The Tall Trees Grove

Length 3.9 mi · Climbing 690 ft

California > Redwood National and State Parks > Redwood National Park

Background

The Tall Trees Grove is an small old-growth grove with some big trees. For sheer scenic beauty it doesn't compare with the magnificent lowland groves of Prairie Creek or Jedediah Smith, but the Tall Trees grove has a character of its own. First-time visitors with limited time should skip this grove since it takes three or four hours of driving and hiking to get there and back from Kuchel Visitor Center.

The Tall Trees Grove is located on a thin strip of flat land in the bend of a creek. The flat is too narrow to produce a really spectacular cathedral-like grove. The forest is mixed-species (not pure redwood) and not particularly lush.

The grove's main attraction is the Libbey Tree, which at one time was the world's tallest known living thing. Although taller trees have since been found, the Libbey Tree still interesting because it's the only one of the former Tallest Trees that you can actually see. The locations of all the other tallest trees have been kept secret. Like the other tallest trees, the Libbey Tree itself is completely unremarkable when seen from the ground, a double trunk so small that you probably won't believe you're looking at the right tree.

Directions

To visit the grove you first have to get a permit from Kuchel Information Center just south of Orick. The permit includes a parking pass and a gate combination. A limited number of permits are available each day, but even on summer weekends it's unusual for them to run out.

To reach the grove, drive up Bald Hills Road past the Lady Bird Johnson Trail and the Redwood Creek overlook. The six-mile-long "C-Line" dirt road starts at a mosquito-infested gate that you have to unlock, and then descends through logged woodlands, ending at a trailhead parking lot. The road is generally in good condition with the exception of some potholes.

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Hike description

The access trail descends steeply from the parking lot, almost immediately entering old-growth redwood uplands. Some attractive redwoods, bleached white and rising tall and straight from the steep hillside, can be seen both alongside the trail and in the distance, but overall the access trail is unexciting. A dense understory of huckleberry, rhododendron, and small redwoods screens the view, and a dense layer of ferns covers the ground.

The access trail bottoms out amid a cluster of huge redwoods, one of the most impressive parts of the Tall Trees grove. The path turns right and branches. Keeping right, you'll pass a number of monster trees, but most of the redwoods are smaller and the understory is dense. Overall the grove is ordinary-looking, lacking the openness and cathedral-like appearance found in many other lowland redwood groves.

Maple trees on The Tall Trees Loop

At the far end of the grove, the Redwood Creek trail branches off to the right. A superb collection of big trees grows around this spot, one of the grove's best areas. The trail then turns left and skirts the edge of the redwoods on its way back. At one point the trail leaves the redwoods altogether, winding among the big twisted maples, furry with moss, that grow alongside the creek. The trail then re-enters the redwoods, passing by the surprisingly small Libbey Tree before re-joining the access trail.

It's a surprisingly difficult climb back to the parking lot, with a steep and unrelenting grade.

The Tall Trees Grove