In August 1996, Chris and I camped our way from San Francisco to Seattle and back again. On the return journey, we spent one night in Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, at the Mill Creek camp ground. Arriving late in the afternoon with the fog rolling in, we were tired and unenthusiastic about hiking. We had a rule about hiking every day, though, so we set out for the trailhead to this hike, two miles south of Mill Creek on Highway 101.
The hike is advertised in brochures as very strenuous: it involves a 1000-foot drop over a very short distance. Going down, of course, is easy: the massive redwoods, covered in mosses and surrounded by ferns, lure hikers downward on the well-marked trail. Perhaps because of the warnings and the lateness of the hour, we encountered few other hikers even though Redwoods is one of California's most popular parks. One group we did encounter was a couple with two young children: they encouraged us to persevere, saying if their six-year-old could make the return journey, so could we.
The trail is essentially a series of long switchbacks, weaving its way through an old-growth forest of redwoods that took our breath away. Actually, it reminded us of nothing so much as the Forest Moon of Endor: George Lucas filmed "Return of the Jedi" somewhere in the vicinity, and it showed. The last leg of the hike moves through a valley going down to the sea; the trail ends at the beach, beneath a cliff.
This is a fantastic hike, providing hikers with the chance to spend lots of time among the ancient redwoods that lure people to so many of California's state and national parks. On a foggy late afternoon, the atmosphere was other-worldly, the silence almost complete. The journey upward was indeed strenuous--as always, bring lots of water--but it was more than worth it. The next time you're at Redwoods, try to include this hike on your itinerary.
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