I leave Redding via Highway 299, and oh, my, what a ride! It is a gorgeous highway that mostly follows the Trinity River through a heavily wooded canyon, but what an exhausting drive! One hundred forty miles of ups and downs, and an excellent opportunity to check the status of the Tracker, as I can practically see it out the window on the continuous sharp turns!

It is the Friday before my long awaited vacation! I get an early start out of Redding, because I want to reach the coast in time to look around the small town of Trinidad before dark. An extra bonus, I have learned that some of my favorite bloggers are dry camped at the same place I had targeted for my overnight, Cher-Ae Heights Casino near the Trinidad waterfront. I have been following Life’s Little Adventures of Jim, Gayle, and Debbie since I was first “introduced” when they spent some time in Utah with the Box Canyon Blog gang. So it is a real treat to get to meet them, and spend some time talking about the full time lifestyle, considering they have been at it about six times longer than me!

The casino parking lot puts me in the perfect position to enter the Redwood National Park. I plan to drive up Highway 101 as far as I can before i must head back inland to make the Winnebago View Rally by mid week. That leaves me only three days to cover as much of the Redwood National Park as possible. The park is actually made up of several California State Parks that were incorporated under the National Park “umbrella” to further aid preservation.

My target is the Jedediah Smith State Park at the northern end of the park, named for the hunter, fur trapper and explorer, the first “white man” to travel from Utah to California. However, I stop at the southern end to visit the Kuchel Visitor’s Center, and learn that it is further to the State Park than I realized. It is over an hour drive away, which means I would need to backtrack south in the Tracker to explore the southern end. For this reason, I decide to make the Elk Prairie Campground my destination for the first night. Thirty-five dollars for an unlevel parking space in an Elk meadow with no hookups. I just keep telling myself, “The National Park Service needs the money!”

I read that the “Tall Trees Trail” is one of the more scenic hikes in the southern end of the park, but it requires a permit for entry from the Visitor’s Center. I have heard mixed reviews about whether or not it is worth the seven miles down two-lane, another six miles down a gravel road, and a 1.5 mile ow hike, just to reach the 1 mile loop trail. But of course, I always fall prey to anything requiring a permit. 😉 The fact that “entrance is limited” makes me want to go. So I ask at the visitor center, and there are still permits available for the day.

Although the 1 mile loop trail itself is glorious with all the old growth trees, I agree it was probably not worth driving 13 miles and hiking another three, as much of the same can be seen in other more accessible groves in the park. However, this grove turned out to have more rhododendrons in bloom than any other place I visited in the park, so I am glad I came.

Being among the massive giants is awe-inspiring. There is no way to photograph the majesty of these trees. You just have to feel it. I am a self-proclaimed “tree hugger,” so I definitely feel it. I wondered how many other tourists walking the path actually talk to the trees. HA!

Note tree hugger in lower left corner.

Some are believed to be 2,000 years old, and grow as high as 380 feet tall. I spent a lot of time looking at these stately beauties, marveling at the fact that all the intelligence required to produce such a massive structure could come from a seed the size of a tomato seed.

Something to ponder while getting lost in the silence on a dwarfed park bench…

The plaque reads, “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” ~ Shakespeare