Redwood National Park is an amazing place to be surrounded by giant trees! Redwood National Park is located at Northern California by the west coast. It is about 6 hours of drive from Portland and it is essentially in between Portland and San Francisco.
On the beautiful Saturday of the summer, we left our home early and headed to Redwood National Park. We drove past Salem, Eugene and Grand Pass. After getting past Grand Pass, this is when we switched off from I-5 to Highway 101. The mountain road is quite winding but easy to drive. Once we reached California border, there was border patrol to check that we did not bring live stocks.
We first reached the visitor center at Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park. We had a rest there and gathered some information on where to visit. Then we headed to Crescent City for a quick lunch.
We chose to stay at Holiday Inn at Klamath this time. This is because Klamath is in the middle of all the Redwood National and State Parks. It is a very convenient location to visit all the attractions. However, we did not have a good experience at this Holiday Inn location. When we checked in and entered the room, the room smelled so bad like sweat. We turned on the fan to the highest rotation and it could not get rid of the smell. We also had issues with the water in the bathroom. It looked like it did not have enough water pressure to supply to all rooms if there are too many rooms using water at the same time. This Holiday Inn does have 1 plus side, which is providing free breakfast. So we usually have a good breakfast before heading out and skip lunch.
On the first day, after we checked in, we had a good rest at the hotel since it was a long drive. We were planning on where to go for the next few days.
On the second day, we first drove the Elk Prairie Creek Park visitor center to acquire the permit for Tall Tree Grove access. While we were there, we saw many elks! These elks were huge! After acquiring the access, we went to Tall Tree Grove. Tall Tree Grove was amazing and it is a must visit. In the afternoon, we went to Trillium Falls for a good short hike and a beautiful view of waterfall.
On the third day, we went to Lady Bird Johnson Grove early in the morning to see the sun light shining through the mist. Then we took the hike on James Irvine Trail to get to Fern Canyon. James Irvine Trail is a long trail. So if you want to visit Fern Canyon, you can actually drive on the unpaved road to there.
On the fourth day, we took a scenic drive on Howland Hill Road. It is an unpaved road but the scenery is amazing. We then hiked the Boy Scout Tree Trail. In the afternoon, we actually drove further South to Eureka. Eureka is a beautiful Victorian city with beautiful Victorian styled mansion. Later in the afternoon, we went to visit the Big Tree and had some fun around it.
On the early fifth day, we packed up and went home. It was an amazing experience at Redwood National and State Park. We have never seen such big trees before. It is definitely a place that you must visit!
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