Redwood National and State Park 1 (South), Orick, California, USA

Redwood National and State Parks (RNSP) is established in 1968, the park system was created to preserve and protect groves of coast redwood trees, which are among the tallest trees on Earth.

Redwood National Park – Kuechel Visitor Center: 7WP5+HP Orick, California
Prairie Creek Visitor Center: Newton B. Drury Scenic Pkwy, Orick, CA 95555
Date Picture Taken: December, 2023

If you’re traveling north on Freeway 101 to reach Redwood National and State Parks from the southern side, the initial visitor center you’ll encounter is the Kuchel Visitor Center.

The back of the visitor center is a beach.

Driving north from Kuchel Visitor Center, I reached Prairie Creek region.

The Redwood National Park Prairie Creek visitor center.  Many good hiking trails start here.

The Nature Trail.

One of the forks in Nature Trail is the start of the James Irvine Trail.  This trail is long and goes for many miles, but I planned to walk only the first mile.

I opted to backtrack along this trail as the scenery remained largely unchanged from the beginning.

Came back to the Nature Trail

Another fork to Karl Knapp Trail

The backside

I decided to turn around on this trail and return to the visitor center area.

Back at the visitor center

Onto the Cathedral Trees Trail

The trail fork to the Elk Prairie Trail

I decided to turn around on this trail and return to the visitor center area.

The backside

A short drive north on Newton B. Dury Scenic Pcwy is Foothill Trail Access No. 1, where a short trail goes to Big Tree Wayside.

The panoramic view

Big Tree Wayside.  Massive ~1,500-year-old redwood tree on a paved trail, topping 300 ft. & measuring 68 ft. around.

Wandering into the trails near the big tree

On Newton B. Drury Scenic Pkwy