Redwood National Park

Home of the world's tallest tree

California > Redwood National and State Parks

The Lost Man Creek Trail

Redwood National and State Parks has four units: Prairie Creek, Del Norte, and Jedediah Smith State Parks, and Redwood National Park. Most people use the name "Redwood National Park" to refer to all four units together, but I use the name in its official sense to refer only to the Redwood National Park unit, excluding the state parks.

Redwood National Park doesn't have a lot of old-growth redwood trails, and the trails that do exist aren't as impressive as those in the state parks. This is partly because the state parks were acquired much earlier, beginning in the 1920s. By the time Redwood National Park was acquired beginning in the 1960s, most of the really spectacular old growth had either been purchased for the state parks or logged. What's more, the National Park Service avoids building trails in the most pristine old-growth areas of Redwood National Park, reserving these areas for conservation and scientific study. As a result, most of the park's trails pass either through second growth, through old-growth areas that have small redwoods or lack redwoods altogether, or through small patches of old growth.

The park has much more of a wilderness feel than the state parks. While the state park trails often run within earshot of busy roads, Redwood National Park's trails usually have no traffic noise whatsoever and few other hikers.

The most prominent part of Redwood National Park is the huge swath of the Redwood Creek basin at the south end of the park. This basin includes one of the park's best-known features, the Tall Trees Grove. In this grove is the Libbey Tree, which in the 1960s was, at 368 feet tall, the world's tallest known tree. Taller trees were later found in other parks, but in 2006 the Redwood Creek basin once again became the site of the record holder when the 379-foot-tall "Hyperion" tree was discovered. Hyperion's location is kept secret since even slight root damage from visitors would likely result in its top dying off. My guess is that it's in the Tom McDonald Creek valley a few miles from the Tall Trees Grove. In any event, the tree is not near any trail and can only be reached by bushwacking through very difficult terrain.

The Redwood Creek basin has a network of equestrian trails in the hills west of Redwood Creek. These trails are a mixed bag of dirt logging roads and singletrack, with dismal logged redwood forests interspersed with attractive alder groves and a few small patches of old-growth redwoods. Most of these trails are in good condition, but a few are faint and it's easy to get lost since the trails are long and poorly signed. There are a lot of intersections with other logging roads that aren't shown on trail maps and aren't marked with signs. A GPS is really useful here.

The northern end of Redwood National Park features a large portion of the Mill Creek watershed. Acquired in 2002, this area was almost entirely clearcut in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. It has an extensive network of mostly unattractive logging roads, some of which have been converted into loop trails.

The Redwood Creek Trail

Old-growth redwood hikes

*** Emerald Ridge and Tall Trees (length 5.5 miles; climbing 700 feet)
A more memorable and interesting variation on the Tall Trees hike, this loop includes a few miles of walking along the wide, gravelly stream bed of Redwood Creek, and some splashing through the shallow water. This loop can only be hiked in summer.

*** The Lady Bird Johnson Grove Nature Trail (length 1.4 miles; climbing 100 feet)
The most popular trail in the park, this short loop leads through an attractive ridgetop grove of large redwoods.

*** The Trillium Falls Trail (length 2.8 miles; climbing 440 feet)
This trail leads through a small patch of old growth on the side of Highway 101. There's a lot of traffic noise but the redwoods are actually pretty impressive.

** The Tall Trees Grove (length 3.9 miles; climbing 690 feet)
Once home to the world's tallest known tree, this small grove requires a special permit, a one-hour drive, and a 1.4-mile walk to access. After all that, the grove is not particularly scenic.

Other hikes

*** The Redwood Creek Trail
One of the more popular backcountry trails in the park, the Redwood Creek Trail mostly leads through creekside forest that hasn't been logged but is also naturally devoid of redwoods.

*** The Dolason Prairie Trail
This scenic trail climbs through old-growth redwoods, then breaks out into a prairie with dramatic views of the Redwood Creek basin. The climb is long and insistent, but the gradient is gentle.

Getting to Redwood National Park

Except for the equestrian trails, all trailheads in the Redwood Creek basin are off Bald Hills Road. From Arcata, drive north on Highway 101 about 40 miles. Just north of the run-down little town of Orick is the well-marked Bald Hills Road / Lady Bird Johnson Grove turnoff.

Kuchel Visitor Center, on the beach just south of Orick, serves as the main visitor center for Redwood National and State Parks. It's open from 9 am - 5 pm except in winter (November - February), when it's open from 9 am - 4 pm.

There's no charge to visit Redwood National Park, but the Tall Trees grove requires a permit from Kuchel Visitor Center.