We woke up early to get to Redwoods National Park because we wanted to hike a couple of trails and see the ancient giants! We took a diagonal route from Crater Lake across the California border to Jedediah Smith Park.
We arrived at Jedediah Smith campground at around 10AM…a little too early for check-in time. This was a perfect opportunity for us to kill time and hike some of the trails that were on our list! We drove to the southern part of Redwoods National Park, and on the way stopped at Klamath River Overlook where we saw the fog rolling in and the waves crashing onto the rocks…it was eerily beautiful!
The first trail we did was Lost Man Creek. The entire trail is 11+ miles long and +2,000ft elevation rise…so needless to say we only did part of it. For the adventurous ones, this trail actually connects with very popular southern redwoods trails, including Lady Bird Johnson and Tall Trees trail.
On our way to the next trail, we were stopped abruptly by a family of elk crossing the road…so of course we snapped some photos!
Lady Bird Johnson was the next hike on our list. It’s a 1.5-mile loop that puts you right amongst these tall giants! Joey especially liked the trees that had been burned or struck by lightning, partially scarring them, but also creating opportunity for new life!
By the time we finished the Lady Bird Johnson loop, it was 2PM and time for us to check-in to set up camp. On our way up to the campsite, we stopped at Klamath beach again, and because it was later in the day, there was much less fog…Joey got some great pictures!
We got to our campsite and quickly set up our tent right in between two big redwoods. It was a secluded spot right next to the beach…we had a great spot. No hammocks allowed in this National Park, but it’s to protect the redwoods!
We wanted to do one more hike before dinner, and our campsite was conveniently located right next to the Stout Grove Trail entrance. We had to cross a shaky footbridge to get there…but it was definitely worth it. These old growth trees were larger than what we had seen thus far because of their proximity to the flowing river. The nutritious soil and seemingly endless water supply gave way to even bigger giants!
We had dinner as soon as we got back to camp, and we wanted to get to bed early for our big drive to San Francisco tomorrow! We’ll be staying at Joey’s friend, Adam’s house for the night and we have a full day of exploring the city…so stay posted!