Redwood National and State Parks with a dog

Lori and Presto at the base of a truly massive redwood.

Like most national parks, Redwood National and State Parks on the far northern California coast are fairly hostile to dogs.  No dogs are allowed on any trails anywhere in the park, even the loop that horses use.  It turns out that there a few dirt roads in the park that are open to dogs, though.  We stopped by in the middle of a road trip up the California and Oregon Coast recently and managed to put together a full afternoon at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, then a good morning at Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park the next day.  It's a bit frustrating not to be able to go into the best groves, but there are still lots of giant redwoods to find, a pretty nice beach, and a clearing often full wild elk.  So if you find yourself in the area, don't just give up on it and drive by on 101.

Day One (Prairie Creek Redwoods SP):
Cal Barrel Road (3 mile hike)
Elk Prairie (Wild Elk Viewing Area)
Gold Bluffs Beach

Day Two (Jedediah Smith Redwoods SP):
Howland Hill Road (Scenic Drive)
Walker Road (3 mile hike)

Overview map: https://caltopo.com/m/EA36

Cal Barrel Road

Distance: ~3 miles
Elevation: 200 to 900 feet

A giant redwood trunk hanging over Cal Barrel Road.

Cal Barrel Road is a 1.5 mile out-and back dirt road in Prairie Creek SP.  Usually it's open to car traffic, but that traffic is pretty light, as the road just dead-ends at a tiny trailhead parking area.  When we visited it was closed to car traffic due to a downed tree, so it was just like hiking a fire trail.  The road gently climbs about 700 feet through a ferny redwood forest.  You're never quite surrounded by giant redwoods, but the road passes many mature trees, mostly in small clumps.

Note when navigating to Cal Barrel road, GPS services may direct you to the spot where the old road crosses Highway 101 (this isn't where you want to go).  The trailhead you want is the intersection of Cal Barrel road and Newton B Drury Parkway about 1/4 mile north of the park visitor center.  The road is signed from the parkway.  Turn into the dirt road and drive a few hundred yards in to a small parking area next to signed gate.

A small grove of mature redwoods along Cal Barrel Road.

Elk Prairie

Distance: < 1 mile
Elevation: 200 feet

The central clearing at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, complete with an wild elk.  He's a little hard to see because we obeyed the signs and kept our distance.

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park has a large meadow somewhat oversold on park maps as the elk "prairie".  The park visitor center and Elk Prairie Campground are located next to this meadow, with a paved road around most of the perimeter. Dogs are OK on leash along those paved road so you can take a light walk and check out the wild Elk that routinely visit the area.  There happened to be two males with impressive antlers grazing the day we stopped by.

Gold Bluffs Beach

Distance: < 1 mileElevation: 0 feet

Gold Bluffs Beach

Gold Bluffs Beach is several miles of sandy beach and low dunes on a 100 yard wide flat shelf under some 200 foot bluffs.  There is also a campground here where dogs are allowed.  It's a bit ambiguous exactly how far dogs are allowed along the beach, as a stretch of the coastal trail follows the beach here and supposedly there should be no dogs on any trail in the park.  Certainly the half mile of beach between the day-use parking and campground they should be OK, as dogs are explicitly allowed at both beaches.

The beach is accessed by driving about 6 miles on a dirt road (Davidson Road) accessed from highway 101 about 3 miles south of the Prairie Creek Redwoods Visitor Center.

Sunset from Gold Bluffs Beach

Howland Hill Road

Scenic Drive

Howland Hill Road is a narrow, winding dirt road running through the southern part of of Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.  It would actually make a great walk or run with a dog, but there were a few too many cars for that on the morning we visited.  Perhaps it would be worth a try on foot on an off-season weekday not near any major holidays.  Either way, the road makes for the most scenic route across the park.  It passes several clumps of giant redwoods and has lots of pullouts to stop and ogle.  The east end of the road is also the only way to access Stout Grove, one of the most easily accessed groves in the park.  Dogs aren't allowed in the grove, but since the loop through the grove is only about half a mile around, if you've got more than one human along, you can take turns taking a quick stroll through the grove. 

Massive redwood in Stout Grove

Walker Road

Distance: ~3 miles
Elevation: 150 to 50 feet

Walker Road in Jedediah Redwoods State Park.

Walker Road was our last stop at Redwoods National Park.  It's another dirt road used to access various trails and short grove loops.  Again the trails are closed to dogs but the road is almost as nice.  The road starts with a parking area for a couple of popular trails, but since it dead ends at a couple of rocky sand bars on the Smith River to the north, through traffic is very light.  We only saw a four cars on the day we were out.  The road is essentially flat, gently sloping down the river.  Along the way you pass several impressively large redwoods.  The combination of the redwoods and the river made this my favorite dog-friendly walk in the park.

In retrospect, we probably should have taken turns popping into the Simpson-Reed loop as well.  The trailhead for that very short, flat hiking loop through a particularly dense stand of redwoods is right near the beginning of Walker Road.  We didn't quite realize how short a loop it was until looking at a map later.  

Spanish moss catches the morning light along Walker Road.

A giant redwood towers over its neighbors along Walker Road

The Smith River.