Redwood National and State Parks

Redwood National and State Parks, on California's north coast, is four parks run as one: a national park and three state redwood parks. Together they cover 131,983 acres, with 37 miles of coastline, and protect 45% of the old-growth forest left in California. Redwood National Park itself had 1,202,480 recreation visits in 2025, although most of the jump on 2024 came from a new way of counting.

No entrance station guards the parks, and the highway runs straight through them, so the planning is about two reservations, a few unpaved roads and the weather. We checked the figures below on 28 October 2026 on the Park Service's pages and alerts, California State Parks, Caltrans and NOAA's normals.

Do you pay anything to enter Redwood National and State Parks?

Redwood National and State Parks charges no entrance fee, and US 101, the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway, Howland Hill Road and Bald Hills Road are all free to drive. The Park Service's own words are "free to visit", with no entrance stations. Entry needs no reservation either, and the parks stay open day and night.

Redwood is not on the 2026 list of eleven parks with a $100 non-resident surcharge, so a visitor from abroad pays exactly what an American pays. The national park does not sell the annual or senior pass. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors lists the parks where the surcharge applies.

The three state parks inside the boundary, Jedediah Smith, Del Norte Coast and Prairie Creek Redwoods, charge day use only at developed areas and campground entrances. The one entrance station a driver meets is on Davison Road, to Gold Bluffs Beach and Fern Canyon. The Park Service's 2026 pages put it at $12 a car, cash or cheque only, with no cards.

The state parks' own pages, checked the same day, still print "Vehicle Day Use: $8.00". Bring $12 in cash to be safe. The kiosk also accepts the America the Beautiful pass and California's annual and Poppy passes, so a holder of the $250 non-resident annual pass pays nothing there.

How do the Tall Trees and Fern Canyon reservations work?

The Tall Trees Trail and the road to Fern Canyon are the two places in Redwood that need a reservation, and both are free. Neither is issued at a visitor centre. Visitors book both online, and the slots are few.

The Tall Trees Trail needs a reservation all year, issued by the Redwood Parks Conservancy. There are 45 all-day slots a day, released up to 180 days ahead and closing 24 hours before. On top of them, 10 morning slots open at 8 a.m. the day before and 10 afternoon slots at 1 p.m. A locked gate guards the access road, and the code arrives by email with the reservation.

The trailhead is a one-hour drive from the nearest visitor centre, including 6 miles of dirt road. Its car park takes no RVs over 21 feet and no trailers. The trail is 4.5 miles there and back, drops 800 feet in its first 1.5 miles, and takes at least four hours. Applicants can enter a hired car as "rental car" on the application.

Fern Canyon needs a free vehicle reservation from 15 May to 15 September, according to the permits page updated in August 2026. A box on the Fern Canyon page and the older scenic-drives page still say 1 May to 30 September. There are 75 in-advance slots a day, which open on 15 December, and 100 day-before slots released at 9 a.m.; none are issued on the day.

The Fern Canyon reservation covers 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the named holder must be in the car with photo ID. Campers at Gold Bluffs Beach or Elk Prairie need none. Walkers need none either: the James Irvine Trail from the Prairie Creek Visitor Center reaches the canyon in about 10.4 miles there and back.

What is open in the redwoods on 28 October 2026?

On 28 October 2026 the park's alerts listed four items, and none of them closed a road. Highway 101 has several construction stops between Orick and Crescent City. A failed bridge over 44 Creek adds at least 3.5 miles to a backcountry route, and drilling beside DeMartin Campground may at times be noisy around the clock.

The conditions page, updated on 22 October, lists Bald Hills Road as open with road damage. Prescribed burns are planned across the Bald Hills this autumn, with possible smoke and traffic control. Davison Road to Fern Canyon is open, but its two stream crossings can be challenging and high-clearance vehicles are recommended.

Cal-Barrel Road has shut to cars for the winter. Mill Creek Campground closed on 1 October and reopens in mid-May. The seasonal footbridges have been taken out at Redwood Creek, Stout Grove, Fern Canyon and the Prairie Creek Nature Trail. Stout Grove is therefore reached by car on Howland Hill Road.

Several trails are blocked. A fallen tree lies across the Boy Scout Tree Trail 1.75 miles in, and another has blocked the Miners Ridge Trail since April. The Damnation Creek trailhead has been closed since 1 May "until further notice", according to the state park's page; the Park Service's page does not mention it.

The Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway is open, but closes to cars on the first Saturday of every month from October to May for walkers and cyclists. The next is Saturday 7 November 2026. In winter, the Park Service warns, the Parkway "is often closed for days at a time" by fallen trees or ice.

The Kuchel Visitor Center moves to winter hours, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., in early November. In winter Prairie Creek keeps the same hours from Wednesday to Sunday, and Hiouchi opens 10 to 4 but closes on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The Crescent City Information Center opens 9 to 4 daily, and the Jedediah Smith centre only from mid-May to early September.

Why is Redwood four parks, and how big are its trees?

Redwood National and State Parks is four parks: three state redwood parks and a national park. Prairie Creek dates from 1923 and Jedediah Smith from 1929, while Del Norte Coast's year differs between the two agencies' pages. The national park followed on 2 October 1968 and grew in 1978. A 1994 agreement between the Park Service and California State Parks put all four under joint management.

Of the 131,983 acres, 71,715 are federal and 60,268 belong to the state. Of those, 38,982 acres are old-growth forest. The Park Service says 96% of the original old-growth coast redwoods have been logged. The parks became a World Heritage Site in 1980, and they run from sea level to just over 3,000 feet.

The tallest known tree, 379 feet, stands in the Redwood Creek watershed. The Park Service does not signpost it and asks visitors not to look for it. It grows off-trail inside a closed area upstream of Tom McDonald Creek, where hiking "could result in a fine or jail". Coast redwoods grow taller than giant sequoias, while the sequoias of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are bigger by volume.

Visitors cannot drive through any tree inside the parks. The three drive-through trees in the region, at Klamath, Myers Flat and Leggett, are private and charge a fee.

The 2025 count needs care. The Park Service's figures show 622,883 visits in 2024 and 1,202,480 in 2025, a 93% rise. The Park Service says the jump "is mostly attributed to improved visitor counting methods" and puts the like-for-like rise at about 11%. All four parks together had nearly 2.5 million visitors.

Which redwood groves can you walk in under an hour?

Redwood's short walks start from the roads and reach old-growth groves in minutes. The Klamath River divides the northern trails, around Crescent City, from the southern ones, around Orick. The distances below are the park's own figures.

The Big Tree is more than 1,500 years old, and its wayside is wheelchair accessible. Stout Memorial Grove covers 44 acres, given in 1929 by Clara Stout. The Grove of Titans boardwalk was built in 2022. The Lady Bird Johnson Grove car park is typically full from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in summer and takes no oversized vehicles.

The Fern Canyon loop climbs about 150 feet and takes about 45 minutes, and the Park Service advises waterproof footwear. Pets are not allowed on any trail. Leashed dogs may walk on Cal-Barrel Road and on Gold Bluffs Beach, but not in Fern Canyon. The Park Service warns of car break-ins at the Boy Scout Tree and Damnation Creek trailheads.

Which redwood roads can a hired car drive?

The Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway takes vehicles of any size: 10 paved miles, 20 to 30 minutes, off US 101 between Orick and Klamath. Its exits are 753 at the south end and 765 at the north. It passes the Big Tree Wayside, the Prairie Creek Visitor Center and Elk Prairie Campground, and commercial vehicles are not permitted.

Howland Hill Road runs 10 miles from Crescent City to US 199 near Hiouchi and takes about 45 minutes. Most of it is unpaved, and motorhomes and trailers will not fit. The road leads to Stout Grove and the Boy Scout Tree trailhead.

Davison Road to Fern Canyon is 7 to 8 miles of single-lane gravel, with the two stream crossings. RVs over 24 feet and trailers are not permitted. Bald Hills Road climbs a 15% grade for about 17 miles to Lyons Ranch, paved for about 13. The Park Service says not to use it as a route into the parks, although the Lady Bird Johnson Grove and Tall Trees both start from it.

On the coast, Requa Road climbs 2¼ miles to the Klamath River Overlook, 650 feet above the Pacific; it is steep and narrow and not recommended for RVs. Enderts Beach Road leaves US 101 2½ miles south-east of Crescent City and runs 2¼ paved miles to the Crescent Beach overlook. The Coastal Drive is a 9-mile round trip of about 45 minutes, with a one-way northbound section.

Where do the Roosevelt elk graze around Orick?

Redwood's Roosevelt elk live in seven herds, and the Bald Hills herd, of around 250 animals, is by far the largest. The others number about 10 to 50. Herds graze at Crescent Beach, Gold Bluffs Beach, Prairie Creek, Elk Meadow, lower Redwood Creek and the Orick Valley, and by 2018 one had moved into Orick itself.

The Park Service recommends keeping at least 25 yards, or 75 feet, from elk, and farther in spring and autumn. Bulls weigh as much as 1,200 pounds. The rut runs from late August through October, when bulls turn aggressive, and calving runs from late May to June, when cows can be extremely defensive.

The Elk Meadow Day Use Area on Davison Road, the Prairie Creek meadows and Gold Bluffs Beach are good places to watch. Black bears are common on Bald Hills Road. The backcountry is bear and mountain lion country with no mobile signal.

Where do you sleep at Redwood without a hotel in the park?

Redwood National and State Parks has no hotels or lodges, and its only roofed beds are eight basic campground cabins. Four are at Elk Prairie and four at Jedediah Smith. All four developed campgrounds are run by California State Parks and cost $35 a night per site.

Sites are booked on ReserveCalifornia at least 48 hours ahead, or on 1-800-444-7275, and size limits for RVs and trailers are strictly upheld. Seven backcountry camps need a free permit, booked online up to 160 days ahead; the Gold Bluffs Beach camp costs $5 per person per night.

Outside the parks, the Park Service lists lodging from north to south in Brookings in Oregon, Crescent City, Klamath, Orick, Trinidad, McKinleyville, Arcata and Eureka. Crescent City suits the northern groves and Orick the southern ones and Fern Canyon.

How wet is the redwood coast in winter?

The redwood coast gets most of its rain from October to April, and Crescent City averages 71.45 inches a year. December is its wettest month, with 13.37 inches, and July its driest, with 0.19. Gasquet, inland on US 199, averages 89.95 inches, while the Arcata-Eureka airport, to the south, gets 46.12.

The table gives NOAA's 1991 to 2020 average highs and lows. Temperatures barely move through the year: Crescent City's warmest month, August, averages 66°F, and days over 90°F almost never happen. Inland at Prairie Creek, nights drop below freezing about 44 times a year.

Crowds follow the dry months. June was the busiest month of 2025, with 222,029 visits, and December the quietest, with 31,042. June to September brought about 59% of the year's visits. Rhododendrons flower from mid-May to early June, and maples along the Mill Creek Trail colour from October through December.

How do you reach the redwoods, and what if Last Chance Grade closes?

The road to Redwood National and State Parks is US 101, which runs north from San Francisco through Eureka, past the Kuchel Visitor Center and on to Crescent City. Between Klamath and Crescent City it crosses Last Chance Grade, an active landslide zone. Caltrans says a closure there means an eight-hour detour through Oregon and inland Northern California.

A closure at Last Chance Grade would leave Crescent City, Hiouchi and Jedediah Smith on one side, and Orick, Prairie Creek and Fern Canyon on the other. Caltrans is designing a 6,000-foot tunnel, but construction is "anticipated to begin in 2031" and securing the funding is still on the list. For live closures, the Park Service points to Caltrans QuickMap.

The distances in the table are our own routing, which matched the Park Service's printed figures within 5% except for one. The Park Service puts Crater Lake National Park 140 miles and 3½ hours from Crescent City, against our 176. From Redding, the Park Service calls Highway 299 to Arcata the best route from the south-east.

Crescent City's small airport is 3.4 miles from the information centre, with flights to Oakland. The Park Service's page names Contour Airlines, while the airport's own site names Advanced Air. The Park Service warns of limited mobile signal and inaccurate GPS directions. The Kuchel Visitor Center is on the beach a mile south of Orick, not in the town.

The parks are on Pacific Time, and clocks go back an hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday 1 November 2026. Redwood is one of nine national parks in our guide to California. The other national parks in California are Channel Islands National Park, Death Valley National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Pinnacles National Park, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and Yosemite National Park.