Sunday, May 19, 2024 - Visit Redwood National and State Park

First stop for us was the Battery Point Lighthouse on Battery Point Island near Crescent City.  After a short distance drive, we got to the parking lot.  A short walk took us right in front of the Battery Point Island.  There is a path with rocks to pass from the mainland to the island.  We were very careful not to get wet and were able to get through with no issues.  It is a very small island with the lighthouse on it.  The path to the lighthouse has a lot of pink flowers and formed a very photographic scenery.  We took many photos there.  With the early morning sun light, it was just picture perfect.

Then, we drove to Crescent Beach Overlook and Klamath River Overlook to enjoy the coast scenery. After that we visited Tour Thru Tree in Klamath.  The tree is 17 ft in width, however it barely allowed our Toyota RAV4 rental car to drive thru.  We did it just for fun!

Then, we drove to Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park Visitor Center to start our visit the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.  They have a very small parking lot and we found a parking slot about 0.25 mi from the visitor center.  However, we were able to get on the Revelation Trail (0.3 mi) and hiked to the visitor center.  We ran into an oriental ranger there and she was the most unfriendly ranger we ever encountered in all the National Parks we have visited.  So we just wandered to the trail head of KarlKnapp Trail and start our hike.  We ran into many huge redwoods and had a lot of fun.  

Then, we hiked along the Big Tree Wayside and Foothill Trail back to visitor center.  On the way, we passed by the Big Tree which is 286 ft high, 23.7 ft diameter and 74.5 ft circumference, and 1500+ year old redwood tree.  

The last trail we hiked was the Trillium Falls trail.  It is a 2.75 mi loop trail.  The road sign was not clear and it took us turnaround once to get to it.  After we reached the falls, it is a very small waterfalls, therefore we turned around and start drive to Eureka, Ca for staying overnight.  

On the way, we saw the Redwood National Park Visitor Center sign and went in for the National Park Passport stamp. We also checked with a ranger there regarding to the recommendations for next day’s activities in the Redwood National Park.  The information she gave us matched with the ranger in the NP Headquarter in Crescent City.  She also suggested to hike the Lady Bird Johnson Grove and driving along the Bald Hills Road Scenic Drive.