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It’s hard to describe a place like Redwood National and State Park.
“We struggle every day with how to convey this feeling, because it’s not just math,” said Patrick Taylor, interpretation and education manager for the Redwood National Park Service. “But once you’re inside, you lose much of its scale, because if you’re under a tree that’s over 200 to 300 feet tall and you look up, you can’t see anywhere near the top of the tree.”
The latest in USA TODAY’s annual series on what travelers can see and expect in Redwood National Park.
Answers to your biggest questions about the park:What is the most visited national park in America?
What is special about redwoods?
“It always starts with the tree,” Taylor said. “Coming to the tallest tree in the world is the kind of very specific thing that people want to say they’ve done.”
Some visitors are left speechless when they see these trees.
“One of the things we’ve noticed is that when people go into the grove, when they get out of their cars, they’re all really happy and chatty,” Taylor said. “Then as they walk through the virgin forest, there is a kind of silence that is familiar to everyone, and for many people it is almost like a pious spiritual experience. It’s unlike any other place I’ve been.”
Is one day in Redwood National Park enough?
“If we could spend a whole day here, it would be a great day,” Taylor said. “You want to see more, but you don’t necessarily get frustrated because you don’t see anything.”
Staying in the park for two to three days gives visitors time to explore other attractions in the park.
“A common saying among locals around here is they come for the trees, but they stay for the rivers and ocean,” Taylor said.
Which city is closest to Redwood National Park?
“Eureka, California, is a place that is often mentioned as a metropolitan area that is close to us,” Taylor said. “We have a regional airport, we have all the hotels, we have everything that someone who comes here for vacation needs.”
It is approximately 60 miles from the park.
“Slightly further away, Medford, Oregon is about two and a half hours from the park. It has a slightly larger airport.”
Santa Rosa, California is about a 4-hour drive. Many travelers may choose to travel by plane to the Bay Area and visit multiple parks.
“For a lot of people, this is a bucket list place,” Taylor said.
Where is the best place to see giant sequoias?
“When I talk to people, it seems like the first redwoods people see are the best redwoods,” Taylor said.
For him, that place was Stout Memorial Grove.
“It was like stepping into another world,” he recalls. “Intellectually, you know it exists, but when you actually go there, your perspective and understanding of what nature is really like changes a little bit.”
He said Stout Grove is also a great place for first-timers and families because it doesn’t require much hiking. “You’re right for it.”
Dozens of California state parks also have sequoia trees, but Taylor said the largest stretches of continuous old-growth forest are in the far north, in places like Sequoia, which are jointly managed by the National Park Service and the state of California. It is said that
Why are sequoias only found in California?
Technically not.
“There are places just across the Oregon border that have very small groves of sequoia trees along the coast,” Taylor said. “But 99.999% of us are in California.”
He noted that sequoia trees once grew further up and down the coast, but they have been hit hard by environmental factors and commercial logging, leaving only a limited number of areas where sequoia trees can grow.
“Coastal sequoias get a lot of the moisture they need in the summer from fog as well as from the ground. Therefore, for them to survive, they need to be in areas where dense fog rolls in daily from off the coast. They cannot move much inland.”
Is it worth going to Redwood National Park?
yes.
“It never gets old,” Teilhor said. “Even if you’ve been working here for 30 years, as soon as you step outside you can feel that life has come to you.”
Story continues below.
Which is better: Sequoia National Park or Redwood National Park?
“It’s like comparing your own kids because they’re basically siblings,” Taylor said. “You love them both for slightly different reasons.”
He explained that giant sequoias tend to be voluminous.
“That means they usually have a broader tail, so they’re larger and don’t taper off as quickly,” he said. “Sequoias along the coast are usually a little taller and a little slender.”
He also pointed out that sequoias are more communal trees.
“It’s rare to see these great sequoias standing alone along the coast,” Taylor said. “In order for them to grow big, tall and healthy, neighbors need to help each other because their roots are intertwined and literally anchor each other to the ground. Sequoia trees, of course. They need a healthy ecosystem around them, but like General Sherman, sequoias are like big independent trees.”
Which Native American tribe lived in the Sequoia Forest?
Seven federally recognized tribes are tied to the park.
Redwood has partnered with tribes for many years.
“We recognize that even what we think of as primary forest systems are completely natural, unmanipulated and unmaintained, and have not been that way for thousands of years. “We’ve been working on the forest with traditional fires, traditional burning and other methods,” Taylor said. “So we’re increasingly working with our partners and, in many cases, letting them lead the way in how we do these recovery efforts.”
The park also partners with the state and the Save the Sequoias Federation.
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