Virtual Guidebook to the Redwood National and State Parks
Lower Redwood Creek
Redwood National Park California

Redwood Creek is lined for many miles with magnificent forest. The first mile or so is a temperate rain forest of Sitka spruce and bigleaf maples. The middle stretches are a corridor of old growth redwoods on both sides of the stream all the way to the Tall Trees Grove. Creation of the national park in 1967 saved this forest from certain clearcutting, which had already begun. The creek itself, a small river in size, still shows signs of erosion from upstream logging.

There is an official trail that follows the creek from near Orick all the way up to the Tall Trees Grove. Parts of it are old logging roads, on other stretches there is a hillside trail, and it crosses the broad gravelly creekbed on summer bridges.

This ranks as one of my favorite hikes - I did it first, wading the creek repeatedly, in June of 1967, and camped at the base of the Tall Tree for three days, completely alone.