Redwood
NATIONAL PARK
By DIENEKE
Redwood National Park was one stop along a one-week road trip from Portland, Oregon to northern California. Redwood National and State Parks reside in the North Coast of California and Oregon. The North Coast is a loosely defined region from about Ukiah, CA inland and Fort Bragg, CA on the coast, extending to Josephine County in Oregon. Traveling south on US-101, you’ll notice a distinct change in vegetation from the Douglas-fir/coast redwood forests in Oregon to California oak woodlands. It’s a beautifully scenic drive in and out of sunny Pacific coastland and towering giant trees. The parks also protects vast prairies, oak woodlands, wild river-ways, and nearly 40-miles of rugged coastline.
The Park warns:
“Be aware that some on-line maps and GPS units do not have accurate coverage of the Redwood National and State Parks area. Many visitors trying to reach specific locations in the park have been misdirected to islolated towns, logging roads in adjacent forests, or onto private property. We recommend that people use a reputable printed map while heading to and at the parks.”
I advise using nps.gov!
We enjoyed the beautifully scenic US-101 and stopped at many lookouts. While this was early June, the traffic wasn’t too terrible and the trails weren’t too busy. It helps that this park is sprawling along the northern California coast, so the concentration of people is spread among many pull-outs, trails and day-use areas. We were traveling with our new pup Lola, so there wasn’t too much we could do as we do follow the BARK rules, but we did as much as we were allowed.
We were staying at Elk Prairie Campground so we continued the scenic drive and got out to do one hike that was fairly quick so that Lola wasn’t alone too long in the car (windows cracked of course, with a cool breeze).
The Lady Bird Johnson Grove Trail is an easy, flat 1 mile loop. You can pick up a brochure at the start of the trail and follow along the marked posts to guide you through the route. You will wind through old-growth redwood, Douglas-fir and tanoak. In spring, rhododendrons and azaleas are popping, and during the autumn months, big-leaf maple are turning their bold colors. It’s a great way to get up close and personal to these enormous trees.
We would pass much more on our way back north to Oregon but would not even experience a fraction of what this Park has to offer. If you like to feel dwarfed among some of the largest organisms on our planet, Redwood is the Park for you. You can feel the strength and history in the earth below as you look up to the sky and squint at the canopy. How long it took humans to figure out the skyscraper while these towers have been standing for centuries.
