Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, California - August 11th to 13th, 2024
As we crossed the border back into California, we returned to the land of the large trees. Our destination was Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. Jedediah Smith is one of four parks that are part of the Redwood National and State Parks that are jointly managed by the National Park Service and the California State Parks to protect some of the ancient coast redwood ecosystem. We will cover the other three parks in our following posts.
Sunday was a really short travel day, even for us, from Harris Beach State Park in Oregon to Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park just across the border in California. We made it a little longer by driving into Crescent City for lunch and groceries.
As we crossed the border into California, we stopped at the inspection station. This was the first time we had to stop when entering the state. They were looking for plants, firewood, and fresh fruit. We forgot about that. We had a small package of blueberries, but they let us keep them, as we promised to consume them by the end of the day. California is concerned about the invasive insects, weeds and diseases that may be accidentally brought into the state. California is free from many of those that wreck havoc in other states and they want to keep it that way.
Our lunch spot was SeaQuake Brewing. We both had the chicken sandwich and washed it down with their house-made root beer. After our tasty meal, we bought some cans of beer and kombucha to enjoy later.
To stretch our legs, we walked over to the Battery Point Lighthouse. Well, we walked up to the beach across from the lighthouse. Since it was high tide, you couldn’t walk over to the lighthouse itself because the way over there was under water. The lighthouse has tours, but the tour hours are short, lining up with low tide so you can reach the lighthouse and get back without getting your feet wet.
After swinging by the grocery store for a few items, we continued our drive to the campground. Walking the campground loops and down to the river completed our activities for the day.
Monday we hiked right from the campground. At the end of the campground is a foot bridge across the Smith River that allows you to access a couple of trails. We started out by taking the short Stout Grove loop, then took the Mill Creek Trail over to the Grove of Titans.
The Mill Creek Trail follows alongside the Mill Creek, but there are not many views of the creek from the trail. However, it was still a lovely trail through the forest.
At the Grove of Titans, the trail turns into a boardwalk. Or, more technically, a steel walk. Open steel planks with jagged edges gives people plenty of traction. It wasn’t an issue when we were there, because the trail was dry. However, we could imagine it would be very helpful most of the year.
The boardwalk is in the grove to protect the redwood tree roots. According to one of the interpretative signs, 120,000 people visit the park each year. That’s a lot of traffic on those fragile roots.
Just off the boardwalk, we noticed that some people had spotted a couple of banana slugs. There was also one earlier on the Mill Creek Trail. We didn’t see any while we were in the rain forests in Olympic National Park (Olympic National Park: South, Washington - July 22nd to 24th, 2024), so we were glad to see them. They are probably the largest slugs you will ever see. We’ve seen them before in the Pacific Rim National Park on Vancouver Island (Pacific Rim National Park, British Columbia - May 23rd to 24th, 2022), on our way up to Alaska.
Most people access the Grove of Titans via the trailhead on the Howland Hill Road. Howland Hill is a scenic drive through the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. It is a well-maintained dirt road that winds through the large trees. Don’t be in a hurry along this road, the speed limit is only 15 mph. And don’t take a large rig, the tight turns and narrow spaces between the trees are limited to vehicles 24 feet long or less and less than 8 feet wide. Even though there are many places along the road that are only eight feet wide, the road supports two way traffic. Don’t worry, there are lots of wider places where two cars can pass each other. You just have to pay attention and be prepared to stop and wait, or even backup if needed.
We continued past the Grove of Titans to the trailhead on Howland Hill Road. We wanted to see what the road was like because we wanted to drive it with Red Tail (our Winnebago EKKO) the following day. We’re glad we continued. Not only did we get to check out Howland Hill Road, we discovered our favorite little section of the Mill Creek Trail was just south of the Grove of Titans boardwalk. Alongside the trail, a younger tree gracefully extended its roots along an old fallen log. Then the trail enters a short tunnel of vegetation alongside another old fallen log.
By the time we returned to the campground, we covered 7.6 miles with an elevation gain of 535 feet in just over four hours. It was hike number 44 of our 52 Hike Challenge for 2024.
Tuesday we drove the Howland Hill Road to the Boy Scout Tree Trailhead. The road wasn’t that bad, certainly nothing even close to Donkey Creek Road, the road we gave up on when trying to reach Coho Campground near Olympic National Park. We left somewhat early in the morning to make sure we could find a parking spot at the trailhead, especially since we are one of the larger vehicles on the road. At 9 am, there wasn’t much traffic on the road, which made it easier to navigate. It took us about half an hour to reach the trailhead from the campground, a distance of only 7.4 miles.
The Boy Scout Tree Trail was another lovely hike among the large, tall trees. The trailhead is just about three quarters of a mile west of the Grove of Titans trailhead. The Boy Scout Tree is near the end of the trail. It is up a short spur from the main trail and not very well marked, so pay attention. The tree is pretty impressive. It is more than 238 feet tall and more than 23 feet wide at its base. (The story behind the Boy Scout Tree, a 2,000-plus-year-old redwood). The history of why it is called the Boy Scout Tree has been lost.
The trail is steeper than the Mill Creek Trail, with lots of exposed roots to give your ankles and knees a good workout. We heard from a park staff member that those roots can be quite slippery when the trail is wet. Luckily for us, the trail was dry.
At the end of the trail is Fern Falls. It is a pretty, little waterfall, but Keith thought the Boy Scout Tree was more impressive. We don’t know if the falls are more impressive during a wetter time of year. Another time of year, the falls might be flowing stronger, but there’s a good chance you’d be enjoying them in the rain. For us, the falls were a great place to sit down and enjoy our lunch while listening to the soft sound of the water trickling down the falls. We had the falls all to ourselves for the first minute or two until more people started showing up. By the time we finished our lunch, there was about a dozen or so others sharing the falls with us.
We completed the 5.9 miles with an elevation gain of 1017 feet in three and a half hours. It was hike number 45 of our 52 Hike Challenge for 2024.
We continued driving down Howland Hill Road and into Crescent City. In town, we stopped at the SeaFront Baking Company for a treat. We arrived just in time, twenty minutes before they closed at 2 pm. Keith had a raspberry tart cookie while Ann opted for ice cream, a scoop of chocolate paired with a scoop of huckleberry. Everything was delicious. The bakery is a new, large facility with a pleasant atmosphere. In addition to baked goods and ice cream, they have a wide selection of breakfast and lunch items. We would recommend stopping when passing through town on the 101.
After dinner, we went over to the amphitheater behind the visitor center in the campground for a ranger program. They held a campfire ranger program every night at 8 pm. The topic changed daily. The subject that evening was banana slugs. It turns out that these creatures are quite interesting. The ranger did a great job keeping the evening interactive, involving all the kids while making it enjoyable for young and old alike. And we all learned quite a bit about slugs in the process.
Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park was a great way to emerge ourselves in the old, wonderful, big trees. We were excited to see what the remaining three redwood parks would have to offer.
Check out our related video: Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, California
(Ann)