Location: Northern Coastal California

Nearest Towns: Crescent City, CA (population 7,600)

Established:

• State Parks in the 1920s
• National Park on October 2, 1968

Area: 131,983 acres, including 37 miles of coastline

Hours and Fees: Always open and free to enter! Campground fees are $35 vehicle per night, $5 per hiker/biker per night, and $8 per vehicle for day use only.

Did You Know?:

• The average age of the redwoods is 500-700 years old, though some have stood for 2,000 years.
• Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) are the world’s tallest tree often measuring 200-300 feet. An especially infamous stack of bark, creatively named “Tall Tree”, measured 367.8 feet before losing its crown in the 1980 or 90s, and the Stratosphere Giant, which stands just outside of the Humboldt Redwoods State Park, came in at 370 feet in 2004.  For some perspective, that’s 74 of me or 62 of Ian stacked head to toe in the direction of the sky.
• Old-growth redwoods can measure 16-20 feet in diameter.
• According to the National Park Service, “96% of the original old-growth coast redwoods have been logged.”  45% of what remains exists in the Redwood National and State Parks.  That means that what we saw was less than 2% of what once existed of these glorious giants.
• The Save-the-Redwoods League, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and preserving the remaining redwood forests, was founded in 1918.  Through private donations and state contributions, they have purchased lands now comprising much of the Redwood National and State Parks (which they lobbied heavily for) and continue to support restoration, research, and education within them.

Definitely Don’t Miss: Howland Hill Road and Stout Grove.  Though there are many things to see and do in the parks, from hiking the forests and camping the backcountry to driving the parkways and overlooking the beaches, we were most impressed by Howland Hill Road, a mostly dirt drive winding through 10-miles of old-growth redwoods.  The human element disappeared for a bit as we cruised in awe along the narrow pathway.  At Stout Grove we walked the mile loop through the massive wonders, and I felt, much as I did in my amazement at Yellowstone, as though we had discovered a magical fairy tale land.  This time though I was half expecting to be lured into Wonderland by the White Rabbit himself.