My 75-year-old mom has dreamed of seeing the Redwoods her whole life, so I'm in the very early planning stages of a surprise trip for her in April 2027. We'll fly into SFO and spend about 1-2 days in Mendocino and 1-2 days in the Fortuna/Garberville/Eureka area. (Also, open to going to completely different places for better experiences! Nothing's super set in stone yet.)

My mom has bad knees and walks with a cane, so I've been researching wheelchair-accessible paths and was wondering if anyone has recommendations from personal experience for:

• Very easy and very flat walking paths with fantastic redwood sightseeing
• Beautiful drives with pull-over stops (like Avenue of the Giants)
• Any pro-tips for must-sees—there's so much to research! It's overwhelming 😅 and tough not to feel the FOMO!

So far, I only have the Willits Skunk Train route on the list, so I'm incredibly grateful for any thoughts and recommendations. I'm really hoping to make this a special experience for my mom.

This lovely grove also holds another treat for nature lovers. Further up this road (Bald Hills) brongs one to more than one location to hopefully view the California Condors reintroduced here by the local Yurok tribe. They roost in redwoods and soar the afternoon thermals

Will be visiting next week for first time and had planned to do the loop, but seeing online that the bridge is out, so you cannot complete the loop and must do an out and back. That said… which side would be the best side to do if you could only do one? Going with some family members who wouldn’t tolerate the idea of completing both sides :/

Do they look identical? Is one fork more difficult than the other? What would be your preference?

We just happened to be visiting Prairie Creek SP on the first Hike and Bike Saturday of the season, where a 10 mile portion of the Newton B Drury Parkway is closed to car traffic. It was great to hike with zero road noise, and it was fun to walk a portion of the parkway and watch bikers, rollerbladers, skateboarders and more.

What is one place that we can stay in the Redwoods that is affordable? We are open to hotels and/or cabins. We have never been there and unsure of which location. We are looking for a March/April date.

Thank you!

Looking to go march/arpil of 2027, will have two kids 10 and 13. Best places to stay??

Tall Tree Trail. Last 2 flicks = looking towards Helios Grove and Nugget (3rd tallest tree on Earth, 373.5 feet).

A huge, wild tree with huge, wild branches!

Pictures don’t do justice to how magical this region is.

Hey yall! Visiting the redwoods in mid October but am painfully unaware of the opportunities in the area. Am an experienced backpacker with appropriate gear.
Are there any areas I should check out or anything I should be aware of?

First trip, but not the last

The more visited area of the park, it was quite crowded on a Sunday.

Are there giant sequoias in a state park? Yes! The one with the backpack in a fallen trunk isn’t showing how I could have stood inside it and still not have my head touch the top in it. Also, spotted a chandelier branch!

largest tree in the park, with tiny cones that nearly fell on my head and injured me LOL

We want to see grove of titans and understand we can’t go down the narrow roads to the trail head. I just want to confirm if there is a day use area we can successfully fit our RV at?

I am traveling to Humboldt to run the Humboldt half and to see the trees for my first time and would like to get a guided tour to help me understand as much as I can about the trees. Every time I've been in a tour I get so much more out of it when it's guided.

2025-2026 Northern California

I think the coastal redwoods were so cool, and Jedidiah Smith is a sweet campground!

Driving down the 101 from Seattle to redwoods and back again. I’m conflicted on whether or not to go as far south as the avenue of giants/Humboldt or stick around prairie creek/fern canyon/jedidiah.

I know the old growth trees are in Humboldt, but I also read that a lot of that area is developed neighborhoods and ranches vs wild land.

I know that Humboldt is only another hour and a half further, but it’s more so a matter of wanting to relax and spend time in one area rather than spend more time driving back and forth.

That being said, I am very willing to drive more if Humboldt is super worth seeing.

What do we think?

If we have time, I would love to rent bikes, so if one park is better for biking please let me know.

EDIT:

Thank you all so much for the tips and bits of your personal experiences with the parks! I’ve been convinced it will be worth it to do both, thank you!