Upon arriving in Arcata, our base for the next several days, we stopped at Safeway to pick up some food and drinks. Yikes. Safeway was so expensive (prices about 30% higher than in Memphis) that we damn near decided to starve for a few days. While Stephanie shopped, I downloaded the Safeway app and joined its members club so we could save a few bucks. This made our grocery bill just really high, not exorbitant.
Needing a break from trees, Stephanie and I spent a day exploring two of the more popular areas near Arcata, the beach and the marsh.
Our Airbnb is actually in Manila, just over the sand dunes from the beach. By dunes we mean serious sand dunes, several stories tall and maybe a quarter mile across. The sand dunes on the east coast are a joke compared to these. Typically we do not enjoy slogging uphill and downhill in sand, but this is a really enjoyable 15 minute walk to the beach.
The beach was pleasantly wide and the pacific surf pretty rough. We saw few people on the beach, and most had several dogs with them. No one was actually in the water (maybe because it was late September). Our walk on the beach was just us, the sound of the waves, and hundreds of birds. I’ve never spent so much time just watching flocks of birds fly around.
In the afternoon we drove over to Arcata Marsh, the site of a wastewater treatment plant along with a mix of lakes, marshes filled with cattails, and tons of out-of-control blackberry bushes, with over five miles of well-used walking and biking trails.
We spent over an hour walking the trails while eating blackberries. Along the way we passed numerous walkers, joggers, families with strollers, bikers, and birdwatchers. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many spotting scopes in one area. Apparently the marsh is one of the most diverse birding sites in the pacific northwest.
The following day it was back to the trees, specifically Humboldt Redwoods State Park, which is about a 45 minute drive south of our Airbnb. California has dozens of redwood state parks that are not partners with the national park, this being one of the more prominent ones.
Our morning hike was the Drury-Chaney Trail, a 2.1 mile loop. Although longer than most loop trails in these parks, it is just as scenic. Next on our to do list for the day was the Founders Grove Nature Loop Trail, a short and very popular 0.5 mile loop trail. Both trails are relatively flat, well graded, and quite easy to walk.
Afterwards we drove south on the Avenue of Giants to the visitor’s center where we stopped for lunch. Thankfully we quickly finished our lunch. Minutes later a large tour bus pulled up, disgorging dozens of senior citizens with bag lunches into the picnic area, completely overwhelming the picnic tables. It was a close call. I would not have been happy if we arrived 15 minutes later than we did.
Retracing our route, we drove north on the Avenue of Giants back to Mattole Road, another narrow, winding road that leads to some of the better hiking trails in the area.
As an aside, if you see a narrow, winding road in Redwoods, consider driving it. Mattole Road, Davison Road, and Howland Hill Road are all worth a trip and quite easy on passenger cars.
We almost missed the left turn for the Rockefeller Loop Trail as it is very difficult to spot, basically a one lane road that falls sharply downhill towards a small parking lot. If I wasn’t following the blue dot on Google Maps while Stephanie drove, I’m not sure we would have found the turn.
The Rockefeller Loop Trail, at 0.6 miles long, is very similar to the Founders Nature Grove Loop Trail. An easy, enjoyable walk through the trees … basically similar to all of the other short loop trails in Redwoods (though the Stout Memorial Grove Trail is easily the best of the bunch).
Our final hike of the day was the Bull Flat Creek South / Homestead Loop, which we did from the Big Tree parking lot. Combining these trails created a 2.6 mile loop. The signs marking the trails in this area are okay, but not great. We stopped a few times to carefully check our directions and made a least one wrong turn. Nevertheless, it was a really good hike.
There are quite a few trails in this area that can be joined to create longer or shorter hikes as desired.
We were probably the only people in the Big Tree parking lot that actually skipped walking over to Big Tree. While I’m sure it’s nice, and big, seeing another tree did not excite us at the moment.
It really did not take long for us to get tired of looking at trees. The short loop trails pack a lot of scenic punch, but are quite a bit similar to each other. The longer trails are enjoyable, and less crowded, but somewhat underwhelming.
Perhaps if we visited Redwoods in the spring when flowers are blooming and fog is rolling in off the coast it would have been different. But after basically two days of redwood trees, we were ready for a change of scenery.
Next up, Lassen Volcanic National Park.
Total hiking in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, 5.8 miles:
Drury-Chaney Trail, 2.1 miles
Founders Loop Trail, 0.5 mile
Rockefeller Loop Trail, 0.6 mile
Bull Flat Creek South / Homestead Loop Trails, 2.6 miles
Garrett and Stephanie
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What a real treat I felt like I was there with you guys. The photos are gorgeous.