In all of our travels, I’ve noticed that different places have different “feels” to them. In all of its amazing-ness… the thing about the Redwoods that stood out the most was its feeling. It just felt magical. Like a fairy might be peeking out at you from behind a tree, or that the oxygen the trees were producing might be healing every ailment you might have, one breath at a time. The feeling surrounded you. A walk through the woods there was truly a magical experience.
Getting to the Redwoods
During our big road trip around the Southwestern United States, the Redwoods National and State Parks was one of our last stops. We had visited several other national parks (Arches, Canyonlands, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Yosemite) and some other amazing sites, so to say that the Redwoods felt the most magical was really saying something after those stops.
We had driven up the Pacific Coast Highway from San Francisco to Fort Bragg to see Glass Beach and then stayed in Humboldt. About 30 minutes north of Humboldt, we got our first glance at the redwoods! Avenue of the Giants. The Avenue of the Giants parallels the main highway (Highway 101) and gives you the more scenic view as you wind through the giant trees. We couldn’t stop saying, “Wow!”, and “See how big it is compared to that car!”, about tree after tree that we passed. This side road was definitely worth taking a little more time for. Beautiful, gorgeous, and amazing are all appropriate words to describe this drive!
Redwood National Park- Kuechel Visitor Center
As I mentioned above, we were on a pretty long road trip, so the time we had only one day for this stop as we were moving north. We stopped at the National Park Visitor Center in Orick. There are so many different areas you could visit in the Redwoods, and we had a few ideas, but wanted to ask the rangers at the visitor center a few questions. (And of course some shopping! Who else loves the national parks visitors centers for stickers, magnets, t-shirts and all that good stuff?) John was really interested in trying to see some Roosevelt elk when were there, so we chose our route based on reports of where they had been seen last.
The Kuechel Visitor Center in Orick is just steps away from the ocean, so we did walk over to the beach area for a few minutes to check it out. What a cool combination having these giant trees to meander through AND the beach?!?
Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway
So we made our way towards the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway in hopes of seeing the Roosevelt elk. They are the largest subspecies of elk in North America. So while some had been seen that morning, the closest we got was seeing some of their scat on the trails. So close!
To get to those trails, we literally just pulled over on the side of the road at a couple of the trail heads and just started walking. We weren’t trying to see anything specific, just a most magical walk through the woods.
The redwood is the tallest tree on the planet and can live up to 2,000 years. These trees have seen some things! Walking among these giants really gives you a sense of being a small part of what makes this world so special. Think about these trees, breathing out oxygen for 2,000 years… standing strong through forest fires and storms… thinking about all that they provide for the creatures that live among them. A sense of this magical presence surrounding you is something I’m having a hard time describing and I really hope you’ll try to take a trip to see it for yourself!
The paths through the forest were well groomed. We saw a few other people as we walked around, but for the most part, you have the feeling of having the woods to yourself. Trees that had fallen and had been cut to make a path really gave a sense of how big they are! Having just the trunk tower over you is really something! Some of trees had hollows at the base that you could stand in. Some of the trees showed where fire had scorched the outside, but tannic acid from their bark protects them and they keep on growing.
Whales? Bears? Seals?
A tip we received from the Visitor Center was that sometimes whales are visible from some of the overlooks along the coast. We took the Klamath Beach Road toward the coast… while we didn’t see any whales (darn!) we did have a couple of other surprises. As we were driving, a black bear was walking along the road in front of us!
When we reached the coast, there were also a whole bunch of seals that were on the shore of the river sand bar! What a fun surprise that we didn’t know to expect!
Tide Pools in Crescent City
One of the other tips we received at the Visitor Center was to make a stop in Crescent City when the tide is out and check out the tide pools. This was a fun little stop to do a little bit more exploring with the kids before we were back on the road on our way to Portland! What a pretty city on the coast.
The Redwoods National and State Parks have a piece of my heart! I’m grateful to have spent one day here. However, I hope we can come back someday and spend more time exploring this area. Our day here was delightful!
