Redwoods National Park & Crescent City, CA area
Redwood Trees along the Simpson-Reed Trail
This was a lifechanging trip for our family - truly a must-see, bucket list item in our opinion!
Know before you go:
Download the National Parks Services (NPS) App, available for free. There you can find information on trails availability, requirements, intensity and locations. Some trails require permits to access, particularly during more busy times of the year, it will be listed in the app. A lot of Google maps trail locations within the park are incorrect, and there is very little cell coverage within the park, so plan accordingly.
With the more extreme outdoor nature of this National Park, I highly recommend that families review hiking and trail safety guidelines (this is a great book we used for our kids) and be sure to pack accordingly to the time of year weather and your plans for exploration. While many trails are extremely kid friendly and even wheelchair accessible, there are areas of the park that are more intense both in terrain and distance from help if needed.
When it comes to outdoor activities, some kids may need more understanding and incentive to enjoy the experience. We spent ample time preparing our kids for this trip with lots of video learning about the park and different aspects of the wildlife, plant life, and environment. We also included a lot of learning regarding wilderness and hiking safety, so that if at any point they were lost they would know what to do. For suggestions of how to go about this, please visit this blog post where I go into more detail about it.
The National Parks Service has a fabulous kids program called Junior Rangers. Every national park has one specifically designed for their park. The information can be accessed online, and visiting a ranger station within the park will allow you to pick up a physical copy as well for free. If the kids complete certain activities based on their age, they can receive a Junior Ranger Badge for the park. I highly recommend this for the Redwoods, as there is a bit of driving between trails and lodging, and it was an easy entertainment win in the car for our kids plus highly educational!
Crescent City
On the north end of the Redwood Forest Park conglomerate (it’s actually made up of 5 separate parks!), Crescent City is a small coastal California town on Highway 101 with multiple amenities closest to the national park. Their local airport is the Del Norte County Regional Airport (CEC), which currently only offers commercial flights from Oakland International Airport (OAK). We drove from the Boise area, which was around a 10 hour drive one way. While Klamath City is closer to much of the park, it was cheaper at the time for our family to stay in Crescent City and leave driving time for getting to the park, while still having local amenities nearby if needed for our small children’s occasional unpredictability in new places. If being closer to the center of the park is important to you, Klamath may be the better northern end location for your lodging, but keep in mind needing to stop in Crescent City for amenities, especially if you visit during the off season like we did (October-April). More amenities are open closer to the park during their busy season (May-September).
AirBnB
We chose to stay at this AirBnB home on the southern outskirts of Crescent City. Location wise, this was perfect. Near the ocean, easy access to Highway 101, and the local casino has a gas station with truly incredible gas prices compared to the surrounding city gas stations. The home itself was extremely kid friendly, with 3 bedrooms and a nicely set up kitchen and dining room. The couple of considerations per family regarding this home include very tall beds for kids and super heavy metal frame chairs at the dining table, but those were something we were able to work around.
Dining and Grocery Access
Crescent City is the nearest location to the Redwood Park with a traditional grocery store (Walmart, Safeway) and several dining options, including both familiar favorites and local gems. For most of this trip we chose to grocery shop and pack food to be on the go in the park, but we did stop for dinner a couple nights.
FISHERMAN’S RESTAURANT
Delicious, large portions, local with a great view of the marina. Can be pricey depending on order time, but it was all freshly made.
CC’s DINER & ICE CREAM
Fun local diner (1950s vibes) in the northern end of Crescent City with eclectic collectibles to explore while eating. Excellent burger and fries, huge portions, large menu of options, very family friendly and clearly a beloved local joint.
BATTERY POINT LIGHTHOUSE
This beautiful and historic Cape Cod style lighthouse, which is still actively used, is a fun and facsinating stop for a great history of the area. Please be aware that this lighthouse is only accessible on foot and only during low tide. They are open every day, permitted by weather and low tide allowance. The tour includes a visit to the top of the lighthouse, and the view is incredible! This was a fun and fascinating historical stop for our family, although it definitely is older kid oriented. Our littles were able to follow along for a bit with the tour but started to get restless. The light house managers giving the tour were kind and doing their best to keep the kids engaged. I still highly recommend trying it with your kids.
HIKING MENU
We mostly ate quick, easy, filling breakfast at the AirBnB in the mornings so we could be in the park as much as possible. This included simple foods like apples, yogurt, milk, and toast. We also packed sandwiches, veggies, chips, and tons of water in the car in a cooler to keep ready for us when we returned. Easy, mostly shelf stable, but kept cool for freshness. We also packed snacks in backpacks for ourselves and the kids for on the trail (granola bars, jerky, trail mix, applesauce pouches, etc.). It was important to us to not need to plan on cooking so we weren’t feeling tied to the hotel when we could be out adventuring. We could have considered bringing a crockpot or other self-cooking device if we needed, but we opted for the dining out option for dinners instead.
Redwoods Park
As mentioned before, the Redwood National Park is actually a combination of 5 state and national parks protecting the beautiful Redwood trees. The oldest and longest living trees in the world, they are also the tallest and widest growing trees. Their beauty has long been revered and countless films have utilized parts of the park for fantasy scenery. These trees are mighty and community oriented, and absolutely worth preserving.
Below are the trails and locations we visited along our short but incredible journey through the parks with our then 6 and 3 year old children.
SIMPSON-REED TRAILHEAD
A quick stop off the US199 highway with bathroom access and a short .8 mile flat walk. By far one of the most magical trails we have ever set foot on. This is part of the most north grove of trees, which are the most ancient in the park. Their size is unmatched, and the path lets you come incredibly close to the massive trees. When we were there it was a perfectly foggy, misty morning and it was magical. Definitely make this a stop on your journey!
FERN CANYON TRAILHEAD
This was our biggest journey and longest drive for a trail. Please be aware that this trail is IN A RIVERBED. You will come out of the trail wet. We brought water shoes for all of us and we had extra clothes and towels in the car waiting for after. Our kids did really well, the water doesn’t get very deep until further in (depending on the time of year) and we were able to have them be fairly independent within our eyesight. We loved this journey but the water was freezing and we all had numb feet by the time we were heading back to the car (early April visit). This would be a great summer hike midday because it is shaded, cool, and near the coastline. There are outdoor bathrooms in the parking lot. This hike requires a permit, plan ahead if you want to go, especially during peak season.
TRILLIUM FALLS TRAILHEAD
Trillium Falls is a beautiful short hike with some elevation located off the Redwood Highway. The trailhead is located near a rest stop with bathroom access and picnic areas in a beautiful grassy field often filled with passing elk (watch out for them in the road!) Please be aware that the full Trillium Falls trail is quite long, but we chose to take the short hike from the main trailhead to the falls and then come back, so as to not overdo it for our little-legged humans. This was the furthest south we drove into the park for our visit given our trip time allotment. The weather was warm and sunny but we still wanted a light jacket while under the shade of the trees along the hike.
PRAIRIE CREEK VISITORS CENTER
During our visit, Prairie Creek was the only available and open visitors center for us to utilize. We stopped here for the kids to grab their Junior Ranger booklets and do some exploring. Located off the Newton B. Drury Scenic Highway, there is beautiful fields often filled with elk, bathrooms, potable water access for humans and pets, campgrounds, and access to the Revelation Loop Trail.
REVELATION LOOP TRAIL
This is a fun, shady, easily accessible hiking trail behind the Prairie Creek Visitors Center. Flat, lowkey, with signage giving great information about the trees and local landscape, this is an easy win with kids. It was also a good spot to plan around lunchtime because we had picnic area access, easy bathroom access, and the kids had their Junior Ranger booklets to help them learn and navigate, while giving mom and dad a needed break to relax.
TREES OF MYSTERY TOURIST ATTRACTION
A private property paid excursion for tourists, open year round (see current pricing here). The main attractions include the canopy walk among the redwoods and the gondola ride to a highpoint on the mountains with views of the forest and ocean. There are also great examples of different formations of the Redwood trees as they naturally grow, with some scientific information about the plants and animals. To visit the whole excursion and browse the gift shop, it took us roughly 3-4 hours. While we loved the canopy walk and gondola, there were sections of the park’s signage that felt very much of a different era and were not always historically accurate or politically correct, so go with that in mind and be prepared to discuss some of that with kids. While we did have a great time, it is definitely not a necessity to enjoy the full experience of the park, so please don’t feel obligated if its not within your time constraints or budget.
GREAT PLACES TO VISIT WE HAD TO MISS THIS TIME
Big Tree Wayside is along the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway and would be a quick easy visit for families to see one of the largest diameter trees at no cost. It also is a place to access many other more advanced trails for those who want to get more lost. There is bathroom access at Big Tree.
Yurok Country Visitor Museum is located in Klamath Falls and is a great place to learn about one of the local native peoples who have lived, loved, and protected this area for centuries. Check on their open hours to plan fitting this into your trip. We were sad to miss out on this great educational opportunity and hope to go next time.
If driving through a Redwood tree is on your list, there is a stop in Klamath Falls called the Klamath Tour Thru Tree. We didn’t make it to this excursion but have family who drove through one and loved it.
Klamath River Overlook is a beautiful coastal beach where the Klamath river meets the Pacific Ocean. The river is a huge part of the Yurok culture and is still used by the Yurok youth to canoe down to the ocean. This overlook is a great spot for local birding and also occasional whale sightings.
Overall Reflections
I knew before we went that it was going to be incredible to see, but I cannot express how much being in this park transformed me and the way I feel about and view our world, especially protecting this environment for future generations to witness. This is a place I wish for everyone to see, and I hope that everyone who goes can feel the majesty of being so small on this big, beautiful planet, and can be humbled enough by that knowledge to want to protect it.
