I entered the northern areas of Redwood National Park from Crescent City. The short drive from there took me over the Klamath River seen above and through some brief stretches of mossy coastal rainforest. I had always thought that the redwoods lived right along the coast as well and didn’t realize they only lived above a certain elevation.
Elk Meadow
One of the best places to visit in Redwood National Park is Elk Meadow. The area is known for its large herds of Roosevelt elk that are nearly always present. They are completely wild animals and potentially dangerous, as the warning sign above makes clear. Although they frequently go into the woods, they often graze in the meadows where you can get some great views!
Hiking Among the Redwoods
After a short drive I found some parking and tried a short trail that was only a few miles long. I loved the reddish ground against the dark green leaves in this forest. Even without the giant trees in view, this place was unique and beautiful.
Below you can see some more of the redwoods. It’s hard to tell how gigantic these trees are without any perspective, so at the bottom of this page I have a photo of myself standing in front of one. The tree on the left was one of the larger ones I had seen, while on the right you can see how massive the roots are from one of the trees that had fallen over.
A Burned-Out Redwood
On a longer trail I did later, I came across this giant redwood whose entire inside had burned out. It’s hard to get perspective from these photos, but you could easily stand more than half a dozen people inside this tree. It seemed that the only thing holding the tree up was its outer walls and bark. What was even more amazing to me was that when I looked up, the very top of the tree was green and looked completely healthy.
Plants of the Redwood Forest
As I hiked higher in elevation, I began to see different types of plants. The dark green ferns on the left were found near the beginning of the trail, while this strange fungus on the right was higher up. I saw several of these in the area, ranging from this light orange color to white.
Higher Into the Mountains
I hiked high enough into the mountains that the redwoods no longer existed. Instead of the tall giants, the forest changed to small, skinny trees. The area was still damp with humidity, and I crossed several small streams. On the left is one of the small creeks I passed by, and on the right is one of the larger high-elevation trees covered in moss and lichen.
Red-Tailed Hawk
One of the most common birds of prey in the park is the red-tailed hawk. I feel like I rarely get any half-decent shots of large birds, so I was happy with what I got on the left. Red-tailed hawks live all over the continent and primarily prey on squirrels and rodents, although they’re known to eat everything from insects to other small animals. The bird tolerated me taking its photo for about a minute before finally taking off.
The Scale of the Redwoods
The longer trail I did at the end wasn’t a loop, so I had to descend back down into the redwoods again. For my final two pictures, I thought I’d show one of the tallest trees I photographed here on the left. One of the largest ones I came across is on the right, with myself standing in front of it for perspective.
Almost all of the large redwoods I saw were this size at the bottom, including the tree I had photographed earlier with the burned-out trunk. I was especially interested in seeing the trees that you can drive your car through, but it turned out those were hours south. I had no idea the redwood forests stretched across such a large area!
