Redwood National and State Parks
Location: Northern California Coast
Established: 1968
Size: 139,000 acres (map)
Our Trip
Visited: January 2019
Type of Visit: Day trip while driving home from California
We had flown to Southern California for the holidays and wanted to drive home to Seattle, through Redwood National Park, to celebrate our one-year anniversary. First, we stopped at my grandparents’ house in Sacramento and ate the top of our wedding cake! My dad had wrapped it tightly and frozen it right away, so it was just as good as the year before. Then, we headed west to stay the night near the park. We double checked what would be open since we were there on the New Year’s holiday and made our plans.
I don’t remember the specific stops we made, but we basically drove north and stopped for short hikes and to see all the tourist spots. These trees are SO tall, most of our time was spent looking up! We heard there were multiple trees you could drive through, which we were excited about. We only found one, but it was definitely a highlight!
Fun Facts
1. The Lowest elevation is 0 feet.
Redwood National Park runs right up to the Pacific Ocean, making its lowest point sea level.
2. The trees are huge!
There are 50 Redwood trees over 350 feet tall along the coast of the Pacific. Even their bark can be up to one foot thick!
3. you can’t know which one is the tallest
The tallest known tree in Redwood National Park is 379 feet. However, to avoid any foul play or abundant tourism, park rangers do not tell visitors which specific Redwood tree is the tallest.
4. The Fog is important for coastal redwoods.
The Coastal Redwoods need the morning fog to survive. In fact, the fog provides almost half of the moisture they receive all year! It condenses on the needles, gets absorbed, and then falls to the forest floor.
5. Keep an eye out for roosevelt elk
The Roosevelt Elk, the largest mammals in the park, are named after Theodore Roosevelt.
