Redwood National Park doesn’t get the crowds its scale deserves, largely because it sits outside California’s typical tourist corridors — a series of connected state and national parkland stretching between Eureka and Crescent City, protecting over 45% of the world’s remaining old-growth coastal redwoods. What that geographic obscurity means for hikers is genuinely lighter trail traffic than Yosemite or the Sierra parks, paired with some of the tallest living trees on Earth, ancient giants that have stood for thousands of years. Hikingbackpackpro.com has already covered the full visitor experience here in depth; this guide focuses specifically on ranking the trails themselves.

This guide covers the best hikes in Redwood, from short roadside groves through the park’s signature ancient-growth trails and one hike genuinely unlike anything else in the world — with current 2026 permit information, since two of the park’s most rewarding destinations require reservations you’ll want to secure before you arrive.

For gear suited to Redwood’s consistently damp, root-covered trail surfaces, our best hiking boots for men and best hiking boots for women guides cover footwear with genuine wet-weather grip.

Before You Go — Essential 2026 Planning Information

Redwood is actually four parks jointly managed together, and understanding this structure genuinely helps with trip planning. Three state parks — Prairie Creek Redwoods, Del Norte Coast Redwoods, and Jedediah Smith Redwoods — were established in the early 20th century to protect old-growth stands from the logging that ultimately destroyed 95% of California’s original redwood forest. Redwood National Park itself was established in 1968 to protect additional surrounding land, and all four are now managed jointly by the National Park Service.

Tall Trees Grove requires a free permit, available year-round, capped at roughly 65 per day. The access road has a locked gate — you’ll need to check in at the visitor center, fill out a permit, and get the gate code before driving the 6-mile dirt road to the trailhead. There’s no fee for this permit, but you genuinely cannot access the grove without it.

Fern Canyon and Gold Bluffs Beach require a reservation from May 15 through September 15 specifically, bookable through Recreation.gov, with reservations now available as late as the day before your visit. Outside that window (September 16 through May 14), no reservation is required. A $12 day-use fee applies to enter Gold Bluffs Beach Road regardless of season.

Cell service is patchy to nonexistent throughout most of the park. Download offline maps before you arrive.

Dogs are permitted at campgrounds, paved viewpoints, and some beaches, but not on any of the trails covered in this guide.

Easy Hikes

Lady Bird Johnson Grove — Best Quick Introduction

Distance: 1.5 miles (loop) | Elevation gain: Minimal | Difficulty: Easy

If you’re short on time, this is genuinely the best single thing to do in the park — a short, gradual loop with a well-maintained parking area, popular specifically because it’s accessible and family-friendly. An interpretive guide, purchasable for a dollar at the trailhead, walks you through numbered points of interest along the route, and the trail begins by crossing a bright orange bridge over the road, a striking visual contrast against the surrounding forest green that makes for a genuinely great photo. Because the grove sits at a higher elevation than most other trails in the park, it’s frequently draped in coastal fog, giving this section of forest a distinctly different, almost surreal feel compared to the rest of the park. Redwoods here can reach up to 360 feet, and the grove itself spans over 300 acres, dedicated to Lady Bird Johnson in 1969.

Simpson-Reed Memorial Grove Trail — Best Short Trail for Immersion

Distance: 0.93 miles (loop) | Elevation gain: Minimal | Difficulty: Easy

Don’t let the short distance fool you — this trail in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, the park’s northernmost and arguably most underrated section, delivers some of the most classic redwood immersion available anywhere in the system. The trailhead sits just steps from Highway 199, but the moment you step into the forest, the road disappears entirely from awareness. Trees here are packed in densely enough that you feel genuinely surrounded from the first step, with a forest floor thick with ferns and moss that blocks outside sound almost completely. This is a strong pick specifically for hikers short on time or hiking with young kids, though it’s worth doing regardless of your schedule.

Big Tree Wayside — Best Ultra-Short Roadside Stop

Distance: ~0.1 miles | Elevation gain: Minimal | Difficulty: Easy

Located along the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway, a 10-mile scenic drive through Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park that parallels Highway 101, this tenth-of-a-mile trail is a genuine must-do for anyone driving through the area. Massive redwoods line both sides of the short path, ending at the Big Tree itself — 74 feet in circumference and 268 feet tall, estimated at roughly 1,500 years old. It’s short enough to add to any itinerary without meaningfully impacting your schedule.

Moderate Hikes

Stout Memorial Grove Trail — Best Trail Under a Mile

Distance: ~0.8 miles (loop) | Elevation gain: Minimal | Difficulty: Easy to Moderate

Reaching this grove is genuinely part of the experience — Howland Hill Road, a narrow, winding old wagon road that cuts directly through old-growth forest, is a beautiful, adventure-adding drive before you’ve even stepped onto the trail. This is the shortest trail on this list, but the old-growth trees here are among the most scenic and photogenic in the entire park — classic redwoods, tall, ancient, moss-covered, and genuinely massive. The tallest tree in the grove, the Stout Tree itself, stands 340 feet tall with a 16-foot diameter at its base. For a hike under a mile that delivers this much visual payoff, this is genuinely one of the best values in the whole park.

Karl Knapp Foothills Trail — Best for a Peaceful, Crowd-Free Experience

Distance: ~2.5 miles | Elevation gain: Moderate | Difficulty: Easy to Moderate

Starting from the Prairie Creek Visitor Center, this trail is genuinely one of the best options if you want a peaceful hike without crowds — a genuinely harder thing to find in the Redwoods than it used to be. The route guides you through scenic forest, past giant fern fields, and across wooden footbridges, with the sound of the creek following you under a canopy of towering redwoods. A fallen tree cutout along the way makes for a fun photo stop, and midway through, the trail passes the same Big Tree Wayside covered above — a 1,500-year-old giant standing 268 feet tall. From there, you can extend the hike by adding the Circle Trail or Cathedral Tree Trail, or continue on the Foothills Loop back to the visitor center.

Grove of Titans — Best Single Hike in the Park

Distance: 1.7 miles round trip | Elevation gain: Minimal | Difficulty: Moderate

If you can only do one hike in the entire Redwoods, this is genuinely the recommendation — located just a mile and a half up Howland Hill Road from Stout Memorial Grove, making the two trails a natural pairing on the same visit. The trail winds through the heart of one of the most extraordinary ancient forests on Earth along an elevated boardwalk, protecting the sensitive root systems below while giving you close access to the Titan-sized trees the grove is named for — some of the largest coastal redwoods anywhere. Watch for the Screaming Titans, two trunks fused into a single unique giant, and the Lost Monarch, the tallest tree in the grove at roughly 320 feet. Standing at its base looking straight up is an experience photos and video genuinely fail to capture — you have to be there to comprehend the actual scale.

Strenuous Hikes

Tall Trees Grove — Best Full-Day Grove Hike

Distance: 4.5 miles (“lollipop” loop) | Elevation gain: 800 feet | Difficulty: Strenuous

This is genuinely one of the best trails in the entire park, and the permit requirement covered above is a real barrier to entry that keeps the grove meaningfully less crowded than accessible roadside stops. The hike descends 800 feet over the first mile and a half, meaning the return trip is a long, steady climb back to the parking lot — a reverse-difficulty structure worth planning your energy around, since you’ll want real reserves for the uphill return rather than exhausting yourself on the way down. A famous point of interest along the route is a fallen tree you can actually walk directly through.

After the descent, the trail reaches a genuinely incredible 1-mile loop through the grove itself, passing truly massive coastal redwoods, large ferns, and moss-covered trees throughout. For hikers with more time and ambition, an alternative all-day route accesses the grove via the Redwood Creek Trail from the Redwood Creek Trailhead — a considerably longer 16-mile round trip with two stream crossings (not recommended during high water, though summer footbridges are typically installed).

Practical tip: Take advantage of the benches positioned along the return climb — the uphill hike out is genuinely steep, and pacing yourself with rest stops makes a real difference.

Fern Canyon — Most Unique Hike in the Park

Distance: ~1 mile | Elevation gain: Minimal, but genuinely unusual terrain | Difficulty: Moderate (due to stream crossings and terrain, not distance)

This is unlike any hike most visitors will have done anywhere — there are no giant trees here at all. Instead, canyon walls rise up on both sides, completely covered floor to ceiling in verdant green ferns, genuinely looking like a movie set. It actually was one: portions of Jurassic Park 2 were filmed in this exact canyon, and once you’re standing in it, that becomes immediately obvious.

The trail is located in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, a short walk from the end of Gold Bluffs Beach Road — a narrow, bumpy access road that includes an actual stream crossing by car before you even reach the trailhead. It looks more intimidating than it is; the crossing isn’t deep, and standard passenger vehicles make it through regularly. Remember the reservation requirement covered above if you’re visiting between May 15 and September 15. Once on trail, you’ll zigzag back and forth across a shallow stream running through the canyon floor, scrambling over and under fallen logs along the way — your feet will genuinely get wet, so dress and pack accordingly.

Roadside Stops and Overlooks Worth Knowing About

Redwood Creek Overlook, along the drive up to the Tall Trees Grove trailhead, is a great pull-off with genuinely amazing views — worth the brief stop even if you’re focused on reaching the grove itself.

Klamath River Overlook delivers amazing coastal views in both directions with only a short walk from the parking area. Hiking trails do lead down to the beach from here for those with extra time.

Crescent Beach Overlook is one of the best vantage points along the park’s 40 miles of coastline, worth a stop for anyone exploring the park’s northern coastal sections.

Trees of Mystery, featuring giant Paul Bunyan and Blue Ox statues, is a fun family photo stop along the route between the Klamath River Overlook and the northern groves — not a hike, but a worthwhile quick break.

Just Over the Border — Samuel H. Boardman Scenic Corridor

For visitors willing to drive roughly 40 minutes north past the Oregon border, this stretch of coastline is genuinely rugged and dramatic, and it pairs naturally with a Redwood trip given the short drive. Natural Bridges and Secret Beach, both accessible via short hikes, are standout stops — visit early morning or at sunrise specifically, since midday light tends to wash out the dramatic coastal scenery here.

Building Your Redwood Itinerary

One day: Lady Bird Johnson Grove in the morning, Big Tree Wayside along the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway at midday, and the Grove of Titans in the afternoon — three genuinely different redwood experiences packed into a single manageable day.

Two to three days: Day one covers Tall Trees Grove as a dedicated full-day objective (permit secured in advance). Day two covers Prairie Creek Redwoods — Karl Knapp Foothills Trail, Big Tree Wayside, and Fern Canyon if your dates fall within reservation season. Day three covers Jedediah Smith Redwoods via Howland Hill Road — Stout Memorial Grove and the Grove of Titans, ideally timed for late afternoon light.

Four or more days: Add Simpson-Reed Memorial Grove for a quieter, shorter counterpoint to the bigger destination hikes, and build in a day trip north to Samuel H. Boardman Scenic Corridor for a genuinely different coastal experience just across the Oregon border.

Conclusion

Redwood rewards visitors who understand its four-park structure and plan around the two permit-required destinations rather than discovering the requirement at the trailhead. Start with Lady Bird Johnson Grove and Big Tree Wayside for an efficient introduction to the park’s scale, add the Grove of Titans as the single best hike in the entire system, and if you have the time and stamina, Tall Trees Grove and Fern Canyon each deliver an experience genuinely unmatched anywhere else — one for the trees themselves, the other for terrain that looks like nowhere else on Earth.

Secure your Tall Trees Grove permit and, if visiting between May and September, your Fern Canyon reservation before you arrive, download offline maps given the park’s unreliable cell service, and leave no trace so these genuinely ancient places stay this way for whoever hikes them next.

For more on planning a complete visit, check our Best Things to Do in Redwood National Park (Complete Visitor Guide) for camping, drives, and viewpoint information beyond the trails covered here, and our best hikes in Olympic National Park guide for more of the Pacific Northwest’s finest old-growth hiking.