The Redwood Creek Trail runs 7.8 miles from Bald Hills Road to the Tall Trees Loop in Redwood National Park. This long but moderate trail passes through a diverse riparian corridor lined by old growth redwoods, bigleaf maple canopies and berries. The Tall Trees Trail drops from Bald Hills Road to a short loop along an alluvial flat on Redwood Creek. The trail is best known for Tall Tree, which was discovered in 1963 and at the time was the world's largest.

Wide gravel bars along Redwood Creek are easy to reach and ideal for camping and exploration

Alluvial flats along Redwood Creek provide ideal growing conditions for redwoods, bigleaf maple and sitka; this lengthy trail passes through one of the most diverse forest corridors in the Park

Sitka spruce prefer moist, well-drained soils and thrive in sunny alluvial flood plains and marine terraces

Redwood National Park was expanded in 1978 to buffercritical downstream salmon habitat from upstream logging

The thick, leafy understory along Redwood Creek produces brilliant autumn colors

Bigleaf maple favor gravelly, moist soils along creek, river and lake edges; mature trees may produce 3-6 gallons of sap per year, with about 35 gallons of sap required to make 1 gallon of syrup

Redwood Creek can appear gentile and shallow, but deep, swift channels in the middle make fording during the winter and spring challenging, if not dangerous or impossible

Locate orange trail symbols before fording the creek - the trail can be difficult to find amid dense vegetation at close range

Backpackers can choose at-large campsites along gravel bars on designated sections of Redwood Creek

The 1963 National Geographic Expedition which documented the Tall Trees Grove lent critical momentum to the drive for creation of Redwood National Park in 1968

Salmon and steelhead still run in small numbers up Redwood Creek; bi-products of upstream logging (nutrient loss and habitat degradation) are the biggest challenge to reestablishing the salmonoid population

Red alders favor rich soils along sunny stream banks and floodplains and are found along much of Redwood Creek; they grow quickly and are usually the first trees to occupy disturbed sites

Drive carefully on Bald Hills Road and watch for wildlife on sharp turns!

Redwoods are one of the world's fastest growing conifers, with seedlings sometimes growing more than a foot per year

Rhododendron grow exceptionally well in upland forests along the Tall Trees Grove, and see prolific blooms in May-June are

Redwood forests are believed to generate the highest volume of living matter per land surface unit; this achievement is largely due to the incredible height and density of the trees