Hiking Tall Trees Grove in Redwood National Park

The Tall Trees grove is arguably the pinnacle hike of Redwood National Park. The grove is home to the former tallest tree in the world (the Libbey Tree), which helped spur the creation of the park, and a host of other 350 ft. and taller Redwood trees. The hike is unique in that it requires a permit to access, although it’s completely free. The permit and combination code to the gate (the code is changed daily) can be acquired at either the Thomas H. Kuchel Visitor Center or Prairie Creek Visitor Center.

After driving over from Redding, we stopped by the visitor center at around 2:00 pm on a Wednesday (in April) and had no problem getting a permit. It took us 45 minutes to drive from the visitor center on the coast to the trailhead up Redwood Creek Canyon. The last 6 miles are on a one lane dirt road, but it was completely manageable in our small rental car.

The trail started down hill from the parking lot and dropped 700 feet in 1.5 miles switchbacking through a hillside forest of Redwoods. There were a couple of interesting points along the trail where we walked under fallen trees and even through a tunnel carved into a massive fallen Redwood.

The lower the trail dropped, the bigger the trees became.

We passed a bench that marks the beginning of the loop around the grove – a good place to contemplate just how small we are compared to these wise, old giants.

The Tall Tree Grove sits on an alluvial flat (spoiler alert: big trees are usually located in alluvial flats) on the bank of Redwood Creek, which makes it unique in a couple ways. First, because it’s on the bank of an open creek bed, a lot of light gets into the grove especially in the afternoon when the sun is shining in from the creek side. Second, because there is so much light, large maple trees draped in ferns line the perimeter of the grove. The extra light gives the grove a much brighter and happier vibe, unlike most redwood groves which tend to be dark and moody at the bottom.

It was a sunny afternoon when we walked the loop, so the forest was really showing off. The filtered light hit off the red bark of the giant trees and highlighted the intricate details of the ferns and sorrel. We kept looking up and down and up and down, unsure of whether to look into the canopies of the Redwoods or at their massive bases.

After completing the short loop, it was time to hike back up the hill to the car. It’s not the easiest return hike – hiking uphill on the way out isn’t the most ideal experience, but it is definitely worth it to walk amongst some of the tallest trees on Earth.