Life with ArielNorth California redwoods are magnificent and worth a visit. Some of them are the oldest and tallest in the world. There are several places you can admire them: from south to north, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, Redwood National Park, and Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park. These parks cover a span of about 100 miles connected by Highway 101. So it’s a very scenic drive by itself.
In addition, these redwood parks are quiet and peaceful, undisturbed by crowds and traffic, because they are relatively less accessible given a minimum of 4 hours of drive from San Francisco. You will be able to truly enjoy the silience of nature there. However, almost none of them allow dogs on hiking trails. It’s a pity because Ariel would have loved those big trees and tranquil trails. I was able to find some dog friendly places around those redwood parks. Ariel and I had a wonderful time.
Drive-Thru Tree Park
The drive-thru tree park is famous for the big Chandelier redwood tree that is wide enough to go through a car (a sedan or compact SUV). The tree is about 2,400 years old and 315ft tall. Although a big chunk of its heart was cut out for cars to go through, it is still alive! If your car is too big to drive through the tree, you can still go visit because it’s an auto park with redwoods, a gift shop, a pond, some wood sculptures, and a big lawn to have picnic. Most importantly, it’s dog friendly. Ariel loved running on the well maintained lawn and sniffing around the pond. The park is not free and all cars, going through the tree or not, have to pay $15.
Avenue of the Giants
Avenue of the Giants is the 31-mile Highway 254 parallel to Highway 101 and goes through Humboldt Redwoods State Park. The “giants” stand for the giant redwoods guarding the highway on both sides. The middle section is the most scenic and great for photos. At any pullouts, you can get out of the car and hop on a hike or simply admire the magnificent trees. However, the hiking trails are not dog friendly. So walk your pooch along the paved highway. Don’t worry. The traffic is light even on weekends.
Rohner Park
Rohner Park is a community park in Fortuna CA, only 15 miles north of the Avenue of the Giants. In addition to kids’ playground and athlete lawns, it has a small hill full of beautiful redwoods. The trails are well maintained among beautiful, tall, and healthy redwoods and dog friendly. The trees look no different from those in national or state parks. Even better, the park is not crowded and free of charge. Ariel had a blast. I took lots of adorable pictures of her running on the red dirt and around redwoods.
Cal Barrel Road
Cal Barrel Road is a dirt road in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park and the only dog friendly hiking trail in Redwood National and State Parks that I could find. It used to serve both cars and pedestrains. But when we visited, the trail was gated and allowed only hikers. It took us about 2.5 hours to complete this beautiful and quiet 3.6-mile trail roundtrip. It was a good workout with about 1,000ft elevation. Redwoods on this trail are taller and older than those in Rohner Park. And you will only see dog walkers on the trail. So I had some amazing me time, while Ariel met some paw friends and had lots of freedom in the redwoods.
Clam Beach
If you want a change of view on your way between redwood parks, I highly recommend Clam Beach. It’s right next to Highway 101. You will first see campground parking if driving from the south. Day use parking is a bit further north. The walk from the parking lot to the beach is short and flat. There is no cliff around, like most beaches in the Bay Area. Once you get to the beach, the sound of the ocean entirely covers the highway noise. Furthermore, the clean and long beach doesn’t have many visitors and is dog friendly. The cold wind and warm, soft sands worked perfectly for a summer day. Ariel was able to run freely chasing waves. We had a peaceful walk with a stunning coast view.
Trinidad Head
Another great stop on the way to redwood parks is Trinidad Head. You can either hike the Trinidad Head Trail Loop or go on the beach. Both are dog friendly and not crowded. The color of the Pacific Ocean in this section changes to a beautiful turquoise blue. With the sporadic sea stacks and boats in the middle of the ocean, the view is stunning. I was in awe the entire time. Just when I thought I had seen it all when it comes to California coastline, Trinidad Head surprised me with incredible beauty.
