Best redwoods trip? Taking my 13 year old on a father daughter jaunt

There are no 50+ mile loops or hikes that I can think of that allow backcountry camping in the redwood parks. The whole area is really geared to day hikes and car camping unfortunately. Not that it is impossible. But not going to be easy. 5 day limit also.

http://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/backcountry.htm

http://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/hiking.htm

It's true. There are two kinds of redwoods. The coastal redwoods have a few trails that would work for an overnight or so, but no long itineraries that I know of. And if you're going in the summer, the coastal redwoods are going be a wet hike—they only live where there is lots of fog in the summer.

The Sequoia Gigantea are the Sierra redwoods, and they live in a very limited area from about 3500 feet in the north to about 7,000 in the south of the Sierra. And those elevations are a bit low for extended backpacking trips. You could start with a trip near Lodgepole in SEKI, which would give you a chance to spend some time with those trees…but not hike through them for more than an hour or two.

But there is wonderful hiking in that area.

So dies the illusion. At least it was short lived. Sounds like more of a family trip then!

Don't give up. Consider The Lost Coast:

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=429

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/surfing/california-lost-coast-adventure-guide.html

Incredibly beautiful, remote, and wild. Couple of good long trails (25 and 11 miles) through the coast redwoods.

No redwoods on the Lost Coast hike. Northern section is beach, headlands. South section is Douglas Fir.

Ed has the right idea to do it as a family vacation up here.

"The Sequoia Gigantea are the Sierra redwoods"

The Sequioas are impressive enough without slapping them by calling them Redwoods.

No redwoods on the Lost Coast hike. Northern section is beach, headlands. South section is Poison Oak.

Corrected that for you. ;)

It's not *that* bad, but I was extremely cautious, brought soap and washed at the beaches, and still got a mild case.

Would you possibly consider a bike tour? I found that that a Pacific coast bicycle tour was pretty nice way to see some coastal redwoods. If you are OK with some long and steep climbing the Sierras offer some good bicycle touring where you can see some redwoods as well.

Humboldt Redwoods State Park has backpacking.

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=24183

I've not hit any of the sites but have spent time at the park. It's a beautiful place.

I've also done a portion of the southern half of the Lost Coast trail. Great hike with a few redwoods. Yes, lots of poison oak but a bit more remote than many parks in the area.

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=429

Here's an article about the northern section of the Lost Coast trail. Another place to consider.

http://indefinitelywild.gizmodo.com/adventure-californias-lost-coast-1679173376

This loop in the Santa Cruz Mountains takes you through many miles of coast redwoods:

http://tinyurl.com/100mileloop

It’s easy to cut off shorter loops and start at different locations. June is a good month to go, but reserve campgrounds as soon as they open up, they fill up fast. No long, steep climbs, but depending on your itinerary, you might need to carry a lot of water, or cache water in the forest.

This loop in Marin County has fewer miles of coast redwoods, but makes up for it with astounding views and many public transit options:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=90733

The loop has some long steep climbs and some long days, but you might be able to work around those. And you might be able to fish in the MMWD lakes.

Good luck.

— Rex

Hey Edward,

If you are looking at doing hiking in the Northern Redwoods there are a number of trails that can be recommended for you and your daughter that I know and have hiked that would work out for you and your daughter. I disagree with Ken that there are not any trails for what you are after.

If you are looking at doing hiking in the Southern Redwoods I would have to defer to the Bay area hikers.

Something to consider would be doing two different Northern Redwood routes. Each of them can be one or two nights on trail (each direction). This would allow you and your daughter to see slightly different zones of the Redwoods.

For example, you could do a yo-yo of the CCT at the Southern end of Crescent City, that could be one or two days and then bounce back, or get a ride back. You could then bounce down the coast about 10 miles and spend a couple of days in the Gold Bluff beach area, you could easily spend two or three days doing routes through this truly beautiful region.

Another option would be doing the CCT from Crescent City down to Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, without breaking it into multiple car rides, this would give you a nice few days days on the trail, give you and your daughter a bit of beach hiking, a bit of inland Redwood hiking, and a stop or two in some neat little towns. An alternative would be to stop at Klamath, resupply and turn around and yo-yo it – or just catch a ride back to CC.

Anyway, just a couple of suggestions to throw out at you. Don't like to counter what Ken said above, but he is incorrect on this issue. Check out the options I mentioned above online and if any of them sound interesting I can give further insights on the options mentioned above.

** post edit update **

An additional option would be, if you want to get some miles on the Lost Coast Trail, yet still get in some Redwoods, would be to do the Northern half of the LCT (which as already pointed out, has no Redwoods) and then hike some connector routes over the Humboldt Redwoods State Park, which has some nice trails and spend two or three days in. The HRSP is nowhere near as nice as the Prairie Creek/Gold Bluff SP but it tends to be drier and a bit easier to access if you are driving from the bay area.

An additional option would be to just ignore NorCal all together and just do trails up in Oregon, of which greatly increases your options to hike in Redwoods. There are tons of routes up in OR to hike in the Redwoods. They have both coastal and inland Redwoods.

I was thinking of a continuous 50-60 mile loop in the redwood parks. Backcountry camping along the way. Sure you can piece things together and bounce around. That is not what it sounded like Ed was looking for. But John does point out a few things.

What about Jedediah Smith State Park? There are some impressively massive redwoods up there and the Smith River is breath taking. I haven't don't any backpacking there, but I have heard of some longer trails in the area.

The JSRSP has a fair amount of short hikes that can be somewhat linked together. Much like everywhere else, with the exception of the aforementioned CCT, it would require some map work to piece it all together.

The JSRSP does offer some upland Redwoods, which are kind of nice, but not a lot of inland Redwoods, which makes the band of Redwoods up there rather narrow.

The Bigfoot trail goes through there but starting in CC and going up through the JSRSP on the BFT can be a ruff pull and all too quickly you are out of the Redwoods.

I use the Nickel Creek Camp (or Damnation Creek camp) as the starting place for heading South along the CCT. Basically goes Nickel, DeMartin, (take the river bridge at Klamath) to Flint Ridge, Gold Bluffs. Makes for an awesome few sections and days on the trail. Plus you get classified as a CCT thru-hiker so you get exemptions.

pretty good guide http://www.redwoodhikes.com/

yeah, not a lot of long backpack hikes

I like Prairie Creek Redwoods – I remember the time the wife and I were walking through campground, she got cornered by elk and started screaming (exhagerating a bit)

For a sequoia backpacking trip, starting at Crescent Meadow (through the Giant Forest in Sequoia NP) on the High Sierra Trail takes you through groves of big trees, then for a few miles superlative views of the Sierra and the canyon below, then you reach in one-two days Bearpaw High Sierra Camp. You can journey from there to Redwood Meadow, and camp in the Sequoias there for a while. From Redwood Meadow head over Timber Gap into Mineral King, hike toward the Garfield grove – exit the Garfield-Hockett trail (hopefully with a previously-placed shuttle car at that trailhead). Or, you can put a car in Mineral King. Or, you can come back out the way you came. Or, you can return via the trail along the Middle Fork of the Kaweah and exit at the trailhead down the road from the Buckeye Flat campground. (would still need a shuttle car.) This would have to be a spring trip. A lot of the lower elevations are really warm hiking in summer.

This can be as long as you like it… lots of ways to break it into increments that kids can manage. Lots of miles, but also, lots of sequoias, which many don't see because they don't backpack.

retiredjerry: I like Prairie Creek Redwoods – I remember the time the wife and I were walking through campground, she got cornered by elk

That happened to me a few times at Gold Bluff beach.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/abelajohnb/sets/72157638712457456/

On that trip it happened twice, one herd while I was out on-trail and another herd while I was driving out.

On a previous trip through there I also encountered them:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/abelajohnb/sets/72157626894167377/

Almost guaranteed to see a few herds of roosevelt elk while hiking the CCT along the route I mentioned above.