Redwood National Park
Redwood National & State Park is a complex of several State and National Parks located along the coast of northern California compromising Redwood National Park, California’s Del Norte Coast, Jedediah Smith and Prairie Creek Redwood State Park.
The park felt unique to me in the sense that it was not centralized like the others. This one was more spread out and dotted throughout with small towns. It’s the only park I am missing a souvenir magnet for, simply because we never saw any signs of a visitor center.
After being stranded in Portland for a few days due to car trouble. Finally we were back on the road! “Buster” had new brakes and rotors so we drove southbound all day on the famous highway 101, also known as the Pacific Highway. An absolute gorgeous stretch of road. The Oregon coast proved to be quite impressive and had an abundance of scenic lookouts, massive sand dunes and breath taking lighthouse’s like the one pictured below, Yaquina Head.
Oregon was much more scenic than expected but I was ready to see what California had to offer!
We crossed the California state line pretty late in the afternoon. As usual, we had absolutely no clue where we would be staying the night. So I just kept driving, hoping that we would find some vacancy somewhere.
We blew through Crescent City, (which in retrospect was a mistake) and continued southbound despite being exhausted. After 20 more miles we saw signs for Klamath and decided we should stop here. Fully unaware that we had driven right by Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park and Del Norte Coast Redwood State Park. It had been dark and neither of us noticed anything worth stopping for.
We stopped at a campground outside of Klamath, population 779. They had one vacant spot left, sandwiched right in-between two large groups with more kids running around than I could count.
“No way! We aren’t staying here”
We ended up at Ravenwood Motel, and would highly recommend. Old fashioned vibes, friendly service (despite it being late), and most importantly a comfortable bed! Something I had been dreaming about after a full day in the car.
After breakfast the hotel owner recommend we see the famous redwood that you can drive your car through. Sounds cool, but at the time we saw it as a bullshit, overpriced tourist trap so we continued south on 101. Ten minutes later I realized I had forgotten my phone. So we went back to Ravenwood, got my phone and headed out again. Only to realize I had also forgotten my camera charger, back to Ravenwood.
Rough start but we were all smiles and we hadn’t even seen anything mind-blowing, yet!
A few miles south of Klamath we turned off onto the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway. Seconds later I was completely caught off guard and at a loss of words! Never in my life had I laid eyes upon something of this scale, especially a tree! I drove “Buster” off to the side of the road at the first opportunity I had.
Hardly able to contain my excitement I leaped out of the car to make sure these massive Redwoods were real and I wasn’t still dreaming back at Ravenwood.
Buster playing hide and seek in Redwood National Park
We decided to take a short hike further into the redwoods. I already had came to the conclusion that my neck would be sore by the end of the day. I couldn’t help but stare up at these towering giants!
Im not sure what the name of the trail was but it doesn’t matter. As far as I’m concerned trails through Redwood National Park should all just be named “the mind-blowing trail”.
At most national parks each hiking trail offers a unique taste of the parks scenery. Making it difficult to decide if you are limited on time. Here, deciding was easy because it didn’t matter. Hell, you could pull your car off the road and walk any direction for five minutes and feel like stepped back into pre-historic times! It wasn’t long after we had gotten back on the road before we saw quite a few cars lined on the edge of the road up-ahead. As always, we stopped to see what the commotion was all about.
The Big Tree!
I’ll tell you just how big the BIG TREE really is, incase you can’t see the sign.
Height: 286 feet (87 meters)
Diameter: 23.7 feet (7.2 meters)
Circumference: 74.5 feet (22.7 meters)
Estimated Age: 1500 years
To put things into perspective the picture above was taken with a iPhone on “panoramic mode”
The big tree was definitely a mind-blower but all the trees seemed too big to be real. I was also surprised at the lack of crowds, especially at such an accessible attraction, only a 5 minute walk from the scenic parkway.
Redwoods are so big they don’t even care if they get struck by lightning!
Eventually the Newton B. Drury Scenic parkway ended and we were forced to get back on highway 101. If you have already seen Redwood National Park and weren’t that impressed, feel free to tell me I’m crazy but I was still at a loss for words.
Little did we know the show wasn’t over!
Like I said, this park differed from the others. In total we saw 12 parks on this trip and this was the only one we never had a physical park map or brochure for. I’m sure there is one to be found online but doing research wasn’t our strong suit, winging it was!
Avenue of the Giants
So technically the Avenue of Giants isn’t considered a part of Redwood National Park. The avenue is actually 80 miles south at Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Doesn’t matter though, they are equally impressive and mind-blowing. The avenue of the giants is similar to the newton scenic parkway but three times longer (31 miles total).
I will say it was a tough road to drive. It was and extremely narrow and twisted road. But the blinding rays of sunlight making their way through the trees is what posed the biggest nuisance for me.
Overall
I couldn’t tell you where Redwood National Park begins or ends. But I can tell you that this area should be at the top of your list!
Going into it I didn’t expect much from this particular park but I left a different person. The native oak trees back home in Texas always had seemed pretty big to me; but now I look at them like they are shrubs compared to the might redwoods!
Feeling tiny at Redwood National & State Park!
Have you been to Redwood National Park? Did you find the redwoods as mind-blowing as I did?
If you haven’t been has this made you want to visit?
If giant trees aren’t your thing be sure to check out the rest of the National Parks here!
*Also a HUGE shout out to the Jiffy Lube Brake Check in Tigard, Oregon. We showed up 5 minutes before closing time on a Friday; and every single employee was extremely polite, friendly and seemed legitimately interested to help anyway they could. They were fair, honest and went out of their way to get us back on the road. Being stranded and along ways from home they easily could have tried to rip us off and they didn’t. I wish I remembered all of them but I remember the managers name was Kenny and there was another guy named Scott (I believe). So all my people in the Pacific North West, if you car shits out you know where to take it!
Davidsons Cafe next door is also a solid place to grab breakfast!
One last picture of me, being me!
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Some really fantastic info , Sword lily I noticed this. “The Diplomat sits in silence, watching the world with his ears.” by Leon Samson.
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