Redwood National and State Parks
Jedediah Smith, Del Norte, Prairie Creek, and Redwood National Park
Crescent City’s Battery Point Lighthouse, with the bluffs of Del Norte Coast Redwoods in the background
California's North Coast has the biggest and tallest redwoods, the lushest, most scenic woodland, and the best hiking trails. If you can spend at least three or four days taking a trip to the redwoods, this is the place to go.
Although you might think that the most spectacular redwoods would be in Redwood National Park, in fact they’re in three smaller state-owned parks: Jedediah Smith, Del Norte, and Prairie Creek Redwoods. These parks were acquired before the area was logged, so they have the largest and most pristine tracts of old-growth redwoods.
Each park has its own unique character, so it’s worthwhile to spend at least a little time visiting each one.
About the parks
Select a park for more information.
★★★★★
Jedediah Smith
Redwoods State Park
The most scenic of all redwood forests. Magnificent, light-filled, and unspoiled — maybe too unspoiled, since there are only a few trails.
★★★
Del Norte Coast
Redwoods State Park
A unique combination of fog, rhododendron blooms, and huge trees make this one of the most photogenic redwood parks. But it doesn’t have a lot of old growth, and what it has is unfortunately split by Highway 101.
★★★★★
Prairie Creek
Redwoods State Park
This remarkable park has a huge swath of the lushest redwood forest anywhere, with an extensive network of serene trails, a scenic undeveloped beach, a herd of wild elk, and the popular Fern Canyon.
★★★
Redwood
National Park
The trails here have less impressive redwoods but more of a wilderness feel, without traffic noise or nearby development.
Things to do
Hiking
Reviews and maps of every old-growth trail in Redwood National and State Parks.
Camping
All the drive-in campgrounds in the parks, with suggested campsites.
Backpacking
Reviews of all the trail campgrounds.
Drives
The most scenic old-growth redwood drives.
Photography
A few suggestions for the best locations and conditions for taking pictures.
Sample itineraries
Sample 4-day itineraries for hiking the redwoods.
When to visit
How cold/rainy/smoky/landslide-y will it be?
How to get there
Driving: it's a pretty nice 6 hour drive from San Francisco, but traffic can get really slow on summer weekends.
Highway 101 is occasionally closed for days from landslides in the winter and fires in late summer and fall. The Caltrans Quickmap is the best source for highway closure information.
Arcata airport (ACV): The Arcata airport has flights from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Burbank, and Denver.
Crescent City airport (CEC): Crescent City has a nice, new (but tiny) terminal building that offers one flight to Oakland each morning and one from Oakland each afternoon. On summer weekends and holidays there are two flights each way. The schedule unfortunately doesn’t let you fly up for a day trip, but for weekend visits the airport can be very convenient; it’s only a 15-minute drive from Jedediah Smith Redwoods. The flights are also much cheaper than flights to Arcata.