Jed Smith
Trails
East of Crescent City, the third of the state
parks within Redwood National Park is reached by
turning east on U.S. Highway 199 and driving for nine
miles. You may also take a sideroad drive to the park by
taking Elk Valley Road south of Crescent City and
continuing on unpaved Howland Hill Road. The
advantage of the latter drive is that you get to
experience more of the park scenery, especially as the
road follows Mill Creek. The road traces part of the
route of an old stage road.
Accessed via Howland Road, Stout
Memorial Grove this was the first of the park's
memorial groves and contains the park's largest
redwood&emdash;340 feet high and 22 feet across. The
memorial grove is also the trailhead for the Stout
Grove Trail, an easy walk that takes about 30
minutes. The forest is dense and dark but this
user-friendly trail is accessible to wheelchairs and
provides a fine family experience.
Hiouchi Ranger Station
The park visitor center is at the Highway
199 entrance. There are trail maps available here, as
well as interpretive programs and exhibits. The station
is closed during winter months.
Jed Smith Trails
Hiouchi Trail starts at the ranger
station and moves northwest to link the visitor center
with several loop trails. The Simpson
Reed&endash;Peterson Trail provides a loop path through
old growth redwood forest, over small creeks that have
ferns lining their banks. There are several large redwood
burls along the way.
Leiffer Loop & Ellsworth Loop
Trails have their trailhead on the left side of
Walker Road, just off Hwy. 199. These moss-covered loop
paths take you through big-leaf maple groves and old-
growth redwood. The Ellsworth Loop starts about 2 miles
down the Lieffer trail. It takes about an hour to do both
loops.
A much more difficult trail (Class 6) is
the Little Bald Hills Trail, which has its
trailhead 1/2 mile east of Stout Grove, off Howland Road.
The trail makes a nine-mile round trip, taking about four
-- hours. This old former road crosses prairies -- past
what was once a ranch&emdash;and ends at the park
boundary. There is a spring at the site of the former
ranch.
For anglers, the Mill Creek Trail
offers several side-trails to good fishing. The trailhead
is at the campground. Cross the bridge and take the left
fork of the Jensen Loop Trail to reach the Mill Creek
Trail. The side trails to the creek are not marked but
are easy to spot. Old growth redwoods line the stream.
The trailhead for Boy Scout Trail is
beside the road and is signed. This is a four-hour round
trip (7.4 miles) leading through old-growth forest. The
left fork (after 3 miles) leads to Fern Falls. Local
historians believe that small gold mines were operated by
Chinese immigrants in this area in the late 1880s and
90s.
For more information
on Redwood National Park, and the state parks,
go to:
Redwoods National
Park
Prairie Creek Redwoods
State Park
Del Norte Redwoods State
Park
