Summer is nearly here, with its long, golden days beckoning us outdoors for warm-weather adventures. Don’t let fall sneak up on you without making the most of this sunshiny season! Here are 12 ways to make the most of summertime in the redwoods.
Just a few more weekends this summer to get out and enjoy California’s great redwood forests. And planning your adventure in the redwoods has never been easier, thanks to Explore Redwoods, our new and improved online portal that tells you everything you need to know to enjoy more than 100 parks.
The League’s education program brings thousands of students to the redwoods every year. Students may look at redwoods differently, but one thing that unites them is their love for finding and counting banana slugs.
Experience the Santa Cruz Mountains like you never have before with your own professional California State Parks backcountry naturalists. Hike through fields of wildflowers, gaze at sweeping vistas, sleep under tranquil ancient redwoods, drink teas sourced from native plants, and …
Whenever we decide to go hiking, we always do research to find out a bit about the park first. Just little things such as location, how long it will take us to get there, accessibility, and, of course, what the weather will be like. In doing so, we will often come across interesting facts such as trees of some notoriety, but our number one criterion is the variety of trails because it does no good to go to a park if there are no trails suitable for me to hike. For these reasons, Portola Redwoods State Park fit our criteria.
The fresh, salty air hung heavy as I wound my way south along the coastal highway with expansive vistas of the Pacific Ocean stretching across and meeting the blue sky infinitely far away. I’m on my way to see the giants I’d dreamed about since I was a kid. Could it be true? Entire cars driving through a tunnel in a tree trunk? No way.
There are those who have been grousing about how much rain we have gotten the last few months, but after witnessing the verdant grass languish under the Golden State sun last summer, I am grateful for it. Because of my affinity for rain, the promise of another rain shower after weeks of nearly constant rain didn’t dissuade my husband and me from continuing with our plans to visit Henry Cowell State Park.
Our first redwood outing was to Butano State Park, which is a 4,600-acre park located in Pescadero. We chose this park due to its proximity to Hwy. 1 so that after our hike, we could drive up the coast to Pacifica to have dinner, thereby making a full day of our adventure.
Standing beside a massive tree that makes you look like an ant, instantly leaves you and your challenges feeling humbled. As you ponder in awe at their mysterious beauty and magnificence, you feel the weight of your worries lessen, and you can breathe deeply, taking in the soft, refreshing peace in the air.
Humboldt Redwoods State Park is home to the world’s first RV, Charles Kellogg’s Travel Log, handmade in 1917 from a fallen chunk of a redwood log and mounted on a 1917 Nash Quad truck, the toughest, most rugged vehicle of its kind at the time.
