Page 138 - 2020 Travel Guide to California

REDWOOD COAST PARKS
Home of the world’s tallest trees
»
EXPLORE,
HIKE, PADDLE,
WANDER
Redwood Coast Parks
Visitor Information
redwoodcoastparks.com
TALL TREES GROVE, above; sea kayaking
in Trinidad, below.
REACHING MORE THAN 350 FEET
skyward, coast redwoods are the tallest
living things on the planet, forming forest
cathedrals where the only sounds other
than your footsteps are often the songs of
elusive birds or perhaps the bugling of Roo-
sevelt elk.
Located in California’s upper northwest,
Redwood National Park and contiguous
state parks form an unbroken reserve for
these swaying giants, many higher than a
30-story building. And these remarkably
verdant groves are often nearly deserted, a
stark contrast to the bustling hordes that
parade through redwood groves closer to
urban centers, such as Muir Woods near
San Francisco.
Less than five percent of the West’s old-
growth redwood forests remain, but at
Redwood National and State Parks you can
walk for miles and miles, craning your neck
or reclining on the soft forest floor. Ten of
the sixteen tallest trees in the world live
here, including the 380-foot Hyperion. To
protect this tree the park doesn’t share its
location, but you can see several other
giants in the park’s Tall Trees Grove, a four-
mile-roundtrip hike with a steep 800-foot
136 2020 TRAVEL GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA
B Y M I C H A E L S H A P I R O
descent to Redwood Creek. Equally stun-
ning trees can be seen by hiking the less
strenuous and more accessible Prairie
Creek Foothill Trail Loop.
Why drive five hours north from San
Francisco to the Redwood parks when you
can travel 40 minutes to Muir Woods?
“There is a singularity and order of magni-
tude,” says former park ranger turned
redwood advocate Richard Stenger. “It’s the
forest equivalent of being on top of Mount
Everest.” On the way, you can explore the
Avenue of the Giants, a 31-mile detour off
Highway 101 that weaves through towering
redwood trees.
To make the most of a trip here, visitors
should spend three days in the area. Day
1: take in the gargantuan redwoods (entry
to the Redwood parks is free). Day 2:
explore Fern Canyon, the setting for a
Jurassic Park film, which Stenger calls “a
living remnant from the dinosaur age.”
Day 3: relax on nearby beaches. Big Lagoon
State Park offers a chance to fish, swim
(the water is chilly) or kayak. A hidden
gem is Agate Beach near Patrick’s Point,
which sparkles with sea-polished semi-
precious stones.
DREW HYLAND/REWDOOD COAST PARKS; KAYAK TRINIDAD