Redwood National and State Park (and UNESCO World Heritage Site) is a narrow park along the Northernmost California coastline that preserves Sequoia sempervirens the Coastal/California Redwood, the tallest living things on Earth, with heights towering up to 122m (400ft). After extensive logging starting from the 1850s, the great groves of the redwoods have been drastically reduced, so much so that the 158 km^2 of old-growth forest encompass 45% of the total for Coastal Redwoods. Some of the tallest surviving trees are here, including Hyperion, the current record-holder for tallest tree on Earth at 115.85 m (380.1 ft), hidden somewhere in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park (When the national park was established in 1968, it incorporated 3 state parks as well, Jedediah Smith Redwoods, Del Norte Coast, and Prairie Creek).

Redwoods is a hiking park. There is honestly not much to be seen from the road (at least not any better than the Avenue of Giants further South), but its trails are lush cathedrals of towering trees and fern undergrowth, with blooming trillium fowers when I visited in April 2021. The best hike however was the James Irvine and Miner's Ridge Loop, weaving 19km (12.1 miles) through redwoods lined atop a ridge, perched around a small valley exploding in greenery, to a large Northern California sandy beach, and past herds of curious Roosevelt Elk to Fern Canyon. Here, the area almost seems like a slot canyon, walking along a shallow creek no more than a few meters wide, while 15m (50ft) walls tower on both sides, completely covered with green ferns and moss. The experience is almost primordeal. While certainly a tiring experience, it is one worth doing.

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Lord Huron - Lonesome Dreams

Courtesy of  theroguez