We had far too little time in Redwoods National and State Parks. We tried to make the little time count as best as we could. Most of our time was spent in Jedediah Smith State Park which is partly managed by Redwoods National Park. We took the Howland Hill Rd Scenic road to Stout Grove and did a quick 1/2 mile hike through the giant redwood trees. We completed the scenic drive in Crescent City where we grabbed dinner (Not at the Apple Peddler, who canceled our order, *after* it was due to be delivered, because they were out of one thing on our order, and couldn’t be bothered to actually call or email us to modify the order).
We drove down to Crescent Beach Overlook and then hiked down to Endert Beach. High tide was at 5pm and we arrived at 6pm so we weren’t able to catch any tide pools. It was a beautiful hike through lush plants and blooming flowers. At the bottom there was a scramble down a rock formation which got a little sketchy at times with the kids but we made it. The rock formation ended up being a cool arch. The beach was a peaceful area with a creek outlet. The kids had fun climbing on a big downed tree and the rocks. The hike back up was steep but made us feel like the hike was worth it. Everyone was properly tired out at the end.
There are quite a few campgrounds to stay at in and around Redwoods National and State Parks. We chose to stay outside of the Parks, in the Six Rivers NRA, at a small campground called Panther Flat. There are three campgrounds in a row along the highway leading into Jedediah Smith State Park. They all offer first come first serve as well as reservation spots. The spot we got was plenty long for our trailer and SUV, was quiet at night, and was close to the park, which was key for us. We went ahead and reserved our spot through recreation.gov (who tacks on an $8 reservation fee to the $15/night reservation), though there were plenty of available campsites when we arrived.
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