Seeing the gigantic redwoods in person at Redwoods National Park
To me, when you think “national park” Redwoods is one of the most iconic. I’ve always wanted to visit, even before I moved to the States. Finally on our December road trip to Florida, I was able to!
After leaving our second Thousand Trails campground just outside of Florence, Oregon we continued south and into California! Upon entering California you have to go through a checkpoint where they ask about fruit and produce of which we had none.
Not long after we arrived at our campsite for the next two nights: Elk Country RV Campground, and it lived up to the name! Right upon arriving there were 50-60 Elk just hanging out in the field about 30 feet from our RV. The lady at check-in told us the prime spot was number 21 and was available but someone had just arrived before us and got it so we had to do number 19. Still a good spot but we didn’t have a view of the field.
The next day we got up and headed out to do a hike called Fern Canyon. We had read online that the road in was tricky, but we vastly underestimated how bad it would be. It might have been because of the recent bad weather but the road in was terrible. It also takes almost an hour to go under 10 miles because it’s constantly winding and going up and down so you’re doing under 30mph the whole time. Once you pass the pay station into the park itself, the road deteriorates even further and there are significant potholes. You also have to drive across two streams, although with the recent rainfall they were more like rivers for us. Things went bad for us at the second river because the water was so high we didn’t see a shelf and drove straight off it scraping the back of our RV in the process. Our macerator actually fell off but thankfully it twisted back on.
Once into the parking lot for the hike it’s a short walk to get to the canyon itself. Definitely wear waterproof boots or open sandals because your feet will get wet. I’m sure this hike is probably better in the summer with nice weather but it is still definitely worth it in colder, wetter weather. We didn’t manage to get too far up the canyon because the water was so high but it was still beautiful scenery the short distance we did go.
After driving all the way back out we headed over to the visitors center where Loki got to become a B.A.R.K ranger! It was super adorable, he got a swearing in ceremony and a certificate. There are even some dog friendly hikes you can go on in the park, a rarity at a National Park!
The next day we packed up the RV to head out and continue our drive onward. But instead of just heading straight to the freeway we decided to drive the scenic route and do the Redwood Highway which is actually the old Highway 101. It’s a 23 mile stretch of road that drives through a ton of redwood forests and has pullouts everywhere to stop and walk among them. Highly recommend!
Our weather wasn’t great for our time at Redwoods National Park but it was still definitely a memorable trip. Now that we have a tow vehicle we’ll definitely go back at some point and do the drive-through tree and some more of the hikes. Hopefully in drier weather!
Check out our video of our time at Redwood National Park:
