Posted: 8/12/2015 5:00:22 PM EDT
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From San Francisco, where would be the best place to see the Redwoods this fall.
Thanks in advance. |
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If you consider the Giant Sequoia and Redwoods to be two different things, then you will differentiate between the coastal range and the Sequoia National Park.
Those are two really different trips and both are excellent. These two ranges don't need to be fall trips as they don't turn with the winter. http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=24723 http://www.nps.gov/seki/index.htm Here is the skinny on what you want to see and where to go. You really can't go wrong with either type of tree. There is a third type, dawn redwood, but I think it only grows in botanical gardens. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g28926-c195829/California:United-States:Coast.Redwoods.Tallest.Trees.html Have Fun! |
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The Coast Redwoods are the taller and thinner variety. Pretty much limited to areas where the coastal fog comes in and stays, they get a lot of their water from the fog. The best places to see them is to go up the coast on Highway 101 between south of Eureka to Crescent City. I also like Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, where you can also go visit Gold Bluffs Beach with big piles of BIG driftwood although more of that has been moving on. Fern Canyon is just off the beach and it's definitely worth the oh maybe 3/4 mile walk.
If you can't take a few days to do the above, you can go to Muir Woods just north of San Francisco, it's pretty nice but not the overwhelming sense you get in the bigger groves further north. While in the area, go to Ferndale. a small town filled with over the top Victorian building built at the the height of the lumber boom when they could go overboard on gingerbread and other decorative mill work. In Eureka, Blue Ox Millworks, small mill works filled with period machinery, many tools man-powered. Used as a school in millworking and creating or replacing or reproducing specialized wood pieces. Downtown has a lot of larger ornate business buildings, also the Carson Mansion. Lots of Victorian homes in the older residential area. Fort Humboldt has a nice collection of donkey engines and other steam powered logging equipment. Just across the bridge to the Samoa peninsula, the Samoa Cookhouse, last remaining cookhouse that served the workers at one of the largest mills. All you can eat, good prices and authentic feed. Also the Lumber Heritage Association has a collection of mostly steam engines from the local logging operations in the old mill roundhouse. The Sequoias - are the big fat muthas, still pretty tall. The ones that make you say, "Holy shit!" when you see them. The best place to see them is Sequoia National Park. (surprise?) although there are several other groves nearby. They only grow on the west side of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains. |
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The closest to SF is El Corta Madera Park 30 miles south of SF on Sky Line. From there you can go to Big Basin State park. BB is another 1 1/2 hours south. At ECM there is a 2000 year old redwood 20 feet off the road. Anything just north of SF is a traffic nightmare. You can wind up parking 2 miles from the area.
http://www.openspace.org/preserves/el-corte-de-madera-creek |
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Quoted:
Armstrong Redwood Grove, off the russian river, great area, great drive. 1.5 hours from SF This^. Wine tasting, good eats, Russian River Brewery in Santa Rosa, Charles Scultz Peanuts museum, scenic drive along Hwy 1 from Stinson Beach to Jenner, Ft Ross park north of Jenner. |