This is page 3 of this article. To start at the beginning, click here.
6. Fern Canyon
Feel like a true adventurer as you enter and explore this canyon with incredible fern-draped walls! Just be on the lookout for dinosaurs along the way…
What You Need to Know
Fern Canyon was made famous by its appearance in The Lost World: Jurassic Park! It truly does feel as if you are hiking on an ancient island inhabited by dinosaurs.
Marvel at the beautiful canyon walls that are covered in ferns and small waterfalls as you hike this trail. There is a 1-mile loop that travels through the canyon and then onto the rim above, but to hike upstream and enjoy the most beautiful section of Fern Canyon, a 0.5-mile roundtrip hike is all that’s required!
Just turn around whenever you’re ready. A good turn-around point is 0.25 miles upstream where there is a large logjam to navigate. Expect to get your feet wet. A creek runs through the canyon, and the trail may or may not be navigable {depending on the season} without walking through it.
Pets are not permitted on this trail.
Getting Here
Fern Canyon is located in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. From the Prairie Creek Visitor Center, drive 1.1 miles south on the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway. Merge onto Highway 101 South and drive for another 2.3 miles until you reach the Davison Road. Turn right onto Davison and drive for 3.7 miles on this narrow dirt road {RV and trailers prohibited} until you reach the entrance station. After paying your day-use fee or showing your parks pass, drive another 3 miles to the end of the road. The Fern Canyon Trail starts here.
7. Tall Trees Grove
If you’re hoping to admire some of the tallest redwood trees, then this trail is the place to be. This area contains past and current record holders for the tallest trees in the world!
What You Need to Know
The Tall Trees Trail is 4 miles roundtrip and has an elevation change of 690 feet, making it moderately strenuous. The trail does not point out the tallest trees, but it is still one of the best places to go to walk amongst these spectacular giants.
A PERMIT IS REQUIRED to hike this trail. Permits are issued for free on a first-come, first-served basis at the Thomas H. Kuchel Visitor Center or the Prairie Creek Visitor Center. These permits can only be claimed on the day you plan to hike the trail.
Pets are not permitted on this trail.
Getting Here
The Tall Trees Trail is located within Redwood National Park along the Bald Hills Road. Your permit will contain the necessary information you need to find the trailhead and to get past the locked gates.
8. Howland Hill Road
Drive slowly, roll the windows down, and take a relaxing scenic drive! This road winds through the forest and gets you up-close and personal to these majestic giant redwoods.
What You Need to Know
This road leads to popular stops such as the Stout Grove and the Boy Scout Tree, but many people don’t drive the whole thing. I recommend taking the time to travel all 10 miles of road, from end to end! It’s one of the best ways to see the trees without having to get out and hike.
The road is narrow and only has space for one lane in a few spots — please take it slow and pull to the side if needed. RV’s and trailers are not advised on this narrow, unpaved road.
Getting Here
This road is located in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. From the Jedediah Smith Campground and Visitor Center, travel east on Highway 199 for 2.1 miles. Turn right onto South Fork Road and drive for 0.5 miles — go over the bridge spanning the Smith River. Turn right onto Douglas Park Drive and drive for 1.3 miles until the road turns into the Howland Hill Road.
This road can also be accessed from Crescent City. Click here for driving directions.
9. Beach Time
With miles of coastline, spending some time on the sparkling beaches in Redwood National Park is a must! Relax and soak in the misty, salty air of the northern California coast.
What You Need to Know
The park includes numerous beaches with many activities available. A few of my favorites are:
>>>For swimming, playing in the waves, or building sandcastles head to Gold Bluffs Beach or Crescent Beach. The sand is soft and the coastline stretches for miles!
>>>For tidepools, check out Enderts Beach. You can explore on your own or take a ranger-led hike. **This beach is currently closed because of landslides. Take a look at the NPS website {Last Chance section of the Coastal Trail} for more information.**
>>>For lounging or relaxing, try hiking to Hidden Beach. While you likely won’t have it all to yourself, the crowds are small and it’s easy to find a quiet spot.
Getting Here
Consult the park map for the locations of these beaches.
10. Stout Grove
Often claimed as one of the best groves in the park, the Stout Grove is a fantastic and extremely photogenic stand of ancient redwood trees! Its location in the floodplain of the Smith River limits the undergrowth here, making the 300+ foot redwood trees the star of the show.
What You Need to Know
After the short descent from the parking lot, the trail levels out and travels 0.5 miles through the grove. This is a perfect hike for any age!
Pets are not permitted on this trail.
Getting Here
Stout Grove is located in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. From the Jedediah Smith Campground and Visitor Center, travel east on Highway 199 for 2.1 miles. Turn right onto South Fork Road and drive for 0.5 miles — go over the bridge spanning the Smith River. Turn right onto Douglas Park Drive and drive for 1.3 miles until the road turns into the Howland Hill Road. Travel another 1.1 miles along the unpaved Howland Hill Road until you reach the parking area for Stout Grove. Please Note: Parking is not available for RV’s or trailers.
Have a great time in Redwood National Park. Happy trails!
Hello! Thank you for all the great information 🙂 starting to plan our first trip there this year and to say we are excited is an understatement!
We would love to tent camp, when do you suggest the best time of year to do that is and which park would you recommend
Elk Prairie or Mill Creek are the most central, but Jed Smith is nice too. If you’re tent camping, I recommend avoiding the park’s rainy season and visiting from May-October. Have fun!
This guide is WONDERFUL. Easily the best I’ve found.
For our subjective use though, it was extremely discouraging as literally every thing mentioned can’t be visited with pets.
Are there any stunning redwood hikes where pets ARE allowed? I’m starting to regret some of our B&B reservations since it seems we won’t be able to do most the things.
Thanks for taking the time with this wonderful list.
Thanks, Tom. Most national parks don’t allow dogs on trails in an effort to protect the local wildlife. Most redwood groves in California are either national or state parks…nothing is coming to mind where you can hike in the redwoods with a dog. Sorry I’m not more help with that info!
How about service dogs? Thanks!
Service dogs are permitted everywhere with their owner. Your dog must be ADA-compliant as a dog trained for a specific purpose — therapy or emotional support animals are considered pets and must follow the park’s pet policy. You can find more info here: https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/pets.htm
Wow! Wish I’d have found your page before visiting Redwood NP and Zion NP this year… but very excited to have found it before future trips. Thank you for sharing your know knowledge and experience!
Of course! Hopefully you’ll get to plan more national park adventures soon!
Hello Ash, I’m looking at traveling to Crater Lake on August 16th for a couple days and then down to Redwood National Forest, with my son (20) and daughter (15). What fun things would you recommend, that will keep them engaged. Looked into Ziplining, but only seeing Santa Rosa has them, are there others near Klamath or Crescent City, we will probably stay in those areas.
I don’t do a lot of “extra” activities outside of the national parks, so I’m not sure about the ziplining in that area. This list of things you can’t miss should keep your family engaged for a few days though!
Hello, my wife and I are driving down from Seattle, with respective times at each of your 10 recommendations, how many days would this take? We’re only spending 2 days there before heading further south? Thanks in advance~!
Two days is a good amount of time to see these sights!
Hello! We are heading to the redwoods in April. We are coming from Utah. A little overwhelm of where to stay any suggestions
I like Klamath for staying in one place and seeing both the northern and southern parts of the park 🙂
We are looking at visiting with my parents next year and they are not real mobile. What are the best areas to visit when you are with a person that is handicapped and requires the use of a wheel chair or scooter?
Redwood is a great park for that! There are many fabulous scenic drives in the park, as well as some wonderful wheelchair-accessible trails. You can even get beach wheelchairs! Take a look at the NPS website for more info: https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/accessibility.htm Have fun!
Hi Ash,
I stumbled upon your page and so happy I did, so many great tips here! Thank you for putting this together for people like me! My husband and I are taking his family to the Redwoods for my mother-in-laws 60th birthday this June. I was trying to figure out an itinerary when I found your amazing list. Any suggestions on what towns to stay in though? I haven’t booked the hotel/air bnb yet since I’m not sure where to stay. I’d appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!
I like Klamath because of its central location for the national/state parks that are run by the NPS {all the activities listed in this list}. But if you’re wanting to see the Avenue of the Giants or other parts of the redwood forests that are not run by the NPS, you’ll likely also want to book something closer to that as well. Have a great trip!
I love your page!!! We will be flying in and I am thinking that we will stay in Klamath. Where is the closest airport that we would fly in to?
Either Crescent City or Arcata. Have fun!!
Ash,
I am traveling from FL to San Francisco for a work conference. I was able to manage ONE day away and booked a flight to Eureka. I fly in Sunday night and fly out Tuesday morning… sooooo my question is if this was your first time visiting the Redwoods and you only had ONE day, what would you do?
It will depend on the weather, because if it’s foggy then you won’t want to spend time at the coastal/view areas. I’d for sure hit up Fern Canyon and Lady Bird Johnson Grove. Add in Tall Trees if you like to hike!
Hi Ash!!! I too am so grateful that I too stumbled upon your site! We leave this Wednesday and will be camping for 5 days in Jedediah Redwoods State Park and cant wait! It’s been 27 years and 4 kids later since our last visit. We had 2 toddlers and one on the way. So we just really past through. Excited to hang out under the majestic redwoods again!!! We love to hike about 4-6 miles and your suggestions seem perfect! Thank you for the great info! Normally we tent but for this trip we rented a 2019 Dodge Roadtrek 19.5 camper van. QUESTION reading some of your 10 sites it seems that we wont be able to drive into them all because of the van size? Is that true or are you saying much larger campers? I too agree more time IN the trees and less in the car! Thank you so much! Peggy
Hey Peggy,
Sounds awesome! I’m not familiar with that van, but if it’s 19.5 feet long as the name implies, you should be fine. That’s how long our truck is and we didn’t have a problem on those roads. Safe travels!
Ash
This is a great resource, Ash. As a former national park ranger myself, I appreciate your special insights. Good work.
Thanks so much! I definitely appreciate that!
First I want to Thank You for this very helpful information, this made it so easy to plan our first trip to the Redwood portion of our trip. You are such a blessing!
My wife and I have a trip planned for the first week of Sept. 2019 to Portland then driving down the coast to the Redwoods. We are thinking of staying a night in Crescent City or somewhere close then start early the next morning heading to Howland Hill Road for the 10 mile trip, stopping to see Stout Grove.
Being that the road is narrow, is Howland Hill Road a one-way road?
From Howland Hill we will continue down the coast to Big Tree, Trillium Falls Trail and LBJ Grove, in that order. We are in our mid-sixties and limited in long uphill hikes so we are hoping what we chose will work.
Do you think it is possible to complete the Redwoods from Howland Hill to LBJ Grove in one days time? If yes, then we will be heading to Medford that evening.
Also, do we need to pack a lunch or do you have a suggestion somewhere to get a bite to eat in or near our stops in the Redwoods?
Any other suggestions are very much appreciated, Thank You So Much….
Hi David,
I appreciate the kind words! Howland Hill is not a one-way road…someone will just need to pull off if you meet oncoming vehicles. I think you could make it all happen in a day, but you probably wouldn’t get to Medford until later in the evening. I would pack a lunch — there’s not much by way of restaurants near the park. Have a fantastic trip and safe travels!
Ash
Wow what a great trip…the Redwoods were incredible. We ended up staying in Crescent City (got Subways (lunch) for the next day Redwood trip). We did drive the 10 mile Howland Hill Road when we got to Crescent City before it got dark (What an Awesome experience). Next day, first stop was Big Tree before getting our map at the Prairie Creek Visitor Center, they had us add Redwood Creek Lookout to our list which was a nice drive up past LBJ Grove on Bald Hills Road to see the Redwood Forest below (watch out for logging trucks :). Lady Bird Johnson Grove was so awesome, very nice loop trail with many, many Redwoods and plenty of benches to rest (remember to close your mouth since you will be in awe the whole trail :). The Trillium Falls was a very beautiful trail with a short hike up to the falls (The small fall was nice but the trail made it all worth it, great place to propose marriage :). Would of been nice to have seen/done more in the forest but we had to drive toward Crater lake area to stay the night, ended up in a cute Cottage in Fort Klamath. Thank you again Ash for your guidance and experience…
Thank you for taking the time to share the details of your trip…I greatly appreciate that! I’m thrilled that you enjoyed the Redwoods so much and had such a fabulous experience!! Stay in touch!
Hi Ash!
My husband and I will be flying into Medford, OR on October 4th. We’re planning on visiting Crater Lake that day or the next. We will then head to a one night stay in Crescent City and then two nights in Klamath. My question is should we rebook one of the nights in Klamath to McKinleyville to take the drive and then maybe visit Avenue of the Giants or something else in that area? We’d also like to do the drive thru the tree experience – Klamath for that?
Do you recommend Grants Pass, OR or Medford for the last night? I’m so glad I stumbled upon your information. Wow, what a goldmine! Thank you.
Hi Linda,
There is plenty to do in the Redwoods National Park without driving down to Avenue of the Giants, but it would be totally up to you depending on how much time you wanted to spend in the car. I usually stay in the Klamath area…it’s a beautiful place right on the ocean surrounded by the amazing trees. You can find a drive-thru tree there. Avenue of the Giants is beautiful, but if it were me I’d spend less time in the car and more time in the trees :).
Have an amazing trip!
Ash
A couple of suggestions; while in Crescent City I/we highly recommend the Howland Hill 10 mile Road, as Ash did, wow what a great memorable experience. Also a great place to view the Rogue River is Natural Bridge off of 62 headed to Crater lake, on the way to the lake Beckie’s Cafe on 62 is great place to eat…
Thanks for your input David! So glad you enjoyed your trip.
Thank you very much for this great information. We will be arriving In Klamath July 16, 2019. This information is going to be very helpful. Thank you again.
Happy to help! Safe travels!
THANK-YOU!! This is a great trip for us and you made it very easy to understand!
Glad to hear it! Thanks for your feedback. Safe travels!
Not sure if my last reply went through so I’m submitting it again. What do you think is the best area to stay in for lodging while visiting for a few days? We are looking into Airbnb’s in the area.
I like the Klamath area for a first-time visit because of it’s right in the middle of everything within the national park complex!
Loved this post and thank you for breaking down the northern Redwoods “Top Spots” for me! In the middle of planning a Portland-San Fran family road trip with 2 teenagers from NM in 2 weeks and I needed to get all the spots organized, as there are so many! Any tips for packing for mid March coming from the desert? Thanks! Best, Kari
You’re welcome and have a great time! The weather is pretty mild year-round, but bring rain gear!