The Coastal Trail

DeMartin Section

Length 12.6 mi · Climbing 2370 ft

California > Redwood National and State Parks > Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park

Red alders on the Coastal Trail

Background

Much like the Last Chance Section, this out-and-back hike starts at the beach and climbs through a variety of attractive mixed-species forests before entering old-growth redwood uplands. The DeMartin section, however, feels less like an old road and a lot more like a real singletrack trail; the redwood section in particular was obviously built as a footpath. The DeMartin Section is also more scenic, with its sunny meadows and old-growth spruce in the first half and better-looking redwoods in the second. Overall it's perhaps the second-nicest part of the Coastal Trail in Redwood National and State Parks, after the long, spectacular stretch of Gold Bluffs Beach in Prairie Creek.

Perhaps because the trail is on the dryer east side of the ridge, the old growth that you'll see is a run-of-the-mill redwood upland and not the primeval, fogbound redwood forest that you'd see on the upper part of the Damnation Creek Trail or in Jedediah Smith park,. It's still very scenic, though.

The trail is little-used and can be a bit overgrown, but it's easy to follow. There are, unfortunately, few ocean views. A few glimpses through the woods suggest that, if the views weren't blocked, they'd be amazing.

Click map to show all trails and roads
Part of the Trail Map of Redwood National and State Parks (Redwood Hikes Press, 2009)

Hike description

Start at the Wilson Creek parking lot, which is on the west side of Highway 101 across from the Redwood AYH Hostel. If you're driving north, the parking lot is at the point where Highway 101 begins to climb into Del Norte Redwoods.

To reach the trailhead, you can either ford Wilson Creek or walk on the side of Highway 101, across the bridge and over the creek. The trail begins by climbing a knoll covered in a very attractive, bright and open forest of white-barked red alders and light-grey hemlock. Rounding the top of the knoll, there are some views of a large seastack. Traffic noise drifts up from Highway 101. As the trail begins to descend you'll see a large, deep valley ahead, but fortunately the trail doesn't descend all the way to the bottom of the valley. Instead, the trail crosses a saddle and begins to climb again. At one point the trail switchbacks through a grove of immense spruce trees, passing through once, then switchbacking to pass through again.

The trail breaks out of the woods for a time. Grass grows on the trail and there may be no visible tread, but it's still clear where you're supposed to go.

Much of the Coastal Trail is overgrown with grass and other groundcover

Older maps show a split in the trail just before the DeMartin campground. The left branch, which bypassed the campground, no longer seems to exist. This is unfortunate since it passed by a scenic little pond, which you can still see through the woods.

The trail passes by the DeMartin Campground. Some of the sites are wooded, while others are sunny. It's one of the nicer environmental campgrounds in RNSP, although it does get a little traffic noise. After the campground the trail descends slightly, then begins an insistent climb. Soon the trail enters the redwoods. Because this is a natural redwood boundary, the trees are on the small side at first, but as the trail crests a ridge, you enter full-blown old-growth uplands. There's no traffic noise at all on this side of the ridge, and the forest is very open, with some good-sized trees. There are a lot of rhododendrons here; a few stretches are densely-packed with the trees and must be quite a sight during the spring bloom. The groundcover is a lush mixture of ferns and, in some areas, redwood sorrel.

The trail meanders around many gullies, remaining more or less level. The trail is not overgrown in the redwoods, although in winter and spring it might be littered with fallen trees and debris. As you approach the end, the trail climbs to the ridgetop. The forest loses its openness as an understory of huckleberry closes in around the trail. The trail crests the ridge and descends to Highway 101.

Old-growth redwoods on the Coastal Trail