Redwood National and State Parks

Redwood National and State Parks are a bit different, as you can perhaps tell from the name. These are four parks, one national and three state, that are administered as a single park. That, and most of what people come to see is actually in the state parks. That's where we spent most of our time. The state parks are along the coast, and the national park starts near the coast and heads inland and up in elevation.

We actually took this at the end of our visit because we couldn't find it at first!

Our run of good weather that broke at the last park stayed broken here. It was chilly and misty the entire time (the fact that a park that houses redwoods has such weather is not a coincidence). And when we got above about 100 feet in elevation, we were in a cloud. That made it a bit difficult to enjoy the national park portion. But as we did at Lassen, we played the hand we were dealt.

It wasn't raining, and it wasn't foggy at sea level, so the kids took advantage by getting their feet wet upon arrival at the visitors center.

One of the rangers recommended the Karl Knapp trail, which is the best way to get a quick overview of a redwood forest, so that's where we started (we've learned to do what the rangers tell us to do).

If you think it looks like Endor, you are very observant

We had been to multiple "wow, those are big trees" parks by this point, so we weren't surprised by the trees, but there's still something amazing about hiking through a redwood forest. The trees combined with the fern carpet interspersed with creeks is altogether peaceful, and to be honest, the weather felt right for this type of hike.

Oh, and there are banana slugs. Lots of banana slugs.

I chose this out of the 4 selfies Julie took with this guy

Coast redwoods (the type at these parks) are mainly known for being tall (the tallest in the world), but they are also quite thick.

We saw multiple herds of elk within the parks

After the hike, we headed to an overlook over the Klamath River for lunch. Unfortunately, to be an overlook, it has to be up high. And you may recall that the clouds started at about 100 feet. Therefore, we did not see the river. We did not see more than 10 feet in front of us, in fact. We saw cloud. I'm guessing the Klamath River is lovely from above, but I'd be lying if I told you that as a fact.

We finished the day with a short scenic drive near the mouth of the river (on the opposite side from the overlook). We ended up parking and heading down to the coast for a bit. We ran into a colony of sea lions laying on the shore. They didn't move during the two hours we were there. In fact, the tide was coming in, and by the time we left, half of them were sleeping in water. Must be nice to be that lazy!

The kids played in the water again, and they soaked their shoes... again. That's a bit of a running theme on this trip.

After the coast, we headed home. We knew we were headed back the next day. This is because we had reservations to hike to fern canyon.

We were excited about fern canyon for a few reasons. First, it was supposed to be an amazing hike. It's a stream that runs through a canyon where the walls are covered in ferns. It's been featured in movies such as Jurassic Park 2, though they no longer allow filming in the park.

The other reason we were excited is that the road leading to the canyon came with multiple stream crossings and a recommendation for a high clearance vehicle. Since getting the Jeep in March, we've had precious little opportunity to actually use it as a Jeep, so this excited us.

And while we probably didn't need a Jeep to get there, we certainly took advantage. I made a point to hit every puddle I could!

The weather was once again chilly and cloudy, but I'll be honest, I'm thankful that it was. I think it kept the crowds at bay. I mentioned that we had reservations; they are necessary due to the popularity of this hike. But there were only a handful of other cars in the parking lot when we arrived, and we only saw a few other people on the trail.

We didn't pay close enough attention to the sign at the trailhead before we took off, so we ended up hiking significantly out of our way, but that's fine. It was a beautiful hike. Once we finally made our way to the canyon, we saw what all the fuss was about. It was amazing. As with pretty much all of the amazing scenery we've seen on this trip, pictures don't do the canyon justice, but let me try.

Much of the hike was actually in the creek because the canyon is so narrow and the walls are so steep

Hiking the canyon was easily the highlight of this park. I highly recommend it if you are ever in this area.

The parking lot for the canyon hike doubled as a parking lot for a beach, so we headed down there after we were done. As a reminder for my east coast friends, remember that "beach" carries a different meaning out here. They are often all rocks, and the Pacific being what it is, they are usually quite cold.

But that doesn't stop our kids. They came prepared in their wetsuits today, and they were back in the water!

We were one and a half days in at this point, and we still hadn't technically visited the national park portion yet. We had seen most of the interesting things, but given our goal of visiting all national parks, it felt like we should at least give it a shot.

There is really only a single road through that part, and the ranger told us that it passed through a bunch of really pretty meadows. He said it presented our best opportunity to see a bear and that the park's largest herd of elk lived up there.

Unfortunately, it was above 100 feet in elevation.