Evolution Lake, John Muir Trail, Kings Canyon National Park, August 2021 The past year brought new milestones for Live and Let Hike, with the Covid-era bump in traffic continuing for a second year. In fact, annual viewership rose by more than 50 percent compared to 2020 and more than 100 percent relative to 2019—Live and …
James Irvine Trail, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, January 2021 If ever there was a premier, unforgettable hike in northern California’s Redwood National Park, this is it. The Miner’s Ridge – James Irvine Trail Loop combines long stretches of spectacular redwood groves with a brief jaunt along the Pacific Ocean at Gold Bluffs Beach and …
Boy Scout Tree Trail, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, January 2021 Together with nearby Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, northern California’s Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park contains arguably the most spectacular groves of coast redwoods in the world. Nearly the entire park, bounded by the Smith River to the north and the town of Crescent …
Continue reading Boy Scout Tree Trail to Fern Falls (Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, CA)
2017 is nearly in the books, and it’s been a banner year for Live and Let Hike. Viewership reached new heights (roughly 85,000 visitors and 167,000 page views in 2017), and I added 76 new posts this year that covered hikes, scenic byways, and other destinations in 11 different states: California, Colorado, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, …
Once one of the area’s best kept secrets, Stout Grove in California’s Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park is now one of California’s most popular redwood groves. Even the crowds cannot ruin the beauty, however, of this cathedral-like forest, a dense cluster of towering sentinels that casts a dark shadow over a lush understory. In late …
Continue reading Stout Grove Loop (Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, CA)
Although sans redwoods, the short Yurok Loop Trail in California’s Redwood National Park features terrific seaside vistas and an ecologically diverse environment along the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Named for the Native American tribe that once predominated in this area, this easy hike explores a dense coastal forest chock full of cypress trees, alders, …
Continue reading Yurok Loop Trail (Redwood National Park, CA)
The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always. No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe. It's not only their unbelievable stature, nor the color which seems to shift and vary …
Continue reading Prairie Creek Trail – Foothill Trail Loop (Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, CA)
Fern Canyon—a short but exquisite passage between fern-strewn walls—is an otherworldly hike in California’s Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, a subset of Redwood National Park. Enveloped by overwhelming greenery, it’s no wonder that this jungle-like canyon was a shooting location in Jurassic Park: The Lost World. Pack your sandals or water shoes, as the hike …
Continue reading Fern Canyon (Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, CA)
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