Redwood National & State Parks

I mention this park for several reasons. The best reason is that this park contains the largest remnant of primeval redwood forests in the world, which is definitely worth seeing. Ninety six percent (96%) of the virgin Coast Redwood forests are already gone, and now only a patchwork extends from Big Sur State Park (near Monterey, CA) to Crescent City, CA. The largest private intact grove, incidentally, is known as the Headwaters Forest, and was recently purchased by the government for protection! I also mention this park because it receives far fewer visitors than other National Parks in the West and protects the tallest trees in the world. A few summers ago I was a park ranger here, so let me introduce you to some of the greatest forests in the world.

Location - The park lies about 25 miles north of Eureka, California in a narrow band along the coast from the small town of Orick to Crescent City, California (map), which is about six (6) hours north of San Francisco. Receiving over 100 inches of rain a year (mostly in the winter), this part of California nurtures the biggest & tallest Coast Redwood trees remaining, including the world's tallest tree standing at 367.8 feet tall. It is nearly 22 feet in diameter! Redwoods have been described as "ambasadors from another time," John Steinbeck once said, and some can live over 2000 years. As a species, redwoods date back to a prehistoric era when dinosaurs plodded around the earth some 130 million years ago. Because of these unique characterisitics, this park has been designated as World Heritage Site and Biosphere reserve .

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