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Davison Trail: South Access
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Davison Trail: South Access
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A short trail that is part of a of "Hike and Bike" hub in the southern end of the redwood parks. You will see first-hand the legacy of 20th century redwood logging practices.<br /> <br /> This 2.5 mile trail follows an old logging road from the Elk Meadow Day Use area to the Elk Prairie Campground to the north. The trail is fairly level trail with just a few dozen feet of elevation change. Watch for elk and other wildlife along the trail. <br /> <br /> As you head north, follow the signs for Elk Prairie Campground. After two miles you will turn right and briefly follow a dirt road, go past a gate and then turn into old-growth forests near Elk Prairie. Only the final few hundred feet of this trail has old-growth redwood trees.<br /> <br /> This is an interesting trail because it shows what two-thirds of the parks' forests look like today - and they are not ancient redwood forests! 70,000 acres the parks' forests are "second-growth". This trail takes you through dense, Douglas-fir forests that have grown back since the old-growth redwoods were logged here in the 1960s. Along this trail you will pass old logging mill buildings and will see stumps of giant redwood trees set amongst the skinny, young and crowded second-growth trees.<br /> <br /> In the 2020s, this area is will see lots of habitat restoration efforts as part of the "<a href="https://www.nps.gov/redw/redwoodsrisingmain.htm">Redwoods Rising</a>" project. It is possible that in 2022, this trail will be temporarily closed when <a href="https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/nature/forestthinning.htm">forest restoration</a> is happening.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://www.nps.gov/places/elkmeadow.htm">Elk Meadow Day Use Area</a> is just a few hundred feet to the south of this trailhead- and this is where plenty of parking is.<br /> <br /> Safety Tips <ul> <li>We recommend you purchase and use a good map and trail guide for your adventures in Redwood National and State Parks. Don’t rely on online maps when you are here.To protect the habitats, leave no trace also means staying on the developed trail. Please don’t go off-trail and make any new trails.</li> <li>These forests grow by the inch, and will die by your foot.</li> <li>To protect the wildlife (and you and other visitors), pets are not allowed on park trails.</li> <li>Cell coverage is very limited and cannot be relied on in an emergency. Have a plan for checking in and checking out with a friend when you are here.</li> </ul> <br /> <br /> <br />
Elk Meadow Day Use Area
~0 min drive
This is a great hub for some hiking, biking, wildlife viewing AND it has plenty of parking! This combination is rare in the redwoods.<br /> <br /> Walkers and hikers love this place because it leads to the gentle Trillium Falls Trail with its old-growth redwoods, and also to t…
Trillium Falls Trail
~0 min drive
<strong>A Highly Recommended Walk </strong><br /> <br /> This is a family-friendly, short hike passing old-growth redwoods, maples, trillium flowers, ferns, and huge fir trees... with a small waterfall too! There are some switchbacks and an elevation gain of 200-feet to reach…
Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #8
~2 min drive
<b>Redwood Resurrection</b><br /> <br /> Commercial logging of redwoods reached into northern Humboldt and Del Norte Counties by the early 1870s. The logging industry dominated the economy of this region for three decades following World War II. The absence of tall trees in th…
Coastal Trail: Skunk Cabbage (South)
~2 min drive
Located off HWY 101 on Robinson Road, this is the southern trailhead for the 7.5 long Skunk Cabbage Trail. The northern trailhead is on Gold Bluffs Beach - just north of the entrance kiosk. The Skunk Cabbage Trail is part of the California Coastal Trail system.<br /> <br /> Th…
Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #9
~2 min drive
<b>Life after Death</b><br /> <br /> Redwoods do not die easily. The dense heartwood of a living tree resists most forms of insect damage and fungal growth, thus its value in commercial uses. The ability of a redwood to regenerate from burls ensures its longevity. More often t…
Lost Man Creek: Hike and Bike Trail
~2 min drive
An Opportunity To Ride (Or Stroll) Through A Landscape In Recovery.<br /> <br /> Lost Man Creek flows through a landscape greatly changed from the 1960s when much of this area was clearcut logged. What used to be a logging road has been converted into a hike and bike trail. Lo…
Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #10
~2 min drive
<b>Forest from Ferns</b><br /> <br /> Many years ago, fire swept through this corner of the forest, opening large areas under the canopy to colonization by small, yet beneficial plants. Ferns, like the dominant sword fern, thrive in the all-pervading damp of the redwood unders…
Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #11
~3 min drive
<b>Lifeblood</b><br /> <br /> Colonial seafarers and early American adventurers cursed the omnipresent rain and fog of northern California. A discomfort to some perhaps, but the mild, wet climate of the North Coast ensures the survival of redwood forests. Wet winters soak the…
Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #7
~3 min drive
<b>A Forest Protected</b><br /> <br /> By the 1960s, aboriginal redwood forests that had stood for millennia vanished in less than a century. Logged, milled, and shipped elsewhere, the redwoods of northern California built the homes and infrastructure of an expanding nation. T…
Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #6
~3 min drive
<b>Towering Patriarchs</b><br /> <br /> Gazing up the immense trunk to the highest reaches of a redwood tree gives us a powerful sense of our own smallness. Capable of ascending to heights over 360 feet, coast redwoods tower over all living things on the planet. Most of its so…
