Kla­math breach you’ll even­tu­al­ly find the trail leads you along a shel­tered path­way that ascends along­side a series of veg­e­ta­tion and open hills – where you can expect to see wildlife bathing in the ponds that dot the hills –before the path ascends and takes you into a shel­tered sec­tion of the red­wood for­est.  

Fol­low­ing the trail through the for­est and you’ll ascend to some of the most unique and stun­ning forestry across the park – with the tow­er­ing and shin­ing red­woods cre­at­ing a peace­ful and tran­quil expe­ri­ence for explores to walk amongst these incred­i­ble won­ders of the world.  

Jour­ney­ing along the path and you’ll be struck by the serene and absolute beau­ty of these stun­ning red­woods that seem to give way to each oth­er and offer some stun­ning spots for pho­tog­ra­phers in par­tic­u­lar­ly to cap­ture their full beau­ty and won­der.  

As the trail car­ries on you’ll even­tu­al­ly find the size of the trees decreas­ing and giv­ing way to lighter trees around the half way point, as the path begins to slow­ly descend and the raw untamed forestry gives way to carved and main­tained shrub­bery that marks the end of this sec­tion of the red­woods.  

Fol­low­ing the trail onwards and you’ll be met again by ponds and hills, as well as the sound of mod­ern life as the 101 high­way comes back into view and takes you to the Flint Ridge Camp site – where you can rest up ready to con­tin­ue your jour­ney along the stun­ning coastal path.  

Gold Bluffs Beach Section 

Dis­tance: 5 miles 

Begin­ning with­in the incred­i­ble Prairie Creek Red­woods State Park, the Gold Bluffs beach sec­tion begins just before the entrance to the beach and see’s you wan­der across both the gold­en beau­ty of the beach and get a chance to take in the incred­i­ble Fern Canyon (See below) for one of the eas­i­est and most scenic hikes with­in the red­wood nation­al park.  

Start­ing with a steep descent down to the beach – which you’ll need to take slow­ly as there’s no rail­gar­ds and the path is lined with sharp rocks, you’ll arrive on the stun­ning Car­ruthers Cove sec­tion of the beach – a gold­en oasis that lets you see the best of where the for­est meets the sea.  

Walk­ing gen­tly along the soft sand the path leads you along the beach for a tru­ly incred­i­ble and beau­ti­ful expe­ri­ence and fea­tures one of the best side-tracks on the trail – the half hour route to Fern Canyon which takes you through a series of shrub­bery and ferns and then over a creek bend to this 50 foot canyon — that is per­haps best known for being a film­ing spot for both the plan­et of the apes and Juras­sic park films.  

Tak­ing a moment to mar­vel at the beau­ty of this stun­ning canyon – and of course to snap some incred­i­ble pho­to shots of it, you can jour­ney along the path before you pass­ing a series of coastal grass­land and rich shrub­bery with the ocean lying to your left-hand side.  

Con­tin­u­ing along the path and you’ll reach a stretch of beach land famous for being home to a series of wildlife – includ­ing roam­ing elk and curi­ous seal that call the beach home – with the path even­tu­al­ly wind­ing down to the Gold Bluffs beach camp­site from where you can glimpse the south side of the beach and the start of the major final sec­tion of the coastal path. 

Skunk Cabbage Section 

 Length: 7.5 miles 

Begin­ning on the south side of the immac­u­late Gold Bluffs Beach – that offers gold­en sand mixed with the deep blue colours of the pacif­ic ocean – the Skunk Cab­bage sec­tion of the trail arguably takes the aware for being both one of the most bizarrely named sec­tions of the coastal trail – as well as one of the most serene.  

Begin­ning from the trail­head you’ll pass through some tow­er­ing red­woods that offer an incred­i­ble spot to take in a land­scape pho­to of red­woods, beach and the ocean – before mov­ing along the trail through gold­en woods for a cou­ple of miles until the trail comes to a beau­ti­ful stream that runs along­side the forestry.  

Cross­ing the stream you’ll get the jour­ney on through dense forestry – with the trees notice­able turn­ing a dark­er shade of brown giv­ing a great con­trast to the many kalei­do­scop­ic colours of this stun­ning for­est. The trail then begins a tough ascent – that takes you to an incred­i­ble view­point that looks out over the beau­ty of a fur­ther sec­tion of gold bluffs beach.  

Tak­ing a moment to pause and take in this incred­i­ble view­point – and lis­ten to the waves gen­tly crash against sandy shores below – you can then con­tin­ue your jour­ney along the trail which takes you atop a hill along the Pacif­ic Ocean below – before descend­ing along­side shrub­bery and veg­e­ta­tion as the path gen­tly winds down to take you to the beach.  

Arriv­ing on the beach, which thanks to the effort to reach it through the trail is often desert­ed, you’ll be met with incred­i­ble crys­tal clear sand and the beau­ty of the ocean that com­bine to make this absolute­ly stun­ning beach, and as you gen­tly tread across this soft sur­face you can take a moment to look back on both the beau­ty of the red­woods on the clifftops and reflect on the stun­ning coastal path that you’ve con­quered.  

Hike Fern Canyon:

Dis­tance: 1 mile or 12 miles depend­ing on route.  

For those who don’t want to take on the whole of the coastal trail – but still want to ram­ble on the pris­tine beach­es, enjoy red­woods and take in one of the most stun­ning nat­ur­al won­ders of the red­wood nation­al park – the mighty 50 foot fern canyon – then it’s pos­si­ble to do a short hike that allows you to explore all three of these scenic high­lights.  

With two options to jour­ney to Fern Canyon – one being the mile long route that is found at the end of Davi­son Road beyond Gold Bluffs beach – and the oth­er being the 12 mile hike James Irvine trail (below )that beings at the start of Davi­son Road – you’re guar­an­teed spec­tac­u­lar and reward­ing coastal views, peace­ful time spent walk­ing amongst tow­er­ing red­woods and a hike that takes you to the stun­ning Gold Bluffs beach for a tru­ly spe­cial way to fin­ish your hike.  

But arguably best of all, this hike takes you to the mighty Fern Canyon – that is an unde­ni­ably high­light – as this tow­er­ing 50 foot canyon, that you’ll recog­nise from mul­ti­ple Hol­ly­wood films is home to a vari­ety of Ferns some of which date back hun­dreds of mil­lion of years, allow­ing you to walk through not only its beau­ty but also a unique part of his­to­ry.  

For the trails them­selves, for those tak­ing on the mile long trail you can expect a gen­tle and easy trek along a well defined paved road that takes you direct­ly past a cou­ple of red­woods and into the canyon before return­ing you to the beach – with the 12 mile Davi­son road loop see­ing you begin the jour­ney pass­ing through mead­ows and creeks – and tak­ing you past some incred­i­ble forestry scenery which includes tow­er­ing red­woods before lead­ing you along a stream to the incred­i­ble canyon that opens up before you for a tru­ly majes­tic sight.  

An incred­i­bly pop­u­lar trail – and one of the most scenic and beau­ti­ful walks with­in the park, we’d advise get­ting onto the trail at sun­rise if pos­si­ble as not only will you avoid the many crowds that can build up dur­ing the day but you’ll be treat­ed to the incred­i­ble sight of the sun ris­ing over the beau­ti­ful gold bluffs beach – which makes for a fit­ting and immac­u­late way to begin this incred­i­ble hike.  

 

 James Irvine Trail:

Dis­tance: 12 miles. 

Our pick to take you to and through the beau­ty of Fern Canyon, the James Irvine trail is a day long loop trail that takes you stun­ning veg­e­ta­tion, rolling green hills, lush ferns tow­er­ing red­woods, across the beau­ty of Gold Bluffs Beach through the Canyon and back again – as you jour­ney through a series of true high­lights of the won­der of the world of the Red­wood Nation­al parks.  

An incred­i­bly pop­u­lar hike found with­in the Prairie Creek Red­woods State Park, you will begin – and end the trail at the Prairie Creek Vis­i­tor Cen­tre – with the hike begin­ning with an excit­ing bridge cross­ing that takes you over the creek and then deep into a stun­ning sec­tion of Red­woods For­est Trees and dense for­est.  

Mak­ing sure to take in the stun­ning beau­ty of these incred­i­ble red­woods – you can walk peace­ful amongst the trees for a good mile or so before the path begins to ascend slight­ly and you find your­self pass­ing through wild veg­e­ta­tion and lush flo­ra  — before the for­est opens up and you find your­self walk­ing through more icon­ic red­woods – for a tru­ly bliss­ful expe­ri­ence.  

Con­tin­u­ing along the path and you’ll find the noise of the high­way fades into the sound of for­est before you emerge on a ridge – known as the Min­ers Ridge trail – where the sweep­ing sound of the Ocean – accom­pa­nied by immense views of the deep blue pacif­ic ocean await you.  

Being sure to say on the path marked the Miner’s ridge and James Irvine trail – you will then come to an inter­sec­tion with signs marked as Clin­to­nia Tri­al – which you can fol­low again, as the path takes you along a stun­ning trek where you have lush green hills and mead­ows on one side – and stun­ning view of the ocean on the oth­er.  

Jour­ney­ing on – and you’ll pass through a series of sec­tions where the beau­ty of the for­est and the mead­ows dis­ap­pear – before the track takes you back through some love­ly bush before descend­ing down towards the incred­i­ble beach of Gold Bluff Beach.  

Tak­ing time to stroll across this incred­i­ble beach – and being sure to take in the crisp sound of the Pacif­ic Ocean as well as spot seals and the occa­sion­al Elk graz­ing on the beach – you can walk along­side the shore on a con­crete path and enter the camp­ground of Gold­en Bluffs Beach – where the track of Fern Canyon awaits you.  

From the camp­ground, you can sad­ly turn your back on the stun­ning beach and begin to hike back into the for­est on your right – enter­ing a well-defined and soft trail that takes you past a cou­ple of Red­woods – until you approach the beau­ti­ful Fern Canyon – with the stun­ning lush green Ferns mak­ing for an incred­i­ble nat­ur­al beau­ty and pho­tog­ra­phy spot.  

Tak­ing plen­ty of time to admire and enjoy this stun­ning Fern – you can either take the loop back towards Gold­en Bluffs beach and relax on the beach before head­ing back – or those who want to full James Irvine trail – you can jour­ney through the full length of the Fern canyon  approach­ing its south end where the canyon’s width opens up and take a series of well-defined stairs – that will put you back on the trail.  

Back on the trail and you’ll find your­self wind­ing round – as you pass through fur­ther dense for­est and mead­ows and enjoy incred­i­ble views of the Pacif­ic Ocean below you. After a mile or so on a ridge the path winds round again – this time tak­ing you into wood­land – and you can expect to jour­ney on for a cou­ple of miles, again accom­pa­nied by rich dense forests as you enter anoth­er sec­tion where tow­er­ing Red­wood Tree thrive – as you take more time to enjoy a peace­ful walk beneath them and admire these nat­ur­al won­ders.  

Ven­tur­ing fur­ther into the for­est – and you’ll even­tu­al­ly begin to recog­nise the sur­round­ings from the start of the trail – as the sound of the creek appears – and before long you’ll find your­self cross­ing the creek once again and re-enter­ing the stun­ning sec­tion of For­est from the start of the trail – which makes for a fit­ting finale as you head back towards the Prairie Creek Vis­i­tor Cen­tre for the com­ple­tion of this trail.  

A tru­ly majes­tic trail – that let’s you take in all of the scenic high­lights of the Red­wood Nation­al For­est and take you through lush greens scenery, along the glis­ten­ing Gold Bluffs beach – and through the majes­tic Fern Canyon – the trail is best tak­en on with an ear­ly start – owing both to its pop­u­lar­i­ty so you can get ahead of the crowd and so you can expe­ri­ence the stun­ning sun­rise that emerges through the trees – with the James Irvine trail being undoubt­ed­ly one of the great­est hikes not just across the Red­woods but on the plan­et.  

 

 Lady Bird Johnson Grove Trail:

Dis­tance: One and a Half Miles. 

The most pop­u­lar – and arguably the most scenic and com­fort­able trail with­in the Red­wood Nation­al park, the Lady Bird John­son Grove Trail takes explor­ers through some of the most dense and beau­ti­ful forestry on the plan­et – and allows you to walk peace­ful­ly through this incred­i­ble nat­ur­al won­der of the world. 

Begin­ning from a park­ing road found on the scenic road of bald hills, the trail begins with a small ascent to get you onto forestry lev­el and then flats out through some beau­ti­ful wild veg­e­ta­tion – where if you’re lucky you can see the occa­sion­al elk graz­ing.  

Con­tin­u­ing along the path and the veg­e­ta­tion will slow­ly begin to give way to incred­i­ble tow­er­ing red­woods some of which will crack the sky­line at more than 300 feet, as the path winds round giv­ing explor­ers a chance to walk beneath these incred­i­ble won­ders, admire their beau­ty and of course snap as many pho­tos as pos­si­ble – in a range of pos­es – beneath these stun­ning trees.  

Admir­ing the shades, won­der and glo­ry of the red­woods the path leads you on through fur­ther forestry and takes you to the orig­i­nal red­wood ded­i­ca­tion site – where you’ll find a plaque ‑which makes for a great pho­to spot – and a series of rest­ing bench­es that give you a great spot to sit back and take in the incred­i­ble beau­ty of these trees before you.  

Hav­ing soaked in the expe­ri­ence the trail then takes you back through the for­est and after a slight descent you’ll find your­self back at the start of the trail hav­ing com­plet­ed and walked through one of the great­est parts of for­est ion the world – for an expe­ri­ence that will no doubt stay with you for­ev­er.  

Redwood Creek:

Dis­tance: 15 miles 

The best full day hike in the whole of the Red­woods, the Red­wood Creek trail carves it’s way through stun­ning forestry, see’s you jour­ney past tow­er­ing trees and gives you plen­ty of chances to spot wildlife graz­ing beneath the for­est – as well as being the pre­mi­um spot in the red­woods to camp, with camp­ing allowed any­where along the creek – so long as it’s passed the first creek.  

Found off the major and beau­ti­ful Cal­i­forn­ian high­way 101 – the hike begins with stun­ning scenery for the first mile as you jour­ney through lush green forestry and beneath tow­er­ing trees — giv­ing you some of the most fan­tas­tic scenery in the whole of the red­woods as you walk peace­ful­ly with­in this ancient for­est on a well-defined path.  

Con­tin­u­ing through the forestry and mak­ing sure to soak it all in you’ll begin to hear the sound of the red­wood creek that guides this trail – and you can cross the incred­i­ble creek on a stern wood­en bridge – from where you can get your first glimpse of red­woods in the dis­tance.  

Tak­ing the path fur­ther – and pass­ing past some of these stun­ning red­woods that shine with­in the for­est and make for stun­ning pho­tos, you’ll then find the path weaves round and allows you to cross the creek for a sec­ond time you’ll enter a patch of for­est that is wild and untamed giv­ing you an incred­i­ble expe­ri­ence of the pow­er and his­to­ry of the red­woods nation­al park.  

As you con­tin­ue on the path you’ll find your­self head­ing pass­ing the elam camp – which for those who want to camp with­in the for­est but want to ensure their safe­ty is a great place to rest for the night – and then pass­ing the camp you’ll enter anoth­er sec­tion of for­est that has sad­ly been hit by log­ging – with felled red­woods vis­i­ble across the path that serve as a reminder of the fragili­ty of this ancient for­est.  

As the trail con­tin­ues on, you’ll come onto anoth­er creek – the well named 44 creek that requires a ner­vous pass­ing over an old rick­ety bride – for a tru­ly thrill-seek­ing expe­ri­ence with the bridge cross­ing lead­ing you along­side water­falls and once you’ve passed lead­ing you into a stun­ning bit of forestry where more red­woods await you.  

Jour­ney­ing through fur­ther for­est you’ll find the trail descend­ing and slow­ly wind down, as the mighty for­est around you begins to pull back and you see fur­ther evi­dence of the impact that log­ging is hav­ing with­in the for­est.  

A tru­ly spe­cial hike – and one that lets you expe­ri­ence the true beau­ty of the for­est as it is – and let you under­stand the impact that log­ging is hav­ing the trek around red­wood creek is a tru­ly mag­i­cal expe­ri­ence with some of the best forestry on the plan­et and for those who do fan­cy the unique expe­ri­ence of camp­ing in the for­est then this is the best spot for you.  

An immer­sive expe­ri­ence, the trail through red­wood creek winds down towards the end – but it doesn’t stop as for those who wish to explore more of the for­est can fol­low the creek past the 44 creek camp­site and into the next incred­i­ble hike – the stun­ning­ly named Tall Trees Grove.  

 

Tall Trees Grove:

Dis­tance: 4 miles. 

The incred­i­bly named tall tress grove, this trail tru­ly lives up to its name tak­ing explor­ers on a true jour­ney through the for­est where you get to take in not only the world’s tallest tree the Hype­r­i­on – if you can find it – as well as a series of trees that crack the 350 foot bar­ri­er, includ­ing the Libbey Tree – which makes for an awe-inspir­ing and tru­ly spir­i­tu­al expe­ri­ence as you explore this incred­i­ble stretch of for­est.  

 Owing to its pop­u­lar­i­ty you’ll need to apply for a free per­mit before tak­ing on the trail, which are avail­able a month before and lim­it­ed to 50 a day, and we’d advise as well to bud­get a good amount of time – as unless you’re tak­ing on the trail fol­low­ing a trek through red­wood creek dri­ving to the start of the trail – which is found on bald hills road can eat into your time tak­ing on the trail.  

Begin­ning from either the creek or the trail head at the tall trees grove park­ing lot (with car park­ing com­ing with your per­mi), the hike begins with a direct descent down onto the for­est floor over the course of 1.5 miles and see’s you drop down some 800 feet, allow­ing you to enter this incred­i­ble stretch of for­est.  

As the path lev­els, you’ll then be met with some stun­ning red­woods that vary in shade from deep oak brown to albi­no white – and which crack the sky­line – leav­ing you dwarfed by their incred­i­ble height and lost in their immense beau­ty.  

Fol­low­ing the trail round and walk­ing beneath these incred­i­ble trees you’ll be hit by the silence and peace­ful­ness of this hike – which often see’s you com­plete­ly alone in the beau­ty of the for­est – as the trail opens out to reveal more stun­ning trees that offer incred­i­ble pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties and a chance to mar­vel at these nat­ur­al won­ders.  

Jour­ney­ing on for anoth­er mile or so beneath these stun­ning trees you’ll come to the edge of the trail that then see’s the path wind and takes you next to some more immense red­woods before you re-trace your steps back for a cou­ple of miles through the for­est and then take on the steep ascent back to the car park – for what will have been one of the great­est and most scenic hikes of your life. 

Founders Grove:

Dis­tance: 1 mile – 9miles. 

One of the most quaint, eas­i­est and beau­ti­ful hikes across the Red­wood Nation­al Parks, the three loops that run through Founders Grove is not only an incred­i­bly pop­u­lar and eas­i­ly acces­si­ble hike – but one of the most stun­ning, as a choice of three loops takes you past tow­er­ing red­woods, dense for­est and lush green veg­e­ta­tion – com­bin­ing for an awe-inspir­ing and won­der­ous hike.  

Eas­i­ly dis­cov­er­able off High­way 101 on the Avenue of the Giants dri­ve, Founders Grove is found an area that is a true par­adise for Red­woods, with the peaks of the Cal­i­forn­ian moun­tains com­bin­ing with a series of streams giv­ing life to this unique stretch of for­est.  

The hike itself, you have the pick of three main loops – the Founders Grove Loop, the Mahan Loop and the Goosepen – with our pick being the Founders Grove Loop that begins at the start of the apt­ly named Founders Grove park­ing lot – and takes you direct­ly into this tow­er­ing for­est.  

Begin­ning the hike you’ll find your­self immersed in stun­ning Red­woods, with the trees – which stretch 350 foot into the Cal­i­forn­ian Sky — sur­round­ing you in every direc­tion as you peace­ful walk beneath their beau­ty for a tru­ly cap­ti­vat­ing and joy­ous expe­ri­ence.  

Fol­low­ing the Founders Grove loop round and you’ll pass through more trees, notic­ing the dif­fer­ent shades of brown that the trunks of these mag­nif­i­cent won­ders reflect, as you pass round fur­ther you’ll see one tree in par­tic­u­lar­ly stand­ing out – the tow­er­ing Founders Tree that stands as a true bea­con in this For­est as a majes­tic tree.  

Admir­ing this tree – and no doubt snap­ping it and pos­ing for pho­tos – you can jour­ney on fur­ther up the road where you’ll gone to a sad­ly fall­en tree that marks the end of the trail – with the best bit of reach­ing the end being that you get to re-trace your steps back through the For­est and expe­ri­ence the beau­ty of these treess all over again.  

Although Founders Grove can be done as mile long loop – for those who want to expe­ri­ence more of this for­est there is of course the option to take on the addi­tion­al two trails – and jour­ney beyond the fall­en tree into the rest of Hum­boldt Red­wood – stretch­ing this trek out for a full day.  

Still regard­less of the route you take, we’d advise get­ting to Founders Grove and the Hum­boldt Red­woods as ear­ly as pos­si­ble in the morn­ing – as not only will this give you an incred­i­ble oppor­tu­ni­ty to catch the sun­rise rays shin­ing through the for­est, but with the For­est Grove trail locat­ed on High­way 101 it will give you a chance to take on the trail when crowds and noise pol­lu­tion are at a min­i­mum – for the absolute best expe­ri­ence walk­ing on this enchant­ed loop and glo­ri­ous patch of the Red­woods State Park.  

 

 

Stout Grove Hike:

Dis­tance: 1 mile 

Tak­ing you through an icon­ic stretch of the Jede­di­ah Smith Red­woods State Park – the Stout Grove is a true par­adise and one of the most scenic spots and trails across the whole of the Red­woods Parks.  

Tak­ing you a jour­ney as you stroll along­side Red­woods that are thou­sands of years old and tow­er more than 300 foot tall – the Stout Grove hike, which lies along the gor­geous Smith Riv­er – can be eas­i­ly found at either the end of How­land Hill Road or from the camp ground with­in the Jede­di­ah Smith Red­woods State Park- and you’ll find this short hike at just 1 mile round trip an incred­i­ble spot to expe­ri­ence the full beau­ty of this won­der of the world.  

Begin­ning at either entrance, you’ll find the trail flat and smooth – with the path lead­ing you straight into the for­est and along­side tow­er­ing Red­woods – with the gen­tle path giv­ing you plen­ty of time to explore and won­der in this ancient for­est – before you hit upon the beau­ty of the Smith Riv­er which can be crossed over a foot bridge.  

Tak­ing the path fur­ther, and you’ll find the ter­rain along­side gives way to beau­ti­ful wild and raw ter­rain – a tes­ta­ment to the con­ser­va­tion efforts that have sought to keep this patch of For­est nat­ur­al, with the trail slow­ly wind­ing round to reveal the high­light of the Stout Grove hike – the impos­ing and beau­ti­ful Stout Tree with it’s icon­ic twist­ed bark that stands proud and tall with­in the For­est.  

Admir­ing this mag­nif­i­cent tree and pon­der­ing on its his­to­ry, you can take the road fur­ther, where you’ll come upon a series of dense­ly packed red­woods that again allow you to expe­ri­ence the best of this stun­ning trail and nation­al park – before the loop cross­es back round and takes you back through the for­est towards the camp­ground and park­ing lot – and from where you can reflect on this stun­ning walk.  

A tru­ly impres­sive, if short walk, the Stout Grove hike is great at any point – but we’d rec­om­mend tak­ing it on in sum­mer, where you’ll find the camp­ground open, the weath­er pleas­ant and when you can enjoy the best of this unique and stun­ning piece of for­est.  

Trail of a hundred giants 

Dis­tance: 1.5 Miles. 

The best named trail in the whole of the Red­woods – and one of our favourites, the trail of a hun­dred giants with­in the Sequoia Nation­al For­est takes you a short jour­ney along­side tow­er­ing red­woods (although maybe not quite a hun­dred) that stretch into the beau­ti­ful blue Cal­i­forn­ian sky, through dense for­est and to some stun­ning view points – allow­ing you to both expe­ri­ence and cap­ture the best of the stun­ning Red­wood Parks.  

Eas­i­ly found – with a des­ig­nat­ed park­ing lot – we’d rec­om­mend fol­low­ing the cen­tral loop track, that is nice and flat and over sol­id ground, giv­ing you a gen­tle and nice hike. The hike begins with a short trail and then opens up into a tru­ly stun­ning sec­tion of Red­wood For­est – where tow­er­ing Sequoia’s flank you on either side.  

Tak­ing a moment to take in these stun­ning won­ders, you can walk peace­ful­ly along­side the for­est and lis­ten close­ly to the occa­sion­al call of a native bird echo­ing through the for­est. Tak­ing the road fur­ther you can pass the hun­dred tree camp­ground and fol­low the for­est round where you’ll be greet­ed by the famous “goosepen” tree – a mighty red­wood that is a true high­light of this stun­ning loop.  

Admir­ing the unique shade and height of the tree, you can then pro­ceed to jour­ney on along the trail – and you’ll notice it begins to gen­tly ascend up a hill and onto a board­walk – that takes you over a fall­en tree once struck by light­ning – as you get the unique expe­ri­ence of walk­ing atop a tree.  

Tak­ing the path fur­ther and you’ll reach an incred­i­ble view­point – that marks the top of the hill – and from where you can gaze out into the dis­tance with the sight of red­woods all around you – which makes for a stun­ning pho­to spot.  

Back onto the trail and you’ll begin the slow descent back down and into the for­est – where you get the true plea­sure of walk­ing back through the Red­woods – before the path winds round again to take you to the finale of the trail — a pair of mighty sequoias that reach deep into the pris­tine sky – which are tru­ly stun­ning, and which mark the end of this stun­ning hike.  

 

 

Prairie Creek Trail 

Dis­tance: 2.5 miles.  

A gen­tly but stun­ning hike through some incred­i­ble old and untamed for­est – the Prairie Creek trail takes through the best scenery in this stun­ning sec­tion of the Prairie Creek state park – as you jour­ney beneath tow­er­ing red­woods, through lush green forestry and over sparkling streams – for one of the best hikes in the whole of the Red­woods Area.  

The trail­head is eas­i­ly found at the Prairie Creek Vis­i­tor Cen­tre, and once on the trail you can fol­low the gen­tly path towards a sign for the well named “big tree” with the path then tak­ing you into the first stun­ning forestry area of this ancient wood­land. Strolling with­in the forestry, you’ll then come across a series of tow­er­ing red­woods – with these incred­i­ble red­woods mak­ing for a stun­ning spot to bask in the glo­ry of this ancient for­est.  

Back on the trail – and you’ll soon find the path winds round towards the creek itself – with the sparkling stream cut­ting through the val­ley – and you can cross the creek using a series of quaint bridges, that adds an ele­ment of excite­ment to the hike. Hav­ing crossed the creek, you then enter a stun­ning part of the hike – where you walk gen­tly along­side the creek sur­round­ed by dense for­est and lush green veg­e­ta­tion. 

Jour­ney­ing on, and you’ll pass through rich fern forestry, before com­ing across the main tree high­light of the trek – the big tree – with this tree stand­ing proud and stretch­ing more than 300 feet into the sky – mak­ing for a true high­light of this stun­ning trek.  

Hav­ing snapped the big tree – and admir­ing it’s unique struc­ture and pat­terns, you can head back onto the trail and feel it slow­ly wind its way back towards the vis­i­tor cen­tre, as you jour­ney back through the forestry, cross the creek one more time – and even­tu­al­ly find your­self back on grav­el road – where the sight of the vis­i­tor cen­tre awaits you.  

A tru­ly majes­tic hike, and that is both well main­tained and eas­i­ly found, the Prairie Creek trail makes for a fan­tas­tic intro­duc­tion to the beau­ty of the Red­woods and is one of the most eas­i­est and scenic hikes across this stun­ning nat­ur­al par­adise that is a true won­der of the world.  

 

Driving: 

As well as being a stun­ning nat­ur­al par­adise and one of the best places in the world to not only take in tow­er­ing Red­woods and Sequoia’s, but spi­ralling dense for­est, lush green veg­e­ta­tion, glis­ten­ing beach­es and go wildlife spot­ting, the Red­woods nation­al and state parks are also unique as a series of scenic dri­ves can take you not only deep into the parks them­selves – but let you trav­el and dri­ve through the stun­ning and ancient Red­wood Trees.  

Along­side the two most stun­ning and icon­ic dri­ves on the plan­et – the Red­wood High­way and High­way 1 – that both take you deep into the state parks and along­side some of the most stun­ning coastal regions on the plan­et, we’ve picked out our top five unique dri­ves across the park – from hun­dreds of miles of road and loops across the parks – that will allow you to not only expe­ri­ence the incred­i­ble thrill of dri­ving in, through and along­side the mighty red­woods, but which in our view offer some of the most stun­ning dri­ves in the world and the absolute best of the won­der of the world that is the Red­wood Nation­al and State Parks: 

 

Avenue of the Giants 

Dis­tance: 31 miles 

Start­ing with the most famous, icon­ic and beau­ti­ful dri­ve, the well named Avenue of the Giants is a tru­ly beau­ti­ful 31-mile stretch of high­way lined by tow­er­ing Red­woods and is one of the most scenic and majes­tic roads on the plan­et – with the avenue giv­ing you the chance to not only take in glo­ri­ous red­woods, but pass through incred­i­ble groves and even dri­ve through a Red­wood at the famous Shrine Dri­ve through tree.  

Tak­ing you through the Hum­boldt Red­woods State Park – which calls some of the largest red­woods on the plan­et home — this gen­tly curved road runs par­al­lel to High­way 101 – and you can find the entrance in the Hum­boldt area with our pick for the entrance to take being the north­ern entrance in Sco­tia.  

Join­ing the road at Sco­tia – and you’ll be hit straight away by the incred­i­ble line of Red­woods on either side – as well as the scenic beau­ty and peace­ful­ness of the road – as the road gen­tly curves round reveal­ing stun­ning and more impres­sive red­woods.  

Con­tin­u­ing fur­ther along the road, you’ll see signs for var­i­ous groves – that can allow you to explore the dense and rich areas of for­est fur­ther, with the first one of the these being the Bolling Grove – where you’ll find a love­ly car park and a great view­ing spot that can let you snap not only the won­der of the Avenue of the Giants Road but also some incred­i­ble forestry.  

Paus­ing to take in these stun­ning red­woods, you can re-join the road – and pass more groves – all of which offer stun­ning view and can take you to incred­i­ble spots of forestry deep with­in the Hum­boldt Red­woods State Park. Join­ing onwards and you’ll even­tu­al­ly come to what we con­sid­er the high­light of the Avenue of the Giants – the leg­endary dri­ve through Shrine Tree.  

Found rough­ly a third of the way into the Avenue of the Giants, the Shrine Tree is unique as the pas­sage through it was carved by nature, as the 7 x 7 open­ing was forged by a com­bi­na­tion of ero­sion and nat­ur­al move­ment. Still the nat­ur­al ele­ment of this carv­ing hasn’t stopped an entrance fee being imposed – with each car hav­ing to pay $10 to pass through this tree and grab a pho­to – a price def­i­nite­ly worth pay­ing.  

Hav­ing wait­ed in the queue and made your way through this stun­ning Shrine Tree – and of course grabbed the oblig­a­tory pho­tos – you can then con­tin­ue the road onwards and pro­ceed up a ramp to pass over a fall­en tree – giv­ing you a chance to dri­ve over a Red­wood for a fur­ther thrilling expe­ri­ence.  

Back on the Avenue of the Giants and the road will con­tin­ue to deliv­er stun­ning views of the Red­woods as you dri­ve past incred­i­ble trees and groves – with each grove giv­ing you the chance to pull over and explore this rich and beau­ti­ful for­est. Among these is the incred­i­ble sec­tion of the Hum­boldt Red­woods State Park known as Founders Grove, that we’d strong­ly rec­om­mend mak­ing time to pull over and explore.  

With an incred­i­ble loop and one of the best hikes in the Red­woods (see more here) the Founders Grove is an absolute­ly stun­ning part of the Red­woods – with the thick dense for­est being peace­ful and beau­ti­ful, and being home to not only a vari­ety of wildlife, but one of the most stun­ning trees in the entire Red­wood For­est – the mighty Founders Tree – which stands as a true jew­el of the Red­woods.  

Hav­ing explored the incred­i­ble scenic patch of Red­woods that is Founders Grove you can re-join the Avenue of the Giants – and as the road slow­ly winds down towards its fin­ish you have the choice of either a 4 mile de-tour to see the incred­i­ble Giant Tree – or re-join High­way 101 by tak­ing the south entrance on Mayer’s Flat.  

Regard­less of which route you go next, we’d encour­age one last look in the rear-view mir­ror to take one final glimpse at this incred­i­ble and stun­ning avenue that gives you the absolute best of the won­der of the world that is the Red­woods state park.  

 

Chan­de­lier Tree   

Along­side the stun­ning beau­ty found on High­way 1 and 101 – trav­el­ling down these roads also lead you to a fun – if touristy – dri­ving expe­ri­ence on the Red­woods, the chance to dri­ve through mighty sequoia Chan­de­lier tree.  

Found at an inter­sec­tion between High­way 1 and 101 in the town of Leggett, the Chan­de­lier tree takes its name from its chan­de­lier like appear­ance – as the mighty branch­es from this tow­er­ing red­wood pro­trude out­wards in the form of a chan­de­lier. Unlike the Shrine tree though this gap was cre­at­ed in the ear­ly 20th cen­tu­ry by a chain­saw, with the dri­ve in spot now becom­ing a pop­u­lar tourist spot and see­ing dri­vers hand over $10 dol­lars for the unique ‑and fun- expe­ri­ence of dri­ving through this tree.  

Well sign­post­ed along high­way 101, for those who do want to dri­ve through this tree we’d advise get­ting here as ear­ly as pos­si­ble – as queues to dri­ve this tree have been known to stretch back for more than an hour.  

Still the chance to dri­ve this tow­er­ing 315 feet tall sequoia is a fun and unique expe­ri­ence, and one that affords explor­ers the chance to take one of the most icon­ic pho­tos in the whole of the Red­wood Nation­al Park as you dri­ve beneath this stun­ning sequoia – for a must have pho­to­graph and expe­ri­ence. 

Howland Hill Road 

Dis­tance: 10 miles 

Tak­ing you into and through the spec­tac­u­lar Jede­di­ah Smith Red­wood State Park, the How­land Hill Road is a tru­ly thrilling and beau­ti­ful expe­ri­ence – as you dri­ve care­ful­ly on a grav­el path along­side tow­er­ing red­woods and deep into the heart of this stun­ning state park.  

10 miles in length – and giv­ing you the chance to take on a series of stun­ning trails (includ­ing the Stout Grove hike) you’ll need to bud­get at least an hour to com­plete this dri­ve, as the scenic beau­ty if mixed with tough dri­ving con­di­tions – that will put your dri­ving skills to the test as you nego­ti­ate the nar­row and some­times treach­er­ous roads.  

Found by tak­ing high­way 101 and then jour­ney­ing down Elk Val­ley Road and then join­ing How­land Hill Road, you can fol­low How­land Hill for a mile or so before the road begins to steeply ascend along a hill and takes you direct­ly into the stun­ning state park.  

You’ll then find the road flat­tens out, and you can dri­ve slow­ly with­in the Jede­di­ah Smith park, tak­ing in the glo­ri­ous sight of tow­er­ing Red­woods that flank you on either side – giv­ing you stun­ning and spec­tac­u­lar views of these ancient mar­vels. Mov­ing fur­ther along the road, you’ll then pass through a piece of dense for­est, before the road emerges into a clear­ing to give you some incred­i­ble sweep­ing view­points of the might of the Red­wood For­est below you.  

Paus­ing here to take some incred­i­ble snaps, you can re-join the road and enter what may be one of the most famous sec­tions of road in the Red­woods – the road used in the Star Wars Return of the Jedi Film, with Hol­ly­wood brin­ing the beau­ty of the red­woods to the big screen, this sec­tion of road is not only stun­ning but makes for anoth­er incred­i­ble spot to snap some amaz­ing pho­tos of the eas­i­ly recog­nis­able loca­tions from this icon­ic film.  

Jour­ney­ing through this famous, if nar­row, patch of road, you’ll then find your­self back with­in more dense forestry – and you’ll be able to spot the turn offs for both the stout grove hike and the boy scout tree trail – two of the more scenic hikes in the Red­wood Area. Con­tin­u­ing on – or re-join­ing the road after tak­ing on these hikes, you’ll then enter some lush green veg­e­ta­tion and pass under more incred­i­ble Red­woods for some stun­ning views.  

 Tak­ing the road round fur­ther and you’ll find that it begins to slow­ly wind round and descend – as the forestry gives way to the famil­iar sights and sounds of high­way 101 – which you can re-join hav­ing had the unique expe­ri­ence of dri­ving through the incred­i­ble Jede­di­ah Smith Red­wood State Park, for what will have been one of the most scenic and joy­ous dri­ves of your life.  

 

Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway 

Dis­tance: 9 miles 

Along­side the mighty avenue of the Giants, the New­ton B. Drury Scenic Park­way is anoth­er stun­ning scenic road that takes you deep into the heart and through incred­i­ble Red­woods Groves.  

Twist­ing its way through lush green­ery of the Prairie Creek Red­woods State Park and into the Red­wood Nation­al Park, the New­ton B. Drury Scenic Park­way is also one of the few scenic roads open to every­one – from bus­es and cars to cyclists and hik­ers – with the only excep­tion being com­mer­cial vehi­cles, and with its unique loca­tion in the bot­tom third of the Red­wood area affords views of some of the best, tallest and beau­ti­ful Red­woods on the plan­et.  

The road itself runs along­side High­way 101 – and makes for an incred­i­ble de-tour while dri­ving along the coast – as well as being eas­i­ly acces­si­ble, with the scenic park­way being well marked at exit 753 to get you onto this stun­ning and well paved road.  

Being sure to watch for cyclists and tak­ing the park­way at a gen­tle speed, you’ll be stuck straight away when adjoin­ing the road by thou­sands of tow­er­ing Red­woods – some crack­ing the 300 feet bar­ri­er – that align either side of the road and you can fol­low the road round for miles tak­ing in this stun­ning scenery.  

Tak­ing the road fur­ther and you’ll come upon a series of small lay­bys that make for a great place to stop and grab some pho­tos of both the road, your car and of course the red­woods – all of which can make for a great way to cap­ture the beau­ty of this tru­ly stun­ning road.  

Back on the road and you’ll notice the scenery become more idyl­lic as you ven­ture fur­ther into the for­est, with the red­wood trees turn­ing a deep­er shade of brown. Amongst these – if you keep your eye peeled – you’ll be able to spot the giant Red­wood Elk, with these stun­ning deer’s known to move in herds and live deep with­in the for­est feast­ing on its veg­e­ta­tion.  

Pass­ing through fur­ther columns of Red­woods and head­ing into the heart of Prairie Creek State Park, you can take in more stun­ning views – and for those who fan­cy it ven­ture off to one of the many trail­heads – includ­ing the beau­ti­ful Ah-Pah Trail and Big Tree Way­side Trails – both of which can take you fur­ther into this enchant­i­ng for­est for a both scenic and peace­ful stroll amongst this incred­i­ble for­est. 

With a hike com­plete it’ll be back on the road again as you enter the final stretch of this majes­tic park­way and you’ll feel the for­est and the trees slow­ly pull back as you re-join High­way 101 for a cou­ple of miles before enter­ing the Red­wood Nation­al Park, hav­ing com­plet­ed one of the most stun­ning and scenic dri­ves on the plan­et.  

 

Klamath Beach Road & Klamath Tree 

Dis­tance: 2 miles 

The per­fect sun­set dri­ve and a great dri­ve for those wish to enjoy stun­ning views of the red­woods along­side stun­ning views of the rich Cal­i­forn­ian coast­lines and the beau­ty of the deep blue Pacif­ic Ocean.  

The small but stun­ning Coastal loop begins in Kla­math – and you have the choice of either head­ing direct­ly to the loop – or mak­ing an inter­est­ing de-tour to dri­ve through a Red­wood – as you take on the Kla­math dri­ve through tree.  

For those tak­ing on the tree, you’ll find it well sign­post­ed from Kla­math and being just a 2‑minute dri­ve away from the town, and after pay­ing the $5 usd entrance fee you can enjoy the unique expe­ri­ence of dri­ving through this chain­saw con­struct­ed gap of an incred­i­ble red­wood – which makes for a thrilling expe­ri­ence and a tru­ly fun pho­to.  

 Hav­ing dri­ven through the tree – or for those head­ing direct­ly to the loop you can head South from either the Kla­math town or the tree along high­way  101 and cross the Kla­math Riv­er before turn­ing right to join the Kla­math Beach road – a one way loop that takes you through some incred­i­ble parts of the Del Norte Coast State Park.  

Fol­low­ing the loop round, you’ll find the path switch­es between well laid tar­mac and rough grav­el, but despite the some­times-bumpy con­di­tions it does noth­ing to take away from the beau­ty of this north­ern sec­tion of the parch – as you fol­low the loop clock­wise with incred­i­ble views of the ocean on your right – and lush green forestry on your left.  

Con­tin­u­ing along the loop and you’ll pass by camp Kla­math and then arrive at the well named lost rocks boul­der – a mighty boul­der found on the cliffs over­look­ing the Pacif­ic – and which makes for an incred­i­ble pho­to spot for those who dare climb it. Back on the loop and you’ll pass by the stun­ning camp ground of Flint Ridge Camp – which makes for an incred­i­ble place to camp out fac­ing the ocean and watch­ing the sun­set for those short on accom­mo­da­tion – before arriv­ing at one of the more unique and inter­est­ing sights across the whole of the Red­woods parks – the Radar Sta­tion B‑71.  

A mon­u­ment to the sec­ond world war the B‑71 Radar Sta­tion is clev­er­ly dis­guised to look like a farm­house to avoid detec­tion and makes for an inter­est­ing stop on this beau­ti­ful road. Con­tin­u­ing the loop for­ward and you’ll enjoy not only more incred­i­ble beach and coastal views, but come to its edge – where you’re treat­ed to the stun­ning high bluff over­look – a tru­ly majes­tic look out point that lets you cap­ture miles of the full beau­ty of the coast­line, Del Norte park and the great pacif­ic ocean – for a tru­ly incred­i­ble look­out.  

Our pick to pull over and enjoy a bite to eat – and watch the sun­set, the over­look has also devel­oped a bit of a rep­u­ta­tion as being a great place to do some free whale watch­ing – as in the spring months you can spot mighty hump­back breach­ing the waters from the van­tage point of this over­look.  

Back on the loop – and with the sun slow­ly set­ting, you can leave the ocean behind and head back in land through more incred­i­ble forestry and sec­tions of the Del Norte Coast park – until you reach the Old Dou­glas Memo­r­i­al bridge – which you can cross over and then re-join high­way 101 – mak­ing your way back towards Kla­math or con­tin­u­ing south along the Red­wood High­way – hav­ing con­quered this incred­i­ble beach loop.  

 

Redwood Highway  

Route: Oregon Border to Legget 

Esti­mat­ed Time: 1 – 2 days 

For those who just can’t get enough of dri­ving through the won­der of the world that is the red­wood forests then there are two icon­ic roads to add to your buck­et list – the Red­wood high­way which stretch­es along the Cal­i­forn­ian coast from the Ore­gon Bor­der north of Cres­cent City to the town of Leggett and then onto the sec­ond road — famous high­way 1 which takes you all the way down to San Diego. 

Tak­ing you not just along the incred­i­ble pacif­ic coast, but through stun­ning red­woods, the red­wood nation­al park and mul­ti­ple state parks, through the chan­de­lier tree, into dense for­est and along coastal towns, rolling hills, wind­ing rivers and of course through such famous roads as the Avenue of the Giants and How­land hill Road the a trip down both roads is a tru­ly majes­tic and once in a life­time expe­ri­ence.  

For those who take on this incred­i­ble dri­ve, the start­ing point is the well named Red­wood High­way, a 175 mile dri­ve through a range of dense and enchant­i­ng Red­woods groves, which pass­es from Cres­cent city – though mul­ti­ple parks – includ­ing the big five (in order) of Jede­di­ah Smith State Park, Del Norte coast red­woods State park, Prairie creek red­woods State park, the Red­wood nation­al park and the Hum­boldt red­woods State park all the way down to the quaint town of Leggett – for what is a tru­ly incred­i­ble dri­ve.  

 With plen­ty of options to turn off to take on hikes, spot wildlife and ven­ture into the for­est, you’ll also be treat­ed to the might Avenue of the Giants on the Red­wood high­way, as well as com­ing across mul­ti­ple tow­er­ing Coastal Red­woods and giant Sequoias – some of which stretch more than 300 foot into the sky cre­at­ing breath-tak­ing and stun­ning scenery – the below is a quick overview of tak­ing on the 175 mile Red­wood High­way – which is tru­ly one of the most stun­ning and unique dri­ves on the plan­et.  

 

The Red­wood High­way offi­cial­ly begins at the start of the Ore­gon bor­der – which is locat­ed at the top of the US high­way 199 – for those in Ore­gon you can sim­ply fol­low the road down the coast to find the state bor­der – or for those based South of the bor­der as far down as San Fran­cis­co you have the option to either trav­el direct using High­way 101 – fly into cres­cent city to begin the dri­ve down – or best of all take on the dri­ve in both direc­tion to reach the offi­cial start point.  

Begin­ning from the Ore­gon state bor­der you’ll have an incred­i­ble 175 mile jour­ney down to Leggett Infront of you – and you’ll begin with stun­ning views of the pacif­ic coast on your right – with the icon­ic St George Reef light­house the first major sight to great you.  

Con­tin­u­ing down the coast and you’ll soon jour­ney pass incred­i­ble scenery that marks the start of the scenic part of this high­way – with the road pass­ing you by the rogue riv­er, and deep into the thrilling dark­ness of the Col­lier Tun­nel that takes you beneath the moun­tains – where you emerge into the first part of forestry of the Red­wood High­way – the gor­geous the Siskiy­ou For­est. 

Dwarf­ing you on either side, the stun­ning forestry is a taste of what’s to come – as the road winds round the cool green for­est for incred­i­ble views afford­ing you stun­ning views of this rich tapes­try of nature. As the road car­ries on you’ll head the gain echo of the Smith Riv­er and the forestry will begin to open up as you enter the first of the major state parks – the lush green lands of the Jede­di­ah Smith Red­woods State Park – where a sea of immer­sive Red­woods await you.  

Named after the great explor­er, Jede­di­ah Smith, the beau­ty of this stun­ning state park will sur­round you on either side as you dri­ve through thou­sands of small but colour­ful Red­woods and Sequoia’s and along­side the smith riv­er on a stun­ning dri­ve.  

For those who fan­cy stretch­ing their legs, Jede­di­ah Smith is also home to some stun­ning hikes, not least the boy scout trail, the stout grove trail – home to the might stout grove memo­r­i­al tree which clocks in at more than 340 foot high – as well as the ever impres­sive  Grove of Titans tree area – whose once secret loca­tion can now be found in a side trail – tak­ing you through some of the most immer­sive and enchant­i­ng areas of the entire Red­wood For­est.  

 

Back on the road, and you’ll find the Red­wood high­way takes you a famil­iar spot in the Jede­di­ah Smith park – with a fall­en tree and the lumi­nous for­est you now find your­self in hav­ing fea­tured in the Star Wars films, with the area on this road being not only stun­ning but lead­ing into a true high­light of the Red­wood High­way – the How­land Hill Road.  

The 6 mile dri­ve of How­land Hill Road is one of the most (cov­ered in more detail here) is one of the most scenic and stun­ning dri­ves on the plan­et, that winds its way over a grav­el path deep into some of the most exquis­ite sec­tions of the whole of the Red­woods State Park.  

A tru­ly mes­meris­ing dri­ve that takes you into the heart of this won­der of the world, the How­land Hill Dri­ve is one you’ll need to slow down on – to ensure you take in the full beau­ty of this dri­ve, and we’d also rec­om­mend mak­ing time for a quick stop here – to pull over not only to enjoy the views but also to take advan­tage of some of the stun­ning pic­nic spots.  

Tak­ing time to enjoy this scenic road, you’ll even­tu­al­ly – and sad­ly – find that its slow­ly winds down and takes you back onto the 199 high­way which merges into a stun­ning sec­tion of the famous High­way 101 – which stretch­es down the pacif­ic coast. Head­ing down the coast – hope­ful­ly with the breeze in your hair and stun­ning views of the pacif­ic on your right and the red­woods on your left, you’ll roll onto a series of lis­ten­ing white sandy beach­es – that lie on the edge of the coastal town of cres­cent city.   

Anchored by the tow­er­ing bat­tery point light­house, the dri­ve along the coast of cres­cent city pro­vides you with mul­ti­ple chances to take a quick break and either grab spot of fresh­ly caught seafood or just sim­ply enjoy the incred­i­ble beach­es and the cool­ness of the Pacif­ic Ocean that are both yet anoth­er high­light of this stun­ning dri­ve. 

Enjoy­ing the deep blue water of the pacif­ic ocean from your car, you can fol­low the Red­wood High­way down along the coast, as you enter the lush green forestry of the Del Norte Coast park – home to some of the biggest and last remain­ing Giant Red­woods on the plan­et.  

A tru­ly spe­cial part of the dri­ve, that offers you views of the deep Red­wood For­est on one side and the pacif­ic ocean on the oth­er, explor­ers down this part of the Red­wood High­way have the option to hog the coast and enjoy the stun­ning views – or head inland to dri­ve through more sec­tions of this for­est that have been well pre­served thanks to a series of con­ver­sa­tion efforts.  

For those head­ing inland, the spot not to miss if the Mill Creek Water Area – an incred­i­ble area stretch­ing across 25,000 acres of wood­land, which on a good day can pro­vide some of the most exquis­ite views across the whole of the Red­woods – as the deep aura of the famous Cal­i­forn­ian fog descends over the for­est – giv­ing an oth­er­world­ly and mys­ti­cal appear­ance in this stun­ning stretch of forestry.  

 

Back on the high­way and you’ll soon enter the charm­ing town of Kla­math, a quaint and beau­ti­ful town that makes for a great place to stop and grab a bite – and for those who want a unique expe­ri­ence, you can take a slight de-tour off the red­wood highway’s and vis­it the Kla­math dri­ve through tree – one of the few tree’s in the forests that you can dri­ve through.  

Cost­ing $5 usd per car, a dri­ve though this tree is a fun expe­ri­ence – pro­vid­ing a tru­ly mem­o­rable pho­to­graph, and best of all the tree is still grow­ing mean­ing you’ll be one of the few peo­ple to have the claim to fame of hav­ing dri­ven through a live red­wood.  

Hav­ing nav­i­gat­ed the traf­fic around the Kla­math tree, you can re-join the high­way and make anoth­er quick detour to the cir­cle road of Kla­math beach road, a tru­ly enjoy­able loop with incred­i­ble views, before re-join­ing the high­way and enter­ing the next state park, the lush dense for­est of the Prairie Creek Red­woods.  

Home not only to the incred­i­ble Prairie Creek Trail (See here) and the daz­zling green tow­ers of the mighty Fern Canyon (See here) but a series of incred­i­ble and unique trees – includ­ing the famous Corkscrew and Big Tree – with the incred­i­ble Red­wood High­way tak­ing you up close and per­son­al to these tru­ly beau­ti­ful trees – for anoth­er incred­i­ble high­light on this scenic high­way.  

As you move for­ward through Prairie Creek Park, you’ll hit anoth­er patch of road that takes you along an incred­i­ble sec­tion of the pacif­ic high­way, with the beau­ty of Gold Bluffs beach com­ing stun­ning­ly into view and mak­ing for a pic­turesque and lush beau­ty spot for you to either pause and enjoy – or for those split­ting the dri­ve into 2 days enjoy the incred­i­ble camp­ground that awaits you on the South side of the beach.  

 

Back on to the Red­wood High­way and you’ll enter a fur­ther sec­tion of For­est with­in the Del Norte Coast Park, and it’s here that we would advise to reduce your speed and sound to a min­i­mum – as it’s a known place to spot Elk’s both mat­ing and fight­ing and gives you a chance to take in these unique and incred­i­ble wildlife that call the Red­woods home.  

Con­tin­u­ing along the stun­ning dri­ve through Del Norte Coast Park and you’ll notice the for­est area grow­ing thick­er – as you enter the Red­wood Nation­al Park – the true heart of the incred­i­ble red­woods, which can be entered by tak­ing on the scenic wan­der road of New­ton B. Drury – a 9 mile beau­ty dri­ve that see’s you sur­round­ed on both sides by incred­i­ble Red­woods – that makes for a fit­ting entrance into this stun­ning park.  

Home to the Hype­r­i­on the world’s largest tree – although a chal­lenge to find, the dri­ve through the Red­wood Nation­al park is tru­ly spe­cial as you dri­ve along­side some of the world’s tallest tree’s and then deep into the for­est where the best of forestry scenery – includ­ing rolling hills, deep mead­ows and beau­ti­ful lakes all aware you.  

Fea­tur­ing a range of activ­i­ties, includ­ing one of the best hikes on the plan­et in the tall trees grove  – the Red­wood Nation­al Park is also an incred­i­ble place to stop and see some of the amaz­ing wildlife that call these forests home, includ­ing bears and Elk – and you’ll find stun­ning and sweep­ing views aplen­ty through­out the whole of the for­est that real­ly calls for you to park the Car and enjoy not only the stun­ning views but the peace­ful and serene atmos­phere of this enchant­i­ng for­est.  

Back into the Car after tak­ing on one of the trails, and you can con­tin­ue the dri­ve through the for­est and onto the Bald Halls road, a stun­ning ascent that slow­ly twists through the for­est – giv­ing you plen­ty of incred­i­ble view­ing spots – mak­ing for a fit­ting way to exit this stun­ning park.  

Mov­ing to the edge of the road and you’ll hear the serene silence of the Red­woods slow­ly give way to the traf­fic of high­way 101, which you can re-join and enjoy fur­ther scenic views of the Pacif­ic Ocean – before the Red­wood High­way jour­neys through a series of quaint coastal towns, includ­ing Trinidad, with its amaz­ing state beach, McKin­leyville and Arca­ta as the road swirls round the gor­geous lake of Arca­ta Bay – before arriv­ing into the town of Eure­ka.  

A town that does jus­tice to its name, Eure­ka lies on the edge of the best of the Hum­boldt state park, and you’ll find a range of excur­sions avail­able — or for those weary trav­ellers who’ve dri­ve the day down from the Ore­gon state bor­der, this makes for an incred­i­ble place to rest up with either a bite to eat or to stay the night – to ensure you’re refreshed for the final leg of the Red­wood High­way ahead.  

 

Pulling out of Eure­ka, and you can fol­low­ing the high­way 101 back along the coast – enjoy­ing the incred­i­ble sight of the mighty waves of the pacif­ic ocean crash­ing against the soft shore of the gold­en beach­es of the Cal­i­forn­ian coast – before you enter the stun­ning area of the Hum­boldt Red­woods State Park.  

Home to 53,000 acres of pris­tine wood­land – includ­ing some 21,000 Red­wood Trees, the dri­ve through Hum­boldt Red­woods State park begins gen­tly, giv­ing you sweep­ing views of the for­est on either side and tak­ing you through the Rock­e­feller For­est – home to some of the old­est and largest remain­ing forestry on the plan­et – and the impos­ing 360 foot tall Rock­e­feller tree – a tree jew­el of this stun­ning dri­ve, and one we’d advise park­ing up to hike up to tru­ly take in.  

Con­tin­u­ing on the dri­ve through the for­est and you’ll come to the undoubt­ed high­light of this part of the dri­ve – the 31 miles Avenue of the Giants (Read More here). Tru­ly liv­ing up to its name, this stun­ning paved road will take you through a sec­tion of tru­ly pris­tine for­est – with tow­er­ing red­woods on either side – mak­ing for a tru­ly spe­cial and mag­i­cal dri­ve as you twist and turn along this incred­i­ble road.  

Pass­ing as well through a series of groves and trail­heads – that allow you to go deep­er into the for­est if required, you’ll also come across a series of lay byes, that make for great spots to take pho­tos, and as you jour­ney on down the road you’ll pass through the lush green area of Myers Flat – and come to your sec­ond dri­ve through area – the Shrine Dri­ve through tree.  

 

Clock­ing in at more than 2,500 years old, the Shrine Dri­ve through is the most accom­mo­dat­ing of the dri­ve through trees – and after pay­ing the $10 USD entrance fee, and no doubt wait­ing patient­ly in line, you can pass slow­ly through the tree, being sure to grab a pho­to – for yet anoth­er mag­i­cal moment on this stun­ning dri­ve.  

Hav­ing made it safe­ly through the shrine tree the road will pass back onto the avenue of the giants and into the stun­ning area of Founders Grove – where we’d real­ly rec­om­mend mak­ing time to pull over and take on the famous Founders Grove loop (See here) – for a tru­ly incred­i­ble hike in one of the most scenic spots in the whole of the Red­woods.  

Back on the road, and you’ll find the road slow­ly fol­lows along­side the South Fork eel riv­er, guid­ing you along the forestry as you pass through the town of Gaberville and the his­toric Ben­bow inn, tak­ing you close and clos­er towards the end of this stun­ning high­way.  

With one final pass through forestry and a stop off at the well named con­fu­sion hill, which makes a great place for fam­i­lies to stop and enjoy the illu­sion and rides, you can slow­ly pull into the town of Leggett – which marks the offi­cial end of the stun­ning Red­wood high­way.  

At Leggett – you can either make a slight detour to take on the Chan­de­lier Dri­ve-Through Tree or take on some well-earned rest – reflect­ing on what will have been one of the most scenic and stun­ning dri­ves of your life, that will have tak­en you rich forestry, mul­ti­ple state parks and even through the trees them­selves – all com­pli­ment­ed with incred­i­ble views of beach­es, oceans and of course the won­ders of Red­wood and Giant Sequoia trees.  

For those who want to expand their trip and push them­selves even fur­ther and take on a fur­ther dri­ve of the incred­i­ble red­woods and pacif­ic coast through the beau­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, then after some good rest in Leggett you can dri­ve on to the famous­ly beau­ti­ful and icon­ic High­way 1 (Click Here).  

 

Highway 1 

Route: Ore­gon Bor­der to Legget 

Esti­mat­ed Time: 1 – 2 days 

The glo­ri­ous High­way 1 is one of the most icon­ic, beau­ti­ful and scenic dri­ves on the plan­et – and stretch­es 650 miles from the north of Leggett in Men­do­ci­no fol­low­ing the con­clu­sion of the Red­wood High­way all the way along the Pacif­ic Ocean through the famed beau­ty of the coastal towns of San­ta Bar­bara and Mon­terey and past the coast­line of Big Sur before enter­ing the glam­orous lights of Los Ange­les before you arrive at its con­clu­sion in Los Ange­les.  

With Red­wood Trees a plen­ty, as well as daz­zling beach­es, stun­ning coastal views, and the chance to spot rare and unique wildlife, the dri­ve down High­way 1 is a tru­ly breath-tak­ing and mem­o­rable expe­ri­ence – and of the great­est ways to enjoy not only the won­ders of the world of the Red­woods in all their glo­ry, but the beau­ty, thrill and adven­ture of this spec­tac­u­lar dri­ve.  

 

Route: Leggett –Chandelier Tree — Westport 

Beg­gin­ning at the con­clu­sion of the Red­wood High­way in the beau­ti­ful town of Leggett nes­tled just out­side the forests of the Stan­dish Hick­ey area, we’d advise first a small de-tour and instead of head­ing north on high­way 271, head­ing south and enter­ing the fun touristy spot of the Chan­de­lier Tree – with the expe­ri­ence of dri­ving through a red­wood being a great way to start your epic adven­ture.  

Found only 7 min­utes away from Leggett – and best reached in the ear­ly morn­ing to avoid the long queues that can pile up in the morn­ing, the Chan­de­lier Tree stands 276 feet high, and hav­ing paid the $10 Usd entrance fee allows cars – small­er than 7 x 7 to slow­ly nav­i­gate and dri­ve through this icon­ic red­wood – grab­bing a stun­ning pho­to and a tru­ly mem­o­rable way to kick­start your trip on this incred­i­ble high­way.  

Hav­ing made it safe­ly through the tree – and no doubt enjoyed the thrill of dri­ving through a mighty red­wood, you can re-join high­way 271 and head north, pass­ing through Leggett and then turn­ing left and mak­ing your way onto the icon­ic High­way 1.  

Join­ing the high­way and you’ll imme­di­ate­ly be on your way to the coast, pass­ing over the South Fork Eel Riv­er, before tak­ing on a series of tight turns and switch­backs through dense and gor­geous forestry, as you hit the part of High­way 1 known as the Shore­line High­way.  

Pass­ing through fur­ther incred­i­ble for­est on either side, and keep­ing your eyes peeled for mighty Red­woods and roam­ing Elk on a tru­ly stun­ning sec­tion of high­way, after about 20 min­utes on the high­way you’ll come to the fas­ci­nat­ing town of Hales Creek – a town which con­sid­ers itself sper­ate and ungoverned.  

Paus­ing here to admire this fas­ci­nat­ing town, and the beau­ty of the dense and thick forestry around you, you can con­tin­ue along High­way 1 until you come to anoth­er switch­back around 5 min­utes after the town, where a stun­ning view­point – with views that stretch back and above the red­wood For­est await you.  

Catch­ing this view­point on a misty day – and you’ll be treat­ed to the deep aura and clas­sic sight of a wisp of cloud above the Red­woods – which can make for a tru­ly mes­meris­ing pho­to. Back on the High­way and you’ll find the road weaves and bends road, tak­ing you close and clos­er to the coast – until the high­way makes one final bend and the beau­ty of the pacif­ic ocean reveals itself to you.  

Fol­low­ing the road south – and with the Pacif­ic Ocean on your right, you’ll find on the edge of the the charm­ing Men­do­ci­no Coun­ty area, and you can pass through the small town of Rock­port and hardy, before arriv­ing at the Coast high­way look­out – where incred­i­ble views of not only the road ahead, but the beau­ti­ful cliffs, shore­line and pacif­ic ocean await you.  

No doubt tak­ing moments to cap­ture the incred­i­ble views of this roman­tic and scenic coast­line, you’ll be back in the car and high­way – but only for a minute – as you come across anoth­er incred­i­ble look­out – the Devonte Look­out – where yet more stun­ning views of the beach­es and coast­line await you, just be sure to take the approach to this look­out care­ful­ly – as it’s a spot known to be hit be land­slides and the road is known to be slip­pery.  

With yet more stun­ning views cap­tured, it’s back on the high­way, and you can pass through the town of union land­ing which makes for a great spot to refu­el and grab a bite to eat, and then along the coast – where the beau­ty of West­port beach awaits you.  

A tru­ly stun­ning and beau­ti­ful beach and a great place to break up the dri­ve, West­port beach offers an incred­i­ble spot to catch some rays, take a deep in the ocean or sim­ply relax, and after hav­ing enjoyed some incred­i­ble time on this beach, it can be back onto High­way 1 – and with stun­ning views of the cost on your right and the incred­i­ble sparkling beach­es accom­pa­ny­ing you, you can jour­ney through the town of DeHaven and into the town of West­port, for the com­ple­tion of the first leg of high­way 1.  

 

Westport – Fort Bragg – Point Reyes.  

Con­tin­u­ing south from West­port, and you’ll again be treat­ed to incred­i­ble views of the coast on your right hand side and beau­ti­ful For­est on your left, which you can enjoy as you pass through the town of New­port onto the first major high­light of the sec­ond leg – the ten mile beach.  

A beach – which stretch­es for 10  miles – you’ll find this an incred­i­ble spot to enjoy some of the amaz­ing wildlife that calls Cal­i­for­nia home, with more than 90 species of bird, loud seals, curi­ous otters and even hump­back whales known to fre­quent the waters off the beach. It’s also an incred­i­bly scenic and stun­ning unspoiled coastal region, with rolling dunes, and a good surf also fur­ther stun­ning fea­tures of this incred­i­ble beach – and for those who can make the ear­ly start, this would be our pick to come to watch the Pacif­ic Ocean light as the sun ris­es over it.  

Back onto high­way 1 – and hav­ing cleared the sand out of your shoes and clothes from the beach, you can pass through the town of inglenook – that runs along­side the beach and then more stun­ning scenery as you pass along­side the Mack­er­rich­er Marine Area – a great place to go whale watch­ing – before con­tin­u­ing along the Mack­er­rich­er marine area – which leads you to the stun­ning glass beach of Fort Bragg.  

A beach com­posed entire­ly of glass – which is entire­ly pro­tect­ed – the glass beach is a shim­mer­ing and kalei­do­scope of colours – and while we’d advise cau­tion for those who seek to walk upon it, it’s a great and beau­ti­ful pho­to spot along the high­way as the bright glass daz­zles under the Cal­i­forn­ian sun.  

Con­tin­u­ing on and you’ll pass through the town of Fort Bragg, and then it’s on along the high­way into the small and beau­ti­ful town of Men­do­ci­no. A great place to grab a late break­fast for those who wit­nessed the sun­rise – or to grab an ear­ly brunch – Men­do­ci­no is a charm­ing town that is home to a series of coastal view­ing hik­ing trails – and some of the best fish and chips in Amer­i­ca – as well as a series of art gal­leries and a charm­ing botan­i­cal gar­dens – all of which make for great spots on the high­way.  

Fur­ther south on high­way 1 and you’ll pass through fur­ther areas of Men­do­ci­no – includ­ing the Spring Nature Reserve, which replaces the coast­line views with deep and charm­ing green­ery, before com­ing on a hid­den gem and activ­i­ty on high­way 1 – the chance to go kayak­ing in the Van Damme State Marine Area – which is a tru­ly thrilling expe­ri­ence and can see you get up close and per­son­al with marine life – includ­ing Whales if you’re lucky.  

 

Push­ing on past Men­do­ci­no and the stun­ning coastal views will return, and as you con­tin­ue head­ing south you’ll pass through the buck­horn cove coastal area – anoth­er stun­ning spot to take in some wildlife, before pass­ing through a series of quaint towns, includ­ing Albion and Whites­boro – before cross­ing over the Navar­ro Riv­er as you con­tin­ue down High­way 1.  

Cruis­ing down the high­way – and tak­ing in the full enjoy­ment and beau­ty of the jour­ney – you’ll be greet­ed by more stun­ning beach­es and miles and miles of beau­ty of the pacif­ic ocean on one side and lush green forestry and hills on the oth­er, as you head down the high­way past the town of Elk and into an incred­i­ble stretch of high­way – where a series of coastal cliffs com­bine to offer incred­i­ble views of the warm pacif­ic Ocean and coast­line below.  

Being sure to enjoy – and snap this incred­i­ble patch of high­way, you’ll dri­ve on through a series of small towns includ­ing Man­ches­ter, Point Area and Stew­arts point – before the road dives into the stun­ning scenery of Salt Point State Park and Sono­ma Coast State park – where more incred­i­ble nat­ur­al views await.  

As the high­way winds round, you’ll again hit more and more scenic spots that tru­ly earn High­way 1 it’s beau­ti­ful rep­u­ta­tion, and con­tin­u­ing on along the coast you’ll pass through a series of ‘M’ named towns – McDon­ald, Mar­shall and Mar­coni – which makes the start of anoth­er stun­ning sec­tion of the High­way – and anoth­er rec­om­mend­ed de-tour – a trip to Point Reyes.  

Turn­ing right at Point Reyes Sta­tion and onto the Sir Fran­cis Drake Boule­vard, the road will take you on a one-way road into the Drakes Estero con­ser­va­tion Area – a tru­ly stun­ning and beau­ti­ful sec­tion of the Cal­i­forn­ian coast, where Island green­ery com­bines with rich water to give a reflec­tion of a high­land panora­ma – which com­bines with the Cal­i­forn­ian cliff edges to make a tru­ly breath-tak­ing land­scape.  

Fol­low­ing the road round and you’ll come to the tow­er­ing light­house of Point Reyes – which we’d rec­om­mend climb­ing to get a Bird­s­eye view of this stun­ning sec­tion of the Cal­i­forn­ian Coast.  

Back onto the road – and you have the option to stop at the wild Drake’s beach and pass through the Cyprus tree tun­nel – before you can head back to Point Reyes sta­tion and re-join High­way 1 – where the next leg and the bright lights of San Fran­cis­co and some stun­ning Red­woods await you.  

 

Point Reyes – Muir Woods – San Francisco 

From Point Reyes Sta­tion – and leav­ing the Point Reyes light­house behind, you can con­tin­ue along High­way 1 and head inland as the road takes you deep into some of the fan­tas­tic Red­wood State Parks – includ­ing the Samuel Tay­lor State Park – where dense for­est and stun­ning trees line the high­way – for some tru­ly incred­i­ble and scenic forestry dri­ving.  

Con­tin­u­ing back through the for­est and pass­ing through the towns of Ole­ma and Woodville accom­pa­nied by lush green­ery, the high­way will take you slow­ly back along the Boli­nas lagoon – where more beau­ti­ful water views await – before arriv­ing at the famous Stin­son beach, where white sandy shores and shal­low water entice you out of the car and onto this incred­i­bly beau­ti­ful and scenic beach.  

Part of the Gold­en Gate Nation­al area, you can expect crowds to gath­er on the beach on clear days, so we’d advise to get there ear­ly for both the best expe­ri­ence on the beach – and to snap the best pho­tos, and hav­ing admired yet anoth­er incred­i­ble beach on this high­way – it’s into our favourite spot for Red­woods on high­way 1 – the sate park of Mt Tamal­pais and the Muir woods Nation­al Mon­u­ment.  

Cruis­ing along the high­way, you’ll find your­self enter­ing the rich forestry area of Mt Tamal­pais and into the Muir Woods Nation­al Mon­u­ment. While the hik­ing trails and heart of the mon­u­ment is found by tak­ing the Frank Val­ley road detour after Muir Beach, for high­way 1 you can expect to jour­ney into a small sec­tion of Muir Woods, where tow­er­ing red­woods will greet you as you pass through this ancient park that has been the focus of many a Hol­ly­wood block­buster.  

Tak­ing in these incred­i­ble won­ders – and of course grab­bing many a pho­to, you can con­tin­ue back along High­way 1 to one of the best spots to grab a pho­to of the won­der of the Gold­en Gate Bridge ‑Muir Beach, with their being both an over­look pho­to spot – for pho­tos of the beach – and the beach itself, where you cap­ture the mighty Gold­en Gate Bridge – and the coast­line of Marin Head­lands against the back­drop of this stun­ning beach – which is par­tic­u­lar­ly pleas­ant at sun­set.  

Con­tin­u­ing along High­way 1 and you’ll find the road leave the coast­line and head inland – past more incred­i­ble bits of for­est on the edge of Muir Woods, as it heads slow­ly through the bus­tle of the area of Marin City towards the Gold­en Gate bridge.  

Tak­ing you past anoth­er incred­i­ble look­out over the Gold­en Gate Bridge, you ‘ll find the High­way joins with High­way 101 as you take it on a unique and thrilling expe­ri­ence across the won­der of the world of the Gold­en Gate Bridge and into the heart of down­town San Fran­cis­co.  

 

San Francisco – Carmel by the Sea. 

Having paused and rest­ed in San Fran­cis­co – and of course explore the high­lights of not only the Gold­en Gate Bridge, but Canary Wharf, Lom­bard Street (it’s a chal­lenge to dri­ve it), and Pier 39, you can look to pick High­way 1 back up again – and we’d advise to do so by head­ing to the Rich­mond Dis­trict of San Fran­cis­co – where you can con­tin­ue the jour­ney south and be treat­ed to the incred­i­ble ear­ly morn­ing dri­ve through the Gold­en State Park – where you can admire the green­ery of the park and the beau­ty of the Hunt­ing­ton Falls – as you slow­ly leave San Fran­cis­co behind you.  

Con­tin­u­ing on the High­way, you can expect a lot of traf­fic exit­ing San Fran­cis­co – but sure­ly and slow­ly you’ll crawl your way to Daly City and then fol­low the High­way round as the Coastal views re-appear – putting you back on a qui­eter and more scenic stretch of the high­way.  

Back on Coastal Roads we’d advise a quick stop at the view­point of Pedro point — where you can get great views look­ing back into the coast­line of Marin and the beach lands head­ing towards San Fran­cis­co. Fol­low­ing High­way one fur­ther, and a few miles south of Pedro Point – you’ll come to anoth­er stun­ning stop – the Devil’s slide – a great lit­tle place for a break to take on a hik­ing trail with incred­i­ble panoram­ic views over the Pacif­ic Ocean.  

Mov­ing South along High­way 1 – you’ll pass through some quaint lit­tle towns, includ­ing half moon bay and San Gre­go­rio before you see a tow­er­ing light­house in the dis­tance – which marks the scenic spot of Pigeon Point. Offi­cial­ly the tallest light­house on the Pacif­ic Coast, this light­house is sad­ly not climbable – but offers a great spot to pho­to­graph and cap­ture more of the stun­ning coast­line along High­way 1.  

Fol­low­ing High­way 1 as it bends round the coast, you’ll be treat­ed to yet more stun­ning coastal views on your right side – and incred­i­ble green­ery and forestry on your left hand side, as the high­way gen­tly takes you into the surf city of San­ta Cruz. Being on your guard as the city has recent­ly become less safe, San­ta Cruz makes for a great place to stop and grab a bite of some fresh food, as well as enjoy the incred­i­ble cen­tu­ry old board­walk – that makes for a great place to stretch your legs and ven­ture above the seas of Mon­terey Bay. 

 

A great place to take on a dip in the ocean and for those who dare it ride some waves, San­ta Cruz is a clas­sic beach town, and after some great time enjoy­ing the vibe in this unique city, High­way 1 will take you along the coast again – pass­ing the beach of Rio Del Mar and through the towns of Moss Land­ing and Mari­na and into Mon­terey.  

Made famous from the nov­els of John Stein­beck, we’d advise head­ing park­ing up and then tak­ing a stroll along the famous Can­nery Row Street – where you can enjoy the soft ocean breeze as you admire the beau­ti­ful coast­line of this quaint town. A great place to do some wildlife watch­ing – includ­ing seals and whales, for those who want to go a lit­tle bit fur­ther you can take on the Coastal Recre­ation­al Trail which winds its way through the his­toric state park – for even more incred­i­ble views.  

A great lit­tle sea­side town – and one that offers stun­ning views of the Cal­i­forn­ian coast­line, we’d advise spend­ing a lit­tle bit of town in Mon­terey, before tak­ing on the quick 17 mile dri­ve – along­side a stun­ning piece of coastal scenery – that leads you to the beau­ti­ful town of Carmel by the Sea.  

One of the best places in the world to watch a sun­set, Carmel by the sea is a charm­ing and his­toric city – which includes the famous Carmel Mis­sion – and it’s here you’ll find some quaint and beau­ti­ful beach­es, as well as a range of his­toric cot­tages, that make for a per­fect place to base your­self to not only explore the sparkling beach­es of Carmel – but also rest up after com­plet­ing the fourth leg of the beau­ti­ful high­way 1.  

 

Carmel by the Sea – Big Sur – — Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park — Hearst Castle — Cambria  

Leav­ing the beau­ty of Carmel-by-the-Sea behind you, you can dri­ve on along high­way 1 enjoy­ing more stun­ning views of the Pacif­ic Ocean on your right and the Carmel high­lands – and it’s beau­ti­ful wood­lands and dense forestry on the right, as you slow­ly approach the most icon­ic, famous and arguably most scenic sec­tion of High­way 1 – Big Sur.  

The quin­tes­sen­tial post­card pic­ture of High­way 1 – the Big Sur area is a stun­ning stretch of coast­line run­ning between Carmel and San Sime­on – and it will treat you to incred­i­ble views of daz­zling moun­tains, lush green forestry, beau­ti­ful coast­line and some of the most sparkling pacif­ic waters and beach­es on the plan­et.  

A majes­tic piece of high­way, the road along Big Sur is also thank­ful­ly blessed with mul­ti­ple lay bys and look­outs – allow­ing you to get out of the car and grab pho­tos and views galore, and you can slow your pace down to make sure you take in this incred­i­ble patch of high­way that takes you next to these amaz­ing views – for a tru­ly roman­tic and awe-inspir­ing dri­ve that will stay with you for­ev­er.  

Mov­ing through the Big Sur area and along High­way 1 – you’ll next come to anoth­er jew­el of the Red­wood State park, the beau­ti­ful Julia Pfeif­fer Burns State Park. Tak­ing you on a high­way along­side tow­er­ing 300 foot tall red­woods, the stretch of High­way 1 that pass­es through this incred­i­ble State park allows you to again expe­ri­ence a mag­nif­i­cent part of high­way with majes­tic Red­woods on either side of you for a tru­ly beau­ti­ful and mov­ing dri­ve.

 

Tak­ing the dri­ve into the Julia Pfeif­fer Burns State Park fur­ther, and you’ll also have a num­ber of oppor­tu­ni­ties to pull over and take on some of the stun­ning hikes in this Red­woods park – which offers a great chance to leave the road behind and take on a peace­ful and qui­et walk amongst these might giants, while look­ing for Elk and enjoy­ing the beau­ti­ful Flo­ra and green­ery found with­in the for­est.  

We’d also high­ly rec­om­mend mak­ing time to take on the McWay falls trail – a short and 30 minute or so hike that takes you back along the Big Sur coast­line to one of the incred­i­ble high­lights the McWay Water­fall – a true Gem in this stun­ning part of the coast­line.  

Back on High­way 1 and you can fol­low the road south through the Julia Pfeif­fer Burns State Park and enjoy the last of the tow­er­ing Red­woods that will guide you out of the state park, and back onto the famil­iar Big Sur coast­line – where the incred­i­ble views await you once more.  

Fol­low­ing the road down, and you’ll even­tu­al­ly reach the town of San Sime­on which marks the offi­cial end of Big Sur – and where we’d rec­om­mend a short detour towards the mag­i­cal Hearst Cas­tle. Offi­cial­ly named “La Cues­ta Encan­ta­da” Hearst Cas­tle is a fas­ci­nat­ing his­tor­i­cal estate designed and con­struct­ed by William Ran­dolph Hearst and Julia Mor­gan – and as well as host­ing a col­lec­tion of inspir­ing and famous art, being a liv­ing muse­um and an archi­tec­tur­al won­der – the cas­tle was the set­ting for one of the great­est films ever cre­at­ed “Cit­i­zen Kane” mak­ing for an enjoy­able, edu­ca­tion­al, and fas­ci­nat­ing de-tour along High­way 1.  

On the High­way once more, and the road south from San Sime­on will take you into the love­ly sea­side town of Cam­bria, that makes for a great place to rest-up and grab a bite to eat from one of the sea­side restau­rants – or sam­ple the local dish of a warm olla berry pie – which you can enjoy before head­ing to the Ele­phant Seal Rook­ery- where you can watch these might seals relax­ing – and depend­ing on the sea­son fight­ing for com­pan­ion­ship, before head­ing back along High­way 1 towards the town of Mor­ro Bay.  

A small but charm­ing city, the beau­ty of Mor­ro Bay lies in its state park and its Marin recre­ation­al area, which although lying a short de-tour off from High­way 1 is absolute­ly worth mak­ing some time for – as you spot, large breach­ing hump­backs and a range of seal colonies, as well as mul­ti­ple species of birds and but­ter­flies.  

Adding a nat­ur­al and unique chance to take in some of California’s incred­i­ble wildlife, you’ll also find a pic­turesque pier on the Mor­ro Strand State beach – where a small board­walk take you out over the Pacif­ic Ocean which makes for an incred­i­ble place to cap­ture the sun­set against the beau­ty of the famed Mor­ro Rock – and a fit­ting way to top of this incred­i­ble leg – which fin­ish­es after you take a short 15 minute dri­ve back along the High­way 1 and into the city of San Luis Obis­po – where we’d rec­om­mend stay­ing at the famed Madon­na Inn. 

 

San Luis Obispo – Santa Maria – Santa Barbara  

Treat­ing your­self to a bit of a lie-in after the late night dri­ve into San Luis Obis­po, we’d rec­om­mend tak­ing a bit of time to explore this charm­ing and col­lege city – where you have the chance to enjoy the unique bub­ble-gum alley or enjoy break­fast at the San Luis Light­house – where more incred­i­ble views of the coast await you.  

Leav­ing San Luis Obis­po behind – and being sure to hug the high­way 1/101 – rather than high­way 227 – the road will take you back into some gor­geous for­est as you head once again towards the Pacif­ic Ocean – and as the road reach­es the ocean, we’d rec­om­mend a slight de-tour to take your­self to the view­ing point of wild cher­ry canyon – where you can be treat­ed once more to an incred­i­ble oasis of rolling green hills, set against beau­ti­ful mead­ows, all backed by the warm blue waters of the Pacif­ic Ocean.  

Per­form­ing a quick U‑turn away from this scenic spot and back on High­way 1 – you can again enjoy the thrill of fol­low­ing the coast­line south – accom­pa­nied on the left hand side by rich green forestry – as you head towards the area of Pis­mo – and the beau­ty of the Pis­mo State Beach.  

A pop­u­lar camp­ing site, pis­mo beach is a daz­zling and tru­ly beau­ti­ful state beach – that gives you a chance to walk along its soft sands for miles, as well as dip in the ocean and you’ll find the quaint and beau­ti­ful Grassy banks per­fect­ly com­plaint the soft ocean breeze and waves – mak­ing for a great place to grab a mag­i­cal pho­to of the Cal­i­forn­ian coast­line.  

Leav­ing Pis­mo beach, you’ll have a choice of stay­ing on high­way 1 or join­ing high­way 101 – and we’d rec­om­mend tak­ing on high­way 101 – where you’ll have a more com­fort­able and direct dri­ve into the next high­lights of this gor­geous dri­ve. Tak­ing on high­way 101 and you’ll find your­self mov­ing away from the coast through the town of Nipo­mo and into the warm and wel­com­ing town of San­ta Maria. Tak­ing a moment to park up – you can stroll peace­ful­ly through the town and – depend­ing on who’s dri­ving enjoy a glass of wine – over some of the famous San­ta Maria Bar­beque, for a love­ly and tra­di­tion­al Cal­i­forn­ian lunch.  

Mov­ing fur­ther south on High­way 101 and the forestry and coastal views will give way par­tial­ly to cities – as you head into the small area of Los Alam­os – where you can stop and sam­ple some of the famous local del­i­ca­cies, before con­tin­u­ing on high­way 101.  

Fol­low­ing the road round and you’ll come to a sharp bend – and it’s here where you have a choice to ven­ture off towards the famed Los Olivos – where you have the chance to sam­ple many of the famed wines of the Cal­i­forn­ian region and enjoy this quaint and beau­ti­ful small town – or con­tin­ue along the high­way as you head through the town of Buell­ton to Las Cruces – where you can pass through the forestry of Gavio­ta state park and re-join High­way 1 – as the beau­ty of the pacif­ic ocean meets you again.  

Back on High­way 1 and you can again cruise along­side sparkling beach­es and the great ocean as you pass through some stun­ning coastal towns – includ­ing cap­tain – and its mar­vel­lous state beach, Naples and Isla Vista – before you arrive in San­ta Bar­bara – a city that per­fect­ly rep­re­sents the best of Cal­i­for­nia – with its beau­ti­ful beach and glitzy high class estates.  

Park­ing up in San­ta Bar­bara – and it’s here we’d encour­age to stop for a good look around and to grab a bite – you can enjoy the scenic har­bour and wharf – with its famous restau­rant, as well as explore down­town San­ta Bar­bara – with its love­ly gar­dens, archi­tec­ture and art scene – known as the Funk Zone – as you enjoy some peace­ful time in this love­ly city – before you take on the final leg of the stun­ning high­way.  

 

Santa Barbara – Malibu – Los Angeles — Capistrano Beach – San Diego 

Leav­ing San­ta Bar­bara behind and you’ll be straight onto one of the most gor­geous sec­tions of High­way 1 – as you dri­ve down a stretch of High­way that offers some of the best views of the Pacif­ic Ocean as well as a cool sea breeze in your hair – for a real taste of free­dom on the high­way! 

Pass­ing through Sum­mer­land and join­ing up again with High­way 101, you’ll pass through Ricon beach – which marks the start of anoth­er stun­ning sec­tion – where green for­est greets you once again on your left-hand side to com­ple­ment the pacif­ic ocean on the right. Pass­ing to the edge of the Emma Wood Beach – you’ll then hit the start of the famed glam­our of Hol­ly­wood as you enter Ven­tu­ra – where the forestry gives way to high end streets and the sprawl­ing estates of the wealthy.  

Pass­ing over the San­ta Clara and through Oxnard, coastal and forestry views will greet you once more as the road descends into the warm and famous Mal­ibu area – where you can admire the beau­ti­ful and icon­ic beach­es of the area, with out pick being to make time to stop at the quaint El Mata­dor beach – where you can enjoy some peace and qui­et on this small but tru­ly beau­ti­ful beach.  

Leav­ing the beach behind and you’ll notice once more than the forestry gives way – as you enter the Los Ange­les area and the town of San­ta Mon­i­ca. With high­way 1 tak­ing you direct­ly along the incred­i­ble sandy shores of San­ta Mon­i­ca State beach – we’d advise park­ing up here – so you can get out and enjoy this incred­i­ble icon of Cal­i­for­nia, as well as make time to enjoy the famed San­ta Mon­i­ca Pier and the won­ders of the third street prom­e­nade – all of which are incred­i­ble high­lights of this gor­geous town.  

 

For those look­ing to enjoy more sights of Los Ange­les – we’d advise as well mak­ing time on foot to trek along the San­ta Mon­ic State Beach – which you’ll find leads into the Venice area of Los Ange­les and of course the icon­ic Venice Beach – from where you can enjoy anoth­er daz­zling and famed beach that runs along­side High­way 1.  

Return­ing to your car, and you have a choice to either take a de-tour into the heart of Los Angles – where you can enjoy the Hol­ly­wood Sign, the theme parks, Grif­fith park or catch a show at the Sta­ple Cen­tre – or con­tin­ue on High­way 1 down the coast.  

Con­tin­u­ing on the high­way or hav­ing returned from your trip to Los Ange­les, you can pick up the high­way again from the San­ta Mon­i­ca State beach, and cruise along the Los Ange­les Coast, takin in views of Venice Beach once more – before cross­ing over the Bal­lona Creek riv­er.  

From here you’re into parts of down­town Los Ange­les, and it’s city streets ahead of you – which is cer­tain­ly a con­trast from the High­way 1 area’s you’ve trav­elled. Still pass­ing by Los Angles Inter­na­tion­al Air­port you can con­tin­ue south slow­ly leav­ing the city behind.  

As you come to the edge of Los Angels you’ll find the coast will reap­pear once more , and you can pass along­side some incred­i­ble beach­es – includ­ing Her­mosa and Redon­do – before the high­way turns inwards again into city – tak­ing you past the Cal­i­for­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty and Long Beach Area.  

 

Mov­ing south again and the High­way will return to famil­iar set­tings – with the deep blue pacif­ic ocean greet­ing you once more as you cross the San Gabriel riv­er, and from here you’ll be greet­ed by more stun­ning scenery – and a chance to see flocks of seals as you pass through the apt­ly named seal beach on your right hand side and the Seal beach Nation­al Refuge cen­tre on your left – where no doubt the calls of Seals will pro­vide an inter­est­ing sound­track to your dri­ve.  

The High­way then hits anoth­er glo­ri­ous sec­tion where more incred­i­ble Cal­i­forn­ian beach­es greet you – includ­ing sun­set beach, Bol­sa Chi­ca beach and the stun­ning crys­tal white sand and calm­ing waters of Hunt­ing­ton state beach.  

A jew­el of a beach we’d advise get­ting here ear­ly if pos­si­ble – to both enjoy the beach before crowds arrive – and to catch the incred­i­ble sun­rise bring­ing the beach to life, and after watch­ing the glo­ri­ous sun­set you can then explore the famed pier for some stun­ning views, as well as kick back on the beach and watch the dare­dev­il surfers tack­le the swell and tide that makes Hunt­ing­ton beach so famous.  

Back on High­way 1 and con­tin­u­ing south with accom­pa­nied by the blue waters of the pacif­ic ocean you can pass by New­port Beach and take the bridge over New­port Bay, before join­ing anoth­er stretch of incred­i­ble high­way – where the coast­line shines as you cruise down the absolute best of Cal­i­forn­ian scenery.  

Pass­ing next by the Lagu­na Beach area – where you can pull over to enjoy the gold­en shores and warm blue waters of this stun­ning area, you’ll then find High­way 1 takes you on one last fit­ting finale of incred­i­ble pacif­ic coast­line views and daz­zling beach­es as you pull into the shore­line of Capis­tra­no beach – that marks the offi­cial end of this incred­i­ble high­way.  

While the High­way is incred­i­ble tak­ing you through lush green forestry, mighty red­woods, passed incred­i­ble coastal views and sparkling beach­es – there is also one last sur­prise in store for those who want to jour­ney on, as the High­way con­tin­ues down from Capis­tra­no beach hug­ging the coast­line once more for a fur­ther hour – tak­ing you past Encini­tas, Solana Beach, Del Mar and even Legoland – until you arrive at San Diego – which is the unof­fi­cial end point for those want­i­ng to go a lit­tle bit fur­ther – and where you can enjoy the beach­es, sights and food of stun­ning San Diego.  

A tru­ly epic dri­ve – High­way 1 lets you expe­ri­ence the absolute best of Cal­i­for­nia and Amer­i­can sights, and there’s no doubt that a jour­ney on this incred­i­ble High­way will not be an enthralling and mag­i­cal expe­ri­ence, but one that will stay with you and cre­ate mem­o­ries that will last a life time.  

 

Top tips for Highway 1 and Redwood Highway 

While both the Red­wood High­way and High­way 1 are beau­ti­ful and icon­ic dri­ves – they are not with­out their chal­lenges and both require prop­er plan­ning and under­stand­ing of the best ways to take on these epic dri­ves, to make them as enjoy­able as pos­si­ble.  

So to assist in mak­ing these dri­ves as easy and spec­tac­u­lar as they tru­ly are, these are our top five tips for tak­ing on a dri­ve on either or both of these high­ways: 

- First­ly – we’d real­ly advise fol­low­ing the Roads from North to South – either fol­low­ing the routes out­lines above or a vari­a­tion – as this will allow you to keep the Pacif­ic Ocean on your right hand side – for incred­i­ble views.  

- Sec­ond­ly we’d advise being sure to have a well detailed and thought out plan – par­tic­u­lar­ly for those dri­ving who are not Amer­i­can. This is because not only will these roads take you through some tough ter­rain and deep into forestry – but Amer­i­can roads and city dri­ving (includ­ing the noto­ri­ous­ly dif­fi­cult right turn) can be a chal­lenge – which can be eased and alle­vi­at­ed by plan­ning ahead.  

- Third­ly we’d advise tak­ing on the dri­ve at the start of sum­mer – between May – July – where not only can you expect an increase in Wildlife – includ­ing Hump­backs off the coast – but you’ll find the parks and trails open as well as the weath­er being more pleas­ant – which can real­ly make your expe­ri­ence and pro­vide the back­drop – par­tic­u­lar­ly at sun­rise and sun­set – to come stun­ning pho­tos.  

- Fourth­ly we’d advise mak­ing sure you do your research on the car you take along the high­ways. While it’s of course pos­si­ble for Amer­i­cans to take their own car – for inter­na­tion­al trav­ellers the eas­i­est option is to hire a car – and we’d advise hir­ing one as a one-way rental (i.e. hir­ing in San Fran­cis­co or towards Ore­gon and drop­ping it off in Los Ange­les / San Diego) as well as being sure on the car you rent – mak­ing sure it’s not bot­tom of the line and is com­fort­able (which rules out a smart car) – while avoid­ing the expen­sive and often awk­ward sports cars – which aren’t suit­able for some of the forestry dri­ving.  

- Final­ly – we’d advise you to make time to enjoy the beau­ty of the high­ways! As obvi­ous as it may sound, if you can time your trip to take on some of the fun activ­i­ties – such as the dri­ve through trees, coastal walks and even the big­foot muse­um found near Fel­ton as a detour from San­ta Cruz – as well as com­bine your dri­ve with some of the more scenic areas – includ­ing the Avenue of the Giants, the Fern Canyon Hike and the coastal loops – and take in mul­ti­ple stun­ning sun­ris­es and sun­sets afford­ed on these high­ways – then you’ll tru­ly get the best of not only this icon­ic and immense high­ways – but the absolute best of the won­der of the world that is the Red­wood Nation­al and State Parks.  

 

How long to stay 

While you can – and peo­ple cer­tain­ly have – get tru­ly lost in the full beau­ty of the Red­woods, for those on a bit of a tight time scale or who only want to cov­er the main high­lights of the Red­wood For­est – includ­ing a walk amongst these Giants, tak­ing in a dri­ve through tree and explor­ing part of the icon­ic Red­wood High­way or high­way 1 then we’d rec­om­mend you bud­get for at least 3 days – and you’ll need the assis­tance of a Car or a Tour to help you cov­er the vast area of this incred­i­ble won­der.  

For those who want to expe­ri­ence the true and full beau­ty of both the Red­wood and State Nation­al Parks, and cov­er all of the incred­i­ble hikes, view the incred­i­ble wildlife and cov­er the full stretch of tru­ly scenic and beau­ti­ful Red­wood High­way and fol­low it down the Pacif­ic Ocean as it merges into High­way 1 then we’d rec­om­mend to bud­get at least 2 weeks to explore the Red­woods – which is guar­an­teed to be one of the best road trip and expe­ri­ences of your life.  

Top Tip 

A tru­ly stun­ning and nat­ur­al won­der, the Red­wood Nation­al Parks have also ben­e­fit­ted from being both incred­i­bly acces­si­ble, main­tained and sup­port­ed and for the most part safe – which can real­ly help in both remov­ing stress in plan­ning a trip and enhanc­ing and sup­port­ing explor­ers’ enjoy­ment to these incred­i­ble forests.  

Yet despite this, there’s of course a cou­ple of top tips that all explor­ers should be aware of to make sure their jour­ney through the Red­wood Forests are as enjoy­able as pos­si­ble, so in no par­tic­u­lar order, these are our top tips when vis­it­ing the won­der of the world of the Red­wood Nation­al and State Parks: 

- First­ly be sure to come pre­pared with cloth­ing for any con­di­tions – espe­cial­ly rain, as even in sum­mer down­pours along the Cal­i­forn­ian coast and with­in the Red­wood parks can hit at any moment, so be sure to always a rain jack­et on the trails.  

- We’d also advise to both come pre­pared with some good sol­id hik­ing boots and make sure you check the trail con­di­tions when tak­ing on a hike before­hand, espe­cial­ly if there’s been recent rain or light­ning – which can result in chal­leng­ing hik­ing con­di­tions includ­ing fall­en trees, land­slides and impass­able bog­gy areas.  

- The same goes for the weath­er in gen­er­al when vis­it­ing the parks, as along­side the sud­den rain show­ers thick mist is known to descend sud­den­ly across the Red­woods, which while cre­at­ing beau­ti­ful oppor­tu­ni­ties when viewed from above as the mighty red­woods stretch above the sky­line, can also damp­en, and dull the view from the ground.  

 

- For those who are for­tu­nate enough to come across any of the stun­ning ani­mals in the Red­wood parks – includ­ing the majes­tic Elk, Deer’s, Seals or Otters – be sure to admire these stun­ning ani­mals from a dis­tance, as approach­ing and con­fronting the ani­mals is strict­ly for­bid­den. You’ll also find some of the Elk species – which can top the scales at more than 1000kg to be aggres­sive if approached – so for your own safe­ty as well we’d advise to cap­ture noth­ing but pho­tos of these incred­i­ble ani­mals from a dis­tance.  

- Also be warned that for those who are plan­ning on spend­ing an extend­ed time with­in the Red­woods and fan­cy both sleep­ing beneath the Red­woods and stay­ing with­in any of the Forests accom­mo­da­tion – whether that be camp­ing or in any of the lodges or hotels that dot the Forests – that they get booked up months in advance. So we’d advise mak­ing sure you get your book­ing in as ear­ly as pos­si­ble to ensure that you can enjoy the sur­re­al expe­ri­ence of sleep­ing beneath Red­woods and in this incred­i­ble for­est.  

- It’s also a good idea to stock up on trail snacks and food as well before head­ing into the Red­woods – as you’ll find no restau­rants or shops with­in the Forests them­selves – so for those tak­ing on day hikes we’d advise mak­ing sure you’ve packed enough sup­plies to keep you going through what can be a series of chal­leng­ing and demand­ing hikes. For those tak­ing on the dri­ving tours, you’ll find food and restau­rants – includ­ing some stun­ning seafood spots for those head­ing down the coast – more than plen­ti­ful.  

- Final­ly for those tak­ing on the Red­wood or High­way 1 dri­ve (which can you read more about here) be sure to take on the dri­ve between May – July if pos­si­ble where you can enjoy stun­ning weath­er and some incred­i­ble views – par­tic­u­lar down the Big Sur sec­tion of the coast where the beau­ti­ful coast­line meets the pacif­ic ocean for some tru­ly spec­tac­u­lar land­scape. We’d also advise hav­ing a good and detailed plan (and Sat Nav !) to fol­low and take on the dri­ve from North to South begin­ning at either the Ore­gon bor­der or in the town of Leggett – which will allow you to keep the glo­ri­ous pacif­ic ocean on your right hand side – giv­ing you and your pas­sen­gers incred­i­ble views down this stun­ning road and allow­ing you to expe­ri­ence the absolute best of the won­der that is the Red­woods Nation­al Parks. 

 

Cost:  

The Red­woods Nation­al Parks – and their trails, dri­ves and incred­i­ble hikes are one of the most afford­able won­ders on the plan­et – being large­ly free to enter and explore.  

You can how­ev­er expect some small costs ($5 — $10 USD) for areas with­in the Nation­al Park and the Del Norte Coast, Jede­di­ah Smith and Prairie Creek with the mon­ey being used to main­tain and look after the forestry area.  

You can also expect a small fee $10 USD for the two dri­ve in trees of the Shrine Tree and Chan­de­lier Tree and $5 for the Kla­math tree – which in our book for a chance to dri­ve through liv­ing Red­wood Trees and snap an unfor­get­table pho­to is a price worth pay­ing.  

You can expect accom­mo­da­tion around the red­woods and along both the Red­wood High­way and High­way 1 to begin form $50 usd a night and stretch to as much as $250 Usd for a night for those who fan­cy extreme com­fort. 

Alter­na­tive­ly, for those work­ing on a bit of a bud­get you can find more than 300 stun­ning camp­sites with­in the Red­wood Nation­al and State parks, includ­ing a num­ber of free sites, with camp­sites avail­able at the Nation­al Red­wood park and the state parks of Del Norte Coast, Jede­di­ah Smith and Prairie Creek  – includ­ing the amaz­ing spot on Gold Bluffs Beach which we’d real­ly rec­om­mend, all of which offer afford­able options to spent an incred­i­ble night beneath the red­woods – just be sure to book in advance and avoid pitch­ing a ham­mock between trees – which is strict­ly for­bid­den.  

Account­ing for food and accom­mo­da­tion, but leav­ing out the coast of flights to either San Fran­cis­co, Los Ange­les of Ore­gon where you can start your explo­ration, we’d advise bud­get­ing at least $50 USD a day for the Red­woods, for those tak­ing on the free camp­sites and pub­lic trans­port. With this num­ber increas­ing to $100 Usd a day for those tak­ing on the dri­ve through trees and paid accom­mo­da­tion and head­ing up to at least $125 for those tak­ing on the Red­wood High­way and High­way 1  — where things can get a lit­tle bit more expen­sive.  

Fun Fact:  

Along­side pro­vid­ing a stun­ning back­ground for count­less block­buster films – includ­ing Star Wars, Juras­sic Park and the Plan­et of the Apes films, the Red­wood For­est is home to not only the world’s largest tree – the mys­te­ri­ous Hype­r­i­on at a whop­ping 379 feet tall – found deep with­in the red­wood Nation­al Park as well being home to more than an esti­mat­ed 50% of the plan­ets remain­ing red­woods.  

Although only 5% of the old-growth coast red­wood for­est remains, a trip through these incred­i­ble for­est areas is a true joy and you can both re-trace and feel the his­to­ry as you pon­der upon these incred­i­ble trees that are known to have been present on the plan­et for more than 250 mil­lion years – and giv­en that they can live up to 2,000 years there’s some­thing spe­cial and inspir­ing about walk­ing amongst liv­ing forestry that will sure­ly out­live your­self.  

 

Best photo spot: 

The Red­wood Nation­al and State Parks are a true pho­tog­ra­phers dream – with these incred­i­ble tow­er­ing red­woods offer­ing not only a chance to cap­ture some of the most impres­sive and awe-inspir­ing nat­ur­al trees on the plan­et, but also com­bin­ing to offer sweep­ing stun­ning panoram­ic views stretch­ing to the hori­zon for tru­ly incred­i­ble shots.  

Com­bine these incred­i­ble views with some stun­ning wildlife and the absolute best of the Cal­i­forn­ian Coast and the Pacif­ic Ocean down the Red­wood High­way and High­way 1 and you’ll be tru­ly spoilt with stun­ning scenic views, vast sweep­ing panora­mas, and some of the best nature pho­tog­ra­phy spots on the plan­et.  

While so much of the Red­wood Nation­al and State Parks and the sur­round­ing areas are pho­to­genic, we’ve picked out our top pho­tog­ra­phy spots that just can’t be missed when explor­ing this incred­i­ble won­der of the world:  

 Drive Through Trees: Chandelier, Klamath and Shrine 

Start­ing with per­haps the most famous – and cer­tain­ly the most tourist pho­to spot in the whole of the Red­woods – you can enjoy the unique expe­ri­ence and pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty of dri­ving through a Red­wood – with a pho­to of your­self dri­ving through these Red­woods being one of the most fun and enjoy­able pho­to spots across the whole of the Red­wood Forests.  

Avail­able at the Chan­de­lier Tree, just south of Leggett and a slight de-tour of High­way 1, the Kla­math Tree found north of Eure­ka along the Red­wood High­way and at the Shrine Tree in Myers Flat along the Avenue of the Giants the chance to snap of a pho­to of your­self inside a Red­wood is a snap not to be missed when vis­it­ing the Red­wood For­est.  

The Redwoods and Giant Sequoia’s  

Although the exact loca­tion of the Hype­r­i­on remains a mys­tery deep with­in the Red­wood Nation­al Park, you do have the chance to walk amongst and snap the incred­i­ble Red­woods and Giant Sequoias as they tow­er more than 300 foot above you in this enchant­i­ng for­est.  

While any Red­wood and the many state parks are almost guar­an­teed to be pic­ture per­fect – and will require you to use a wide angle lens to cap­ture the full beau­ty of a Red­wood, we’d advise mak­ing spe­cial trip to take in the Giant Tree – which tru­ly lives up to its name – with­in the Hum­boldt park, the Corkscrew tree with­in the Prairie Creek park with its majes­tic twist­ing branch­es – or for the Hol­ly­wood buffs the famous Star Wars tree with­in Hum­boldt park – with each of these spe­cial trees cre­at­ing a per­fect pho­to to cap­ture the beau­ty of the Red­wood Trees.  

Stout Grove:

One of the majes­tic trails found with­in the Red­woods parks, Stout Grove encap­su­lates the beau­ty of the Jede­di­ah Smith Red­woods state park – and you can find stun­ning Red­woods and the free-flow­ing smith riv­er lead­ing you towards this incred­i­ble grove – where a series of giant 300 foot tall Red­woods await you – includ­ing the famous Fall­en Tree that makes for not only an inter­est­ing pho­to spot – but a great place to walk atop a Red­wood as you cap­ture your explo­ration in this won­der­ous Park.  

Fern Canyon:

A fit­ting con­clu­sion to both the James Irvine Trail, the Davi­son Road and the Fern Canyon Trail – the lush green­ery and scenic beau­ty of Fern Canyon with its vast wall Ferns and scenic creek was made famous in the Juras­sic Park Films – with its lush green­ery mak­ing for a stun­ning pho­to spot to cap­ture the full beau­ty of this tru­ly beau­ti­ful nature spot with­in the parks.  

 

Sunrise within the Parks (Tall Tress Grove): 

While vis­it­ing the Red­woods at any time is tru­ly spe­cial – watch­ing them come alive with the ris­ing sun that slow­ly pro­trudes through the many trunks of the tow­er­ing Red­woods is tru­ly some­thing else – and makes for not only awe-inspir­ing views but a mag­nif­i­cent pho­to shot.  

Eas­i­ly seen in any of the big four parks (Red­wood Nation­al, Del Norte Coast, Jede­di­ah Smith  and Prairie Creek state parks) at sun­rise on a clear day, the view as the sun ris­es is almost spir­i­tu­al and for a tru­ly spe­cial spot to cap­ture this phe­nom­e­non we’d rec­om­mend head­ing to the Tall Trees Grove area of the Red­wood Nation­al Park before sun­rise — where this stun­ning trail pro­vides the per­fect back­drop to pho­to­graph the unique and stun­ning sun ris­ing with­in the For­est.  

Gold Bluffs Beach:

Our pick of the Beach’s across the Red­wood State parks, Gold Bluffs Beach with­in Prairie Creek Red­woods State Park not only offers easy access to some stun­ning trails – includ­ing Fern Canyon and is home to some curi­ous wildlife includ­ing seals but fea­tures incred­i­ble scenic views over the Pacif­ic Ocean and the Cal­i­forn­ian Coast­line backed by some stun­ning views of Red­wood For­est – for an absolute­ly gor­geous pho­to spot.  

Tak­ing its name from the Bluffs that over­look it – it’s here you can cap­ture not only the beau­ty of Red­woods but the gor­geous land and cliffs meet­ing the sea for a tru­ly pic­ture per­fect shot – but for those who want to enjoy both a stun­ning sun­set and sun­rise pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty over this mag­i­cal spot on California’s Coast­line you can pitch your tent in the camp­site on the beach – and enjoy the absolute best of the Red­woods, Cal­i­forn­ian Coast­line and the beau­ti­ful Pacif­ic Ocean.  

Big Sur:

The quin­tes­sen­tial post­card pic­ture of High­way 1 and the beau­ti­ful red­woods, a stop along Big Sur comes at the cli­max of one of the most gor­geous and scenic sec­tions of High­way in the world – as you head down the Cal­i­forn­ian coast past tow­er­ing red­woods, sparkling beach­es and lush green­ery – with the beau­ty of the pacif­ic ocean accom­pa­ny­ing you.  

 While there’s no one over­look we’d rec­om­mend mak­ing time to hike to McWay falls and along the Ewold­sen Trail to explore Red­woods in this tru­ly spe­cial place before mak­ing mul­ti­ple stops at lay-bys and over­look stops where you can cap­ture this stun­ning vista for one of the most scenic and beau­ti­ful spots on the plan­et.  

 

High Bluff overlook:

Found on the looped Coastal Dri­ve as a de-tour off the Red­wood High­way just a mile out­side of Kla­math – High Bluff Over­look is a gor­geous spot and one of the best places along the whole of the Red­woods to go not only whale watch­ing but watch the sun­set over the beau­ti­ful Pacif­ic Ocean.  

Offer­ing gor­geous views of the famous White Rock nes­tled in the ocean – as well as majes­tic views of the rugged Cal­i­forn­ian coast­line and into Del Norte Coast Park, you’ll find High Bluff over­look is often qui­et and is a true secret Jew­el – with the sun­set views here being sec­ond to none not with­in Cal­i­for­nia but also across the world – mak­ing it a great place to cap­ture some incred­i­ble pho­tos.  

Crescent Beach Overlook:

A great stop with­in the Del Norte Coast Red­woods State Park along High­way 1, the view from the Cres­cent Beach Over­look is found on one of the most gor­geous stretch­es of High­way 1 – and lets you snap incred­i­ble views over not just Cres­cent Beach – but also a series of tide­pools, coast­line and of course the tow­er­ing Red­woods that lie with­in view from this beach spot.  

Found just shy of the quaint town of Cres­cent City, we’d advise get­ting to this over­look as ear­ly as pos­si­ble – as not only will you be treat­ed to a majes­tic sun­rise and an almost desert­ed stun­ning beach – but if you’re lucky they’ll by a colony of seals there to greet you, who are often more than hap­py to pose to add an extra touch of mag­ic onto your pho­to from this incred­i­ble over­look.  

Redwood Creek Overlook:

A fan­tas­tic spot to cap­ture sweep­ing views of the Red­wood Forests in all their glo­ry from above – the Red­wood Creek Over­look is found with­in the Red­wood Nation­al Park and it’s the view from this van­tage point that you’ll have seen on the post­cards of the Red­woods, with the ele­vat­ed posi­tion of the Red­wood Creek Over­look allow­ing explor­ers and pho­tog­ra­phers to cap­ture – when the weath­er con­di­tions are right – the ear­ly morn­ing or late fog descend­ing over the Red­wood For­est — mak­ing for a stun­ning pho­to of the giants of the Red­woods pro­trud­ing through the mist.  

An over­look that overs views of not just the For­est but also the Pacif­ic Ocean – cre­at­ing a fas­ci­nat­ing land­scape as the For­est meets the Sea – the Red­wood Creek Over­look is a great place to come at sun­set where you can cap­ture a tru­ly stun­ning pho­to of Red­wood For­est stretch­ing to the hori­zon for what is one of the most glo­ri­ous and beau­ti­ful views of the won­der of the world that is the Red­wood Nation­al and State Parks.