Where to fly into for redwood national park
36 Hours in Redwood National Park: Exploring the Best Hikes, Groves and Trees
Redwood National Park is a series of
state parks and groves located in
between Eureka and Crescent City in
Northwest California while an amazing
park which encompasses over 45% of the
remaining coastal redwoods this park
doesn't get visited as much because it's
outside of the normal touristy areas of
California Aimee and I made the five and
a half hour drive from San Francisco and
spent 36 hours exploring the park here's
what we did we're leaving our hotel in
Eureka and spanning the next 36 hours in
Redwood National Park we got a hotel on
the south side of Eureka the night
before and then headed out early in the
morning to explore the park it was about
a 30-minute drive along the coast to the
sign that noted the park entrance we're
now officially entering redwoods
National Park and then another ten
minutes to the visitor center in the
town of auric basically any time you're
in the park though keep an eye out for
elk as we saw a bunch as we were driving
through in the morning this is our first
stop in the park it's a visitor center
to plan out what we're gonna explore
today and to get the code to go to tall
trees grove the visitor center is a good
first stop in the park is it's a great
way to learn about the area's history
and ask any questions of the Rangers
since the park is big and spread out
making it a little bit hard to get to
everything
after getting the code from the Rangers
we headed out on the 45-minute drive to
the tall trees grove trailhead on the
way up this is the Redwood Creek
overlook it's a great pull off with some
amazing views on to the tall trees grove
the road to tall trees grove has a
locked gate and so you have to go to the
visitor center check in with them fill
out a permit and get the code to go
through the gate and get access to the
trailhead permit is required to come
back here don't come back here without
getting a permit and without getting the
numbers to get into the gate six and a
half miles down a dirt road we went slow
and the dirt road was easily passable by
a two-wheel drive car when we went but
be sure to check if you go after a storm
we got to the visitor center about 10
minutes after they opened I hope you
know in here there's already like five
cars but we're heading out on the 4 mile
trail up to tall trees grove tall trees
grove is an awesome trail easily one of
my favorites in the entire park I have a
video just on this trail in the
description so these clips are just the
highlights this is the famous point of
interest on this hike hits a tree that
you can walk right through this is a
reverse hike so it's eight hundred feet
of elevation down and then back up when
you're coming back to your car after
about a mile and a half walking downhill
we finally made it to the tall trees
grove loop the one-mile loop here is
incredible taking you some truly massive
coastal redwoods some large ferns and
some moss covered trees on the other
side apparently this tree
just came out ground I liked splintered
crazy made it back to the split and now
it's 1.5 miles back to the car
saying goodbye to the Grove now we get
to hike uphill to the car almost out be
sure to take advantage of these benches
when you get them it's steep on the way
up we made it out of tall trees grove
onto the next part of the park thanks
for letting me out from there was about
a 35 minute drive to our next stop in
the park stop number two in the park
Lady Bird Johnson Grove Lady Bird
Johnson Grove is one of the parks most
popular hiking trails because it's a
short gradual trail with lots of
beautiful trees in an easy parking area
we're heading out and go either
direction but we're gonna go that way
the hike is great for families as well
as there's an interpretive guide that
you can buy for a dollar which tells you
all about the area and has different
numbers that represent things in the
guide if you're short on time this is
probably the best thing to do in the
park it's only a mile and a half you get
to see a lot of big trees but the groves
not as impressive as the Grove that we
saw earlier this morning
[Music]
amy has been reading the trail guide and
she has a fact to share with us redwoods
are capable of growing up to 360 feet
tall and they gave most of their height
in the first hundred years whoa that big
redwood fact thanks Amy
this is a great area right in the middle
of the trail there's some benches some
information plaques and some massive
trees a lot of the information here
talks about how the redwoods were saved
over the last century and I for one am
glad for the work that people have done
is this is an amazing place to explore
another fact for us it's very hard to
kill a redwood tree they're very
resilient
[Music]
it is pretty cool to be able to be so
close to these big trees on this trail
so we are finishing our time in Lady
Bird Johnson Grove amy has one more fact
for us this Grove is over 300 acres and
was dedicated to Lady Bird Johnson in
1969 well done on to the next spot from
there we got back on the 101 and headed
up to Newton B jury scenic Parkway which
is in Prairie Creek redwood State Park
this ten mile scenic drive parallels
Highway 101 and goes right through the
park providing great access to the hikes
and groves look at how this highway that
we are driving right now you used to
look pretty cool I don't think I want to
drive that though what about you looks a
little bumpy while you're on the scenic
highway be sure to stop and take in some
of the groves and short trails that they
have we're doing the tenth of a mile
trail to Big Tree this 10th of mile
trail is one that you must do if you're
driving through this area it's short but
it has amazing massive redwoods on both
sides of the trail plus at the end
you'll gets a big tree which is 74 feet
in circumference and 268 feet tall it's
definitely something you have to see
while you're in Redwood National Park we
made it to the big tree of course there
are a lot more groves and trails to see
in this section but this is all we got
to check out while we are in this part
of the park
we're leaving the Scenic Byway there are
a ton of great hikes there if you have
the time but even if you don't get off
the freeway and take this drive it's
beautiful and you'll definitely enjoy it
on to the next spot for us we were
heading on to our next spot but we saw
this sign and amy is a huge fan of
smoked salmon jerky can't wait to try it
so we're gonna give it a try candy this
is smoked salmon here Hey look at that
salmon right really good smoked salmon
candy delicious after grabbing salmon it
was about a 10 minute drive to a coastal
viewpoint this is our second to last
stop of the day the Klamath River
overlook the Klamath River overlook is a
great quick stop and there are amazing
coastal views in both directions here
there are also hiking trails down to the
beach but we didn't go in any of them on
this trip we just took it all in from
above
on the way to the next stop don't forget
to pull out and take a picture with Paul
Bunyan and his Blue Ox babe this is
trees of mystery it's a fun spot to stop
with the whole family but we're heading
to our last growth before ending the day
from the Kalama the river overlook it's
about a 50 minute drive to stout Grove I
had never been here before though so
this was high on my list to check out
after driving the one lane road to get
to the trailhead we arrived at the Grove
right when the Sun was starting to set
we've made it to the north part of the
park more at our last stop of the day
stout Grove stout Grove is only a half
mile round-trip but it's one of the most
photogenic groves in all of California
we've reached the half mile loop trail
that'll take us through this Grove I
think this must be one of the biggest
trees in the area
there's no plaque or anything but it's a
big tree this grove is located in
Jedediah Smith redwood State Park and it
has trees that reach up to 300 feet tall
I have to say the tall trees trail was
probably my favorite thing we've done
today but this is definitely the best
Grove I agree
Aimee agrees that was a long day one
well we're gonna get dinner head back to
the hotel and we will see you tomorrow
day two we're leaving our hotel in
klamath and we're gonna spend a few more
hours in the park after leaving the
hotel we drove 20 minutes south and then
turned off on the mostly dirt road that
would take us another 20 minutes - fern
canyon you do have to pay an $8 entrance
fee to get to this part of the park but
it's well worth it for how amazing this
area is watch out for elk Phil until you
from here we drove along the beach and
through the water crossing you have to
do to get to the trailhead and I
definitely wouldn't recommend it in a
two-wheel drive car but you can watch
another video that I have in the
description that talks all about fern
canyon as well we're heading out on the
trail it's about a mile and a half
through fern canyon I haven't been here
in like five years so I'm really excited
to check it out fern canyon is where
they filmed one scene from Jurassic Park
the lost world and the entire area looks
like something you would see in the
movie Jurassic Park it's chilly when the
water level is low the best way to
experience the canyon is just to walk
through it all the way back it's about a
half mile to get through the main
section of fern canyon what do you think
of Frank and is as still as good as you
thought it was yeah even better than I
remembered it nice fern canyon is a
truly awe-inspiring part of redwoods
National Park
we're leaving the main enclosed section
of fern canyons such an incredible trail
we're gonna connect with the trail that
goes around the outside and walk back to
the car of course you could just turn
around and walk back through the canyon
that's why I did last time I was here
but I wanted to see this section of the
trail so we decided to head up the upper
part of the trail doesn't give you any
views down into fern canyon but it's
beautiful as well with moss covered
branches and even an elevated boardwalk
at the end right at the end of the trail
there's a cool overlook back towards
where you started we're heading to our
last spot in Redwood National Park the
same fern canyon parking area also has
to trail down to gold Bluffs Beach if
you have the time come down to Gold
Beach you can walk to it from the
parking area or you can actually camp
out here and spend more of the day if
you want to this Beach is an impressive
place to explore as it has beautiful
views and there's almost never anyone on
it but this isn't our last stop in the
park so on to our last stop on the way
back to 101 we stopped off at Elk Grove
and we're doing our last hike of the
trip Trillian Falls Trillium Falls Trail
that way this trail is actually 2.5
miles roundtrip but we're just gonna go
up to Trillium Falls and back and that's
about a mile round-trip as you can see
we did a lot while we were in the park
so we cut this trail short but it ended
up being one of the most beautiful and I
can't wait to come back and hike the
whole thing it's mind-blowing how
amazing the trails in this park are
we've been on some great ones already
but check this out or right next to
redwoods this is a good trail as well
the half mile de Trillium Falls took us
past some big trees and some nice shaded
groves
trillium Falls not a super tall
waterfall but it's pretty cool with all
the fall leaves Plus this trails already
been pretty amazing
thanks so much for exploring with us
hopefully you enjoyed seeing redwoods
national park get up here and see it for
yourself it's amazing part to explore
you can read more at California through
my lens calm and we'll see you guys on
the next video
