Redwood September 2026

This year Liên and I decided on visiting Redwood National and State Parks, as part of our National Park Experience Project (I just came up with this NPEP nomenclature).

George, Lan, and my mom took Tom and me to the airport on the second Tuesday of September. My mom was in good hands for the next six days. She’d be taken of by George, Lan, Drakeson, Milli, and Vivi.

I enjoyed looking out the window of the airplane. Sometimes I forget about this simple pleasure because airplanes now have their window shades down and I am likely to either read or go to sleep.

Tom and I found the shuttle to the hotel easiy. We rested for a bit in our room before taking a walk on Bay Trail. The weather was very pleasant. We could see airplanes heading to the airport and the city across the bay.

We walked back to our hotel and had the complimentary drinks and snacks before dinner at Kincaid’s. Bill, Liên, and Mochi didn’t arrive until late when the restaurant in the hotel just closed.

Wednesday

We had ocean view from the hotel room. I took a picture from our window before and after breakfast. Tom, Liên, and I went to breakfast at 6:45am while Bill and Mochi were still asleep.

We took the 8:24am hotel shuttle to the airport. Mochi was interested in a panda statue from the Chinese Historical Society of America at the airport.

We flew to Arcata and picked up a rental car. 

We had lunch at Green Country Store. I colored with Mochi. 

We went to Hiller Park in McKinleyville and walked the Hammond Coastal Trail. A plaque says that this section of the California Coastal Trail is part of a statewide effort to create a continuous path between the Oregon and Mexico borders. Tom and I walked a bit further while Bill and Liên took Mochi back to the parking lot to play at the playground. We joined them later.

We shopped at Safeway before getting to our Airbnb. We checkout out the “World’s Largest Totem Pole” behind the store with the original height of 160 feet and weight of 57,000 lbs. It was carved in 1962 from a single 500-year-old redwood tree. According to RoadsideAmerica.com, the pole’s height was reduced to 125 feet in May 2023 after the rotted top of the pole had to be cut off.

We found our vacation rental house easily in Orick. It is beautiful with a large porch, large living room, and a view to the ocean. It is quite roomy with just the five of us. Liên exclaimed she wished Lan’s family could be here, but with exactly three bedrooms, the house allows only six people. 

Liên presented us with presents: a small waffle maker for Tom and a package of mochi ube waffle mix for me. We sat in the hot tub and had dinner of lasagna on the deck. 

Thursday

Tom made mochi ube waffle and it was so good. We hung around until 9am when Liên went online to request a pass to Fern Canyon and Gold Buffs Beach for the next day. Then we took off for our first hiking adventure to Trillium Falls Trail. The falls had such a small cascade that Liên couldn’t believe that was THE falls. We met a guy who seems to know a lot about Redwood. He said it was. He offered to take pictures of us.

We continued the 2.7-mile loop after seeing the falls and were rewarded with beautiful redwood trees and morning sun rays shining through them.

We even saw the popular banana slug which is found predominately in the redwood forests. The slugs have a symbiotic relationship with the redwoods where they eat the plants that compete with the redwoods and in return, the redwoods provide them with the cool, moist habitat they need. They also aid in seed dispersal. Governor Newton signed legislation establishing the banana slug as California’s state slug in 2024.

We then drove to the trailhead of Lady Bird Johnson Grove Trail. Liên got excited at the parking lot and called for me repeatedly after I already got out of the car. I had added Liên on the waiting list for my trip to see the monarchs in Mexico just this morning and she got a text saying she was accepted as a participant and my roommate. We were ecstatic! 

I took pictures of Mochi at the trailhead sign. She is so cute. She stood in front of the sign and blocked the words, so I took a picture of the sign again after she ran ahead. 

Lady Bird Johnson came here in November 1968 to help dedicate Redwood National Park. She returned in August 1969 when this grove of trees was named in her honor by President Richard Nixon for her devoted service to preserve and enhance America's natural beauty for the enjoyment of all.

We stopped for a group picture with the National and State Parks sign before driving back to our rental home. 

After eating lunch of delicious turkey and avocado sandwiches, Mochi wanted me to play with her and go to sleep on the spacious floor of the living room using the pillows and blankets she had set out. Lan thought it was so cute that Mochi pretended to be asleep when Liên snapped a picture of us lying on the floor. 

After playing and resting, we went to Prairie Creek State Park and took a 3-mile walk along several different trails from the Visitor's Center. We started out on the Karl Knapp Memorial Trail and walked 1.4 miles to Big Tree Wayside. 

Big Tree has a height of 286 feet with a diameter of 23.7 feet and a circumference of 74.5 feet. It is estimated to be 1,500 years old. 

We then took the Circle Trail to be connected to the Cathedral Trees Trail, our main objective for this afternoon.

It took us 1.5 hours to complete the loop. We came back home and cooked tacos for dinner. We ate on the patio and sat in the hot tub before retiring for the night.

Friday

After breakfast of waffles, egg and tomato burritos, and coffee, we left about 9am to go to Fern Canyon. Our car had to cross a stream twice on a gravel road, but it was totally doable. At the trailhead, I met a family of three Vietnamese women. I offered to take pictures for them. I was impressed that they were prepared with waterproof boots, and I felt inadequate in my sandals, but they said they felt embarrassed for being over-prepared.

The trailhead for Fern Canyon is on the Gold Bluffs Beach section of the Coastal Trail. The plaques say this was a long-time Indian trade route and later used by miners and packers from Crescent City to Trinidad. Gold Bluffs is the site of a mini gold rush in the 1850’s when flecks of gold in the dark sand were discovered. Some of the ferns in the canyon are ancient species that can be traced back 325 million years. Seeping waters supply year-round dampness for the dense foliage. This was one of several sites for filming Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World. 

We were reminded that Redwood is Bear, Mountain Lion, and Elk Country. For our entire trip, we saw elk but not bears or lions.

We walked a dry section for a while.

At the first stream crossing, I was apprehensive because I thought the water would be freezing. A guy who was coming out told us there would be 14 more crossings. But once we crossed the water, we felt confident to continue.

I caught up with my Vietnamese friends. We took pictures of each other and exchanged phone numbers. 

The stream crossings became routine and yet unique. It was even fun.

According to the map, there is Gold Dust Falls on the Coastal Trail but we had a hard time figuring how to get to the trail. Someone told us that the trail is overgrown but totally worth it and directed us to a path where we found an interesting grove of small trees with moss on them. There is a sign calling this Van Alstyne Redwood Grove.

We followed the path for a while and found it too overgrown for our comfort. We were thinking of marking the path somehow, but in the end decided to abandon the walk. We walked to the beach instead. 

From afar, these looked like tepees to me. Mochi called them party hats. 

On our way out of the Prairie Creek State Park, we saw a male elk with beautiful antlers at the Entrance Station. Down the road were three more elk. What a treat.

After having lunch and resting back at our rental place, we set out to the Redwood Creek Trail, our last walk in the Redwood Parks. 

We walked the first 1.7 miles to the first creek crossing. 

Right before we got to the creek, there were two paths, the left one has a sign in black marked "Not A Trail" and the right one has a sign in red marked "Trail." 

Liên's with "Not A Trail" sign and Tom's with "Trail" sign

Tom took a dip in the creek.

Pictures I took on the way back have different perspectives of the trail.

On the way back to our temporary abode, we stopped at Orick Mart and bought a loaf of bread, milk, zuchini, and sausage to go with the mac & cheese. Bill cooked the mac & cheese. I cooked the sausage and zuchini and added a half of an apple. We had dinner on the porch and used the hot tub one last time.

Under Mochi’s directions, we played the game of sleeping on the floor of the family room.