MikeImmerse yourself into the lush forest. Find and admire some of the tallest trees on the planet. Be on the lit side of the force, while hiking this mystic woodland. Feel how small you really are while being surrounded by giants, and understand how fragile and valuable this ecosystem really is. Enjoy the dramatic and wildly beautiful Northern Californian seaboard. Welcome to the Redwood Coast, an unparalleled place to be.!
The Redwood Coast is located in the northwestern corner of California. It runs north, from the city of San Francisco to the Oregon State border. The Redwood National and State parks are mid-way between Eureka and Crescent cities, by the Pacific coast. If you decide to get here by car, the drive is just astonishing. The U.S. 101 is the main highway to get here. Just driving the magnificent coast, coming from the north or south makes the trip worthwhile!
My time here took place, during a working trip, by myself. Probably like you, I also heard about the giant beautiful trees that make these parts widely known. I got to the area by car and first stayed in the city of Eureka, which has a quite large number of Victorian houses, and stayed at the Eureka Inn, a Tudor-style, quite singular hotel, visited by US presidents, and celebrities (whyndhamhotels.com 2021) that is quite charming, but really gives you the chills at night 🙁 (not for the easily-frightened!).
The next day, visited Trinidad State beach, which is a little over twenty miles north from Eureka. It was so worth it! Watching the huge waves hitting the rocky beaches was something! Besides the occasional surfers, not many tourists were present. I brought a small lunch, and it was just right for me!
The following days on and off work, got a chance to coast, while driving Highway 1. Got to Westport and Fort Bragg. As I mentioned above, the California coast is quite dramatic and is just wildly beautiful here. I got caught by the afternoon coastal gloom so typical of the West Coast, and adding the abrupt twists of the road, made this part of the trip a little unnerving!
The following days, while driving the US 101, I got glimpses of the redwood trees. Also noticed occasional wildfire smoke. The biggest wildfire in California history, the million-acre August Complex fire was raging not far from this region, and I witnessed how huge it was from the air, while flying to Sacramento. The Cal-Fire trucks were just everywhere. It really made me think about the sheer size of this problem. We will address this topic in a future post.
I committed my last two days here to visiting the Redwood National and State Parks, According to the National Park Service site (2021), if coming by air, your best bet is to fly to Crescent City, or McKinleyville, CA, or Medford, OR for airports at about a hundred miles from the parks. The international airports of Sacramento and San Francisco are farther away, at about 300 miles, respectively.
Like in any other national park in the US, you pay your entrance fee at the gate, receive or get access to a map, and have a chance to chat with a ranger at the visitor center. Based on his feedback, I planned to walk a few hike trails that would take me to the main attractions (they have a number of options, depending on your schedule). After parking, then hiking through indescribably pristine woods, it took about 2 miles / 3 km. to get to a point on the map labeled “Big Tree“, not particularly revealing in a place where every tree around you is just enormous. But “Big Tree” was actually quite something. With a sign that stated 286 feet / 87.2 meters in height, 23.7 ft. / 7.2 mt. in diameter, 74.5 ft / 22.7 mt. circumference, and an estimated age of 1500 years, Big Tree surely earned my respect, just to later find out that there were several surrounding trees that were actually taller, larger, and even older. It is hard to describe the feeling of wonder and awe that the Redwoods give. I know something for sure: You have never seen trees this tall before!
Real Story:
Many movies have been filmed here. An insanely-famous one, filmed decades-ago, deals with the sixth chapter of a saga that took place in a distant galaxy, with a tribe of strange little cute alien bears participating, and the son of a black-helmeted villain and his friends riding floating motorcycles, while waging laser battles. (not that we mind copyright law here 🙂 ). They actually have specifically marked areas in the park featuring the names of characters. A movie fan or not, the woods will surely captivate you!
The Redwood Coast in California, you got to see it to believe it!
References:
-National Park Service (2021)
https://www.nps.gov/redw/index.htm
-whyndhamhotels.com. 2021 “Eureka Inn, Trademark Collection by Wyndham”
https://www.wyndhamhotels.com/trademark/eureka-california/eureka-inn-trademark-collection/overview
thank you!