|
At Redwood National Park, you'll find not only the tallest trees on
earth but also miles and miles of beautiful beaches and fern-laced
canyons.
Hike in forests of towering
old-growth
redwoods, western hemlocks, tanoaks and maples or bury your feet in the sand as
you watch
the crashing Pacific surf. During rutting
season, you can watch male Roosevelt elk tussle over females in the
park's open prairies.
During forest hikes, keep an eye out for Pacific giant
salamanders and northern rough-skinned newts. Other rarely seen
inhabitants of the forest include northern spotted owls, marbled
murrelets, black bears, bobcats and gray foxes.
Hike by rivers and streams and you may find ospreys, red-shouldered
hawks, common mergansers and kingfishers. With luck, you may also
spy beavers and river otters.
On the park's forty mile coastline, watch for harbor seals and
California sea lions in the
surf and shorebirds -killdeers, western sandpipers, sanderlings,
willets and snowy plovers - foraging on ocean beaches. Seabirds
to look for include common murres, brown pelicans, pigeon guillemots
and double-crested cormorants. In the tidepools, check for
starfish, giant green anemones, sea urchins, limpets, crabs and
mussels. And during the winter, watch for migrating gray whales
in the ocean.
|
|
|
|
|
Redwood National Park and three
state parks - Prairie Creek Redwoods,
Del Norte Coast and Jedediah Smith Redwoods - are managed as one
ecological unit. Redwood Nat ional Park is protected as a World
Heritage Site and International Biosphere Preserve.
WHERE
TO CAMP :
Del Norte
Coast Redwoods State
Park off
US Highway 101 7 miles
south of Crescent City, California (campground open May 1 to September
15).
Jedediah
Smith Redwoods State Park on Highway 199 at Hiouchi, California.
Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park
- 2 campgrounds
Elk
Prairie Campground: 50 miles north of Eureka, California.
on the
Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway off US Highway 101. Reservations
available by calling 1-800-444-7275.
Gold
Bluffs Beach Campground: The only campground by the Pacific.
Turn
west on Davison Road 3 miles north of Orick,
California on US Highway 101 . Travel 4 miles down the scenic
gravel road to reach
the
campground. Solar showers. Elk are sometimes seen at the
campground, and there is a lovely trail through Fern Canyon.
LINKS
Bird List for Redwood NP
UNEP
- Redwood NP
|
|
|
