Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, California - August 14th to 17th, 2024

Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park is one of the four parks that are part of the Redwood National and State Parks that are jointly managed by the National Park Service and the California State Parks. Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park was established in 1927 with the upper Mill Creek watershed being added in 2002.

Wednesday was another really short travel day, from Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park east of Crescent City to Mill Creek Campground in Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park just south of Crescent City. It was a day to catch up on our chores along the way. We spent a good portion of the day in Crescent City. First stop was the grocery store to stock up on items to last us the next six days. Then we picked out a place for lunch.

Art’s BBQ had good ratings on Google. It was off the beaten path, on the north side of town. Its hours were pretty short. We arrived at 11:45 am and the restaurant didn’t open until noon. After parking in the small lot, we hung out inside Red Tail (our Winnebago EKKO) until they opened. The place doesn’t look like much, a small simple building with a simple sign out front. Precisely at noon, the Open sign lit up and people started arriving. At the time we placed our order, they were out of pulled pork, which is what we normally like to order at a BBQ place. So Keith got the chicken with beans and coleslaw, while Ann opted for the brisket with coleslaw and potato salad. Our meat platters also came served on rice along with the two sides.

While we were waiting for our food, several people came in to pick up large orders. The orders were so large that staff helped carry out the large aluminum trays of food. Ah, that’s probably where all the pulled pork went. The people behind the counter said they would have more pulled pork in about half an hour. Earlier we saw the smoke rising from the smokers out behind the building. The amount of meat on our platters were very generous and very delicious. Keith had three chicken breasts and the brisket was about the same size. The food was not served with BBQ sauce, but you could ask for some. The chicken did not need sauce as it had a beautiful dry rub on it. The brisket was fall apart tender and also seasoned well. Ann ate some of it without BBQ sauce and some with. It was way more food than we could eat, so we packed up half of it to save for dinner.

After stuffing our faces, we went over to the laundromat to clean our clothes. We only had two loads this time and we were out of there pretty quickly. It was late afternoon by the time we reached the Mill Creek Campground.

The campground is more dated than Jedediah Smith Campground. The campground is a couple miles off of the highway. The drive in seemed familiar to us. We believe this is the campground we stayed in five years ago, during Season One (Redwood National and State Parks - July 3 to July 5, 2019). The sites are spread out in the woods among old large redwood stumps. Kids were having fun climbing around on the old stumps. We walked the campground loops to get some steps in for the day.

Thursday was stayed at the campground and explored the surrounding trails. There were several signs and trail reviews that talked about some trail closures due to damaged bridges, but we couldn’t find any trail maps with the exact locations of the closures. So we just started down some trails to discover where the closures were ourselves.

We started out on the Trestle Loop Trail, not far from our camp site. Not far from the trailhead, we turned onto the Saddler Skyline Trail. It is a loop that rejoins the Trestle Loop. At the far end of the Saddler Skyline loop, the Hobbs Wall Trail branches off, in two places spaced about a tenth of a mile apart. The first intersection with Hobbs Wall is near the park entrance station, about a mile from the campground. There was a sign saying the trail was closed, so we stayed on Saddler Skyline. After the trail crosses the park road, we came across the second intersection with Hobbs Wall. This time there was no sign indicating the trail was closed. Hobbs Wall is another loop, with a trailhead right along highway 101. Since we didn’t know exactly where the closure was, we decided not to take Hobbs Wall.

We continued on Saddler Skyline until we rejoined the Trestle Loop Trail. At the intersection, there was a trail closure sign across the Trestle Loop Trail. We decided to obey the sign and took the Trestle Trail back towards the trailhead where we started instead of continuing on.

There are two trailheads in the campground for the Trestle Loop Trail, so it isn’t technically a loop, unless you include the walk across the campground. After reaching the trailhead, we crossed the campground. We passed the other Trestle Loop trailhead and continued over to the Adler Trail trailhead. The Adler Trail follows alongside the campground and connects into the Trestle Loop trail not far from the trailhead we passed.

The Adler Trail passed close to the logging activity that was happening during our stay. We could hear the machinery and whistles from our campsite. From the Adler Trail, we could see a cable system that was carrying a car with lumber dangling from it. The whistles seemed to be a form of communication between the two endpoints of the cable system. We were downhill from the cables which were still a good distance away. However, it still made us feel a little uneasy, so we didn’t linger there long.

At the end of Adler Trail, we continued on Trestle Loop. In less than a mile, we reached the closed bridge, or rather the missing bridge. There wasn’t much water in the creek, so we could have easily crossed without a bridge, but we had hiked enough, so we turned around. Back at the Trestle Loop Trailhead, we turned onto the campground roads and walked back to our site. In total, we covered 4.8 miles with an elevation gain of 768 feet in two hours and twenty minutes. It was hike number 46 of our 52 Hike Challenge for 2024.

On the trails we were on, we didn’t see any old growth redwood trees, except for old stumps that had been logged and some burned out trunks. Younger redwoods formed rings around the old stumps, as if they were protecting them.

While we were making dinner, a fellow camper, Walt, stopped by to chat with us again. We spoke with him earlier that day. He wanted to see how our hike went. Walt is local to the area and we had a wonderful time swapping travel stories with him.

Friday, we hiked the Damnation Creek Trail. The trailhead was just a few miles south on highway 101 from the campground. The trailhead is not very well marked, so you have to be looking for it. There is only room for less than a dozen vehicles at the trailhead. We arrived a little bit before 10 am and were able to get a spot.

We hiked this trail before, during Season One, five years earlier. Back then, one of the bridges on the trail was closed, but we managed to climb down and up the steep creek banks to cross. There wasn’t much water in the creek. However, this time, both bridges along the trail are brand new, which made the hike easier.

The first time we hiked the trail, we were really impressed with it, especially since it was our first real hike in the California redwoods. We’ve seen a lot of redwoods since then, but it is still a lovely hike. In the first mile, there are quite a few old growth redwoods. It wasn’t as foggy this time as it was last time. The fog adds to the experience.

After crossing the Coastal Trail, the Damnation Creek Trail descends down to the Pacific shore. A steep, but short, climb down to the rocky beach is worth the effort. We were there during high tide, so we didn’t get to enjoy the tidal pools. Some interesting plants line the top of the cliff overlooking the beach. Ann remembers those plants had a lot of blossoms on them last time, which was in early July. This time, being later in the season, in mid August, the flowers were not there. However, we did have better visibility up and down the coast this time, with rock formations out in the water, dotting the coastline.

On the way back to the trailhead, we met a fellow YouTuber, (SurgicalTech VanLife). He asked one of us to be in a video clip so he could have some scale reference for the big trees. Surprisingly, Keith, the one who doesn’t like his picture taken, kindly obliged. However, Keith did have his back to the camera. We had a nice chat for a little while.

The trail is a little steep. AllTrails lists it as a hard trail, but we would rank it as a moderate one. We clocked the trail as 4.4 miles with an elevation gain of 1227 feet which we completed in a little over three hours. It was hike number 47 of our 52 Hike Challenge for 2024.

We looked up how long it took us the first time. It took us 45 minutes longer to complete the hike the first time. However, we had to scale the stream banks because of the closed bridge, Ann was recovering from foot surgery, and we were not in as good of hiking shape back then as we are now. So despite being five years older, we’re hiking faster. It just goes to show that age doesn’t matter. Well, for some things. Our eyesight and hearing are not what they used to be. The same could be said for our reflexes, depth perception, and balance. Our bodies have more aches and pains that we’ve learned to tolerate. But other than that, age doesn’t matter!

After our hike, we drove into Crescent City for a treat at Sea Front Baking Company. We were there just a few days prior during our stay in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park and enjoyed it so much that we went back. Is there a better way to end a day of hiking? We can’t think of one.

Saturday it rained most of the day. We can’t complain. It hadn’t rained much during our travel season. It gave us time to relax, hang out in Red Tail, and work on blog posts and videos. We didn’t have any cell service and there were too many trees for Starlink, so we didn’t have any connection to the internet. However, Keith had downloaded enough videos earlier to keep us entertained. We finally watched the movie Oppenheimer for the first time.

In the morning, during a break in the rain, Ann walked up to the entrance station. The last night of our stay in the campground was under a different reservation than the first three nights. The entrance station couldn’t give us our site tag for the last night until the day of, as they are preprinted and they don’t receive them at the entrance station until the first day of the reservation. The entrance station was a mile and a quarter from our camp site. We didn’t want to break camp to drive up there and didn’t want to get the bikes out in the rain, so Ann walked. It was a good way to get her exercise in for the day anyway. In fact, she tacked on the rest of the campground loops on the way back to close her one hour exercise ring. Keith got out a couple of times during the day, during lulls in the rain, and walked some campground loops as well.

Since it was a cold and wet day, it was perfect weather for baking apple brownies. We bake them in an Omnia Oven, a stove top oven, on our propane stove. It is probably the number one reason why we have kept our propane stove instead of switching to using an induction cooktop exclusively. The Omnia Oven won’t work on an induction cooktop. It’s not that we use it very often and we only use it to make apple brownies. We normally buy pastries from shops along the way during our travels, but Ann doesn’t want to give up the option for making apple brownies. It really brightens up an otherwise dreary day.

Although Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park was not the most spectacular park we have visited, we had a great time. Visiting less popular areas means you share it with less people. And having other places for a comparison helps us appreciate the highlights of our travels even more.

Check out our related video: Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, California

(Ann)