Day 3: More of Redwood National and State Parks

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Today is the second and last day with the redwoods. Kris wants to see tidepools on the beach...just like Monterey and Acadia both a couple of years back, it's always fun to watch the kids explore. We have two options: hike to the beach on Damnation Trail or drive to a place called Enderts Beach. This highly recommended trail in the guidebooks is only a couple of miles to the beach (then a couple back!) but rated as strenuous since it's a pretty steep elevation difference along the way. The tidepools at Enderts are rated as some of the best around. Unsurprisingly, Enderts Beach wins so we head up there early enough to make the 45-minute drive (the entire redwoods area is long north-south and takes over an hour to travel by car) in time to be out there for low tide at 1015.

The hike down to the beach is about half-mile from the parking lot and we're down on the beach around 10am. There are loads of green anemones, starfish/sea stars and crabs. The kids are having a blast, and I have to admit, it's fun. As an unexpected bonus, two park rangers show up just at low tide to do a little program on the tidepools. Apparently, it's the first time this season they're down in the tidepools so we are lucky...these programs are usually good and pretty informative and educational. The best part about these programs, including this one, is that the kids actually like them!

Now that the tide is coming and we've had enough exploring, we head back to the car for the drive up to Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park at the northern end of the RNSP. The plan is to hike to the Stout Grove, which is some of the best old-growth redwood around according to the guidebooks. The road out to the trailhead is incredibly scenic, narrow and unpaved right through the trees. We miss the turn-off but end up at the trailhead for the Boy Scout Tree trail, another recommended hike through old-growth redwoods so we head out on this one. If we had done the whole thing, it would have been 7 miles out and back, but we stop at a waterfall along the way to relax and hang out in the water a bit before turning around and heading back. Like yesterday, I'm amazed at the redwoods and still stopping to admire and click away with my camera.

On the way back to the campsite we stop for some take-out chicken and pasta and head out to a picnic site overlooking the mouth of the Klamath River where it empties into the Pacific Ocean. The park rangers from this morning mentioned that there's a whale and her calf hanging around here. We look around but don't spot them, but enjoy the scenery nonetheless as we eat. After dinner, we head back to the campsite for the sunset over the ocean.

Today didn't really go according to the original plan based on the guidebooks, but between the tidepools, the redwoods, the picnic dinner and the sunset it was a good day. I'm glad we made the most of it because tomorrow we head out and move on.

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