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California
125 ft
Gain
No conditions check on file for this trail yet — always verify current conditions before you go.
Why you'll love it
Lady Bird Johnson Grove Trail
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No permit or access details on file for this trail — check with the local land manager before you go.
Located not far from Highway 101, this easy walk through old-growth redwoods has been a popular destination for decades.<br /> <br /> This family friendly trail is a 1.5 mile (2.5 km) loop that winds through a mixed forest of redwoods and other tall conifers. However, there is a hikers' bridge with a slope that makes it not officially accessible for those with a wheelchair.<br /> <br /> To get to this grove, drive three miles (5km) of the Bald Hills Road. Use caution when driving this road! It is narrow and windy with very few pull outs or turn-around spots. <strong>Bald Hills Road</strong> <strong>is not recommended for recreational vehicles, coaches/buses, or any vehicle towing a trailer.</strong> <hr /> <h3>Parking:</h3> The parking lot for the Lady Bird Johnson Grove Trail is located three miles up the Bald Hills Road. Due to limited parking, oversized vehicles (such as recreational vehicles, coaches/buses, or any vehicle towing a trailer) are not allowed to park in this parking lot.<br /> <br /> I<strong>n summer, this parking area is typically full from 11am until 4pm. </strong><br /> <br /> <u>Do not park on Bald Hills Road:</u> <u>p</u>arking on the side of the Bald Hills Road is dangerous and prohibited. <br /> <br /> Additionally, the Lady Bird Johnson Grove parking spots are too small for buses, recreational vehicles and trailers.<br /> <hr /> <h3><br /> History of this trail: </h3> Ranger tip: Download the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/places/lady-bird-johnson-nature-trail-stop-2.htm?utm_source=place&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=experience_more&utm_content=large">Lady Bird Johnson Grove tour</a> on the NPS digital app before you head out.<br /> <br /> There is a lot of interesting human history, passion, and conflict surrounding the establishment of Redwood National Park. On this trail, you will walking in the footsteps of so many who helped protect the last of the redwoods. <br /> <br /> In the mid-1960s, clear cut logging of old-growth redwood trees was occurring all over these hills. On October 2nd 1968, Redwood National Park was officially established. At that time, logging of redwoods came right up to the park boundary - which originally was just outside of this grove. The first park visitors saw miles of scarred and logged landscapes that dramatically ended at the edge of the remaining redwood groves.<br /> <br /> The following year in 1969 President Nixon dedicated this grove to former First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson, for all of her conservation and environmental work. The dedication plaque for Lady Bird Johnson Grove can be seen about half a mile down the trail. Only 5% of the world's old-growth redwood forest remain - and nearly half of that (40,000 acres) is in Redwood National and State Parks.<br /> <br /> This trail is one of the few areas where you can walk in just a few steps through a second growth forest into an old-growth redwood forest. Most of the trees next to the parking lot are second-growth Douglas-fir trees. That means they were planted after the ancient redwoods were logged in the 1960s. Visitors today will see thousands of acres of second-growth forests before they experience the pockets of old growth-redwoods.<br /> <br /> Once you cross the hikers' bridge you will be immersed in old-growth redwoods that have never been logged. You can see, feel, and even hear the differences between these two kinds of forest. <hr /> <h3 data-block-id="883a3a04-0073-41a9-a180-74fdbcca840d" data-pm-slice="1 3 []"><strong>Safety Tips</strong></h3> <ul data-block-id="966bf99d-9dd1-4404-9b0d-1402ea752b15"> <li> <p data-block-id="03d23621-68cf-4b81-8ef0-2a96abbcb6e8">We recommend using a physical map and trail guide for your adventures in Redwood National and State Parks. Online maps are not reliable and may be unavailable in the forest.</p> </li> <li> <p data-block-id="b8b8a89b-a4d2-467f-9707-2e7cd1e7b863">Stay on trail to protect the habitat. Please don’t go off-trail and make any new trails. These forests grow by the inch and will die by your foot.</p> </li> <li> <p data-block-id="de1efeeb-6bad-4686-99dd-5f1638e8d5d5">Pets are not allowed on park trails to protect the wildlife, yourself and other visitors.</p> </li> <li> <p data-block-id="0307ecfa-58c7-49e1-809a-91c806aa3b28">Cell coverage is very limited and cannot be relied on in an emergency. Have a plan for checking in with a friend before and after your visit.</p> </li> </ul>

Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Beginning
~0 min drive
<b>Welcome to the Lady Bird Johnson Grove Nature Trail</b><br /> <br /> This 1.5mile (2.4km) loop winds through an old-growth redwood forest. This grove, like many others in Redwood National and State Parks, stands as a reminder of the extensive redwood forests that one blanke…

Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #1
~0 min drive
<b>A Timeless Place</b><br /> <br /> Countless people through the years have entered this grove of trees. They, too, gazed at the stupendous heights of the redwoods and vainly stretched their arms around the stalwart gray trunks. How long ago did our own ancestors first share…

Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #2
~0 min drive
.<b>Forest Everlasting</b><br /> <br /> “Sempervirens”, the scientific species name for the coast redwoods, means everlasting. Coast redwoods live longer than almost any plants on our planet. The largest trees found their first rays of sunlight when Aztecs and Mayans ruled Cen…

Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #3
~0 min drive
<b>Fire Survivor</b><br /> <br /> How do hollow redwoods survive? Despite the North Coast’s wet climate, redwood forests experience occasional wildfires. Fire plays a critical role by clearing dense ground cover and giving new seedlings the opportunity to grow. More intense wi…

Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #13
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<b>Full Circle</b><br /> <br /> For us, the character of a redwood forest changes daily. One day, shimmering strands of yellow light beam from crystal blue skies through open windows of the forest canopy. The next day may bring fog or rain, enshrouding the dark green spires an…

Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #4
~0 min drive
<b>More than Redwoods</b><br /> <br /> Redwoods do not stand alone. In fact, what we call old-growth redwood forests may contain as few as eight or ten of the towering monarchs per acre. A diverse community of plants and animals thrive in the shadows of the redwood canopy. Hig…

Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #5
~0 min drive
<b>Living with the Wind</b><br /> <br /> Wind is the great gardener of this ridgetop community. The quiet whisper of summer breezes give way to the powerful gusts of winter storms that can snap the highest branches, sending “widowmakers” plummeting hundreds of feet to the fore…

Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #12
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<b>Rebirth</b><br /> <br /> Like newborns clinging to their parents, new forest life clings in abundance to this fallen redwood. Salal, huckleberry, rhododendron, spruce, and hemlock all arise from this slowly deteriorating giant. A new redwood reaches out from its burled base…

Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #6
~1 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…

Lady Bird Johnson Nature Trail Stop #7
~1 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…