Reset search
Redwoods 2026
  • Sara Withrow
  • Sara Withrow

Redwoods 2026

Our road trip for Caleb's birthday. Read more
FollowInsightsInsightsCalendarCalendarPhotosPhotosShareShareBucket list
InsightsCalendarPhotos
  • Sara WithrowRedwoods 2026Traveler
    1111

    Harris Beach Saturday

    June 27 in the United States ⋅ 🌬 59 °F

    When we got home from our day in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, we spent a couple hours at Harris Beach.
    It's such a lovely beach! We explored down to a dead end, Caleb and Cory tried, and succeeded, at building a working water canal, we played tetter totter on a natural log, and hiked up to the bluff. Stunning! Low tide on the morning we leave will be -0.9 at 7:05am, and we plan to be down there exploring!

    It was very windy!    Read more

  • Sara WithrowRedwoods 2026Traveler

    Random Saturday

    June 27 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 61 °F

    We had toast, coffee and protein shakes for breakfast, leaving the house at 7 AM. California only cares about agriculture boarder checks during regular business hours, apparently, so we didn't have to stop there.
    After this trip, Caleb will be an excellent gravel road driver.
    I only did a bit over 16,500 steps today. And I am only able to add 2 of our hikes, because the rest was just exploring the California and Oregon coasts.
    We had hamburgers for dinner.

    Early morning again!    Read more

  • Sara WithrowRedwoods 2026Traveler
    2

    Random Sunday

    June 28 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 52 °F

    We had another early start today. Cory made us bacon, eggs and toast before we headed out on our 2 hour journey. We finished the book The Wild Trees. Excellent book and really helped us be more in the moment during our hikes.
    After our adventures, we came back to the Airbnb and we all rested for about an hour. We are tired. Not sure we will even walk down to the beach tonight.
    We had brauts for dinner, then Cory and I ran to FM to get Caleb's requested meal for his birthday dinner tomorrow.

    I only did 15,500 steps today, but I think all of the activity has just caught up, because I am ready for bed.
    Only have one map to show for today's hike.    Read more

  • Sara WithrowRedwoods 2026Traveler
    111

    Tall Trees

    June 28 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 54 °F

    Today's adventure started with another hike that is accessible by permit only, like Fern Canyon yesterday. Again, this one goes fast! Only 50 offered per day!

    We left the house at 7 AM again and arrived around 9:15. We had to travel 7 miles on a dirt road, go through a locked gate (they send the code 24 hours prior to your permit day), and then continue further on a dirt road.

    Nerd alert! Incoming facts about redwoods.

    In 1963, Paul Zahl was hiking and came across this giant tree. He was awe-struck and knew he needed to save this area from the logging that had decimated this part of California already. At that time, they believed the Libbey Tree was the tallest tree on earth* and so he got The National Geographic to go out with him and his team to do a story. This was the catalyst for Congress to make The Redwood National Park in 1968. However, the weeks leading up to the signing of the bill, many logging companies directed their employees to go in and fall every tree they could see. Sad. 2/3 of the 1500 to 2000 year old trees were logged.

    These trees literally have their own ecosystems in their crowns. You can walk on soil and Huckleberry plants, many tree species, moss, lichen and all sorts of things in these crowns which can be 8 feet wide and hold literal tons of soil. A specific type of salamander, the Wandering Salamander, lives wayyyyyy up in these giants for it'sentire 20 year life, and it's unknown how or why they do, as they must be moist at all times to survive. There is also a type of lichen called Lungwort that actually creates fertilizer for the trees. It's a plant, animal and fungus, and helps keep the soil high in nitrogen which enables the trees to grow tall.

    The trees grow reiterations of themselves, sometimes called spires. One tree in Tall Tress, called Redwood Creek Giant, has 148 reiterated trunks, one of which is 131 feet tall!

    I could go on for days. Please read The Wild Trees by Richard Preston which is all about the California Redwoods.

    We hiked down to the Grove, losing 800 feet in elevation. Yep, we had to hike back up too. But boy, was it worth it! We saw all the trees, marveled at their size, tried using the binoculars to see to the top (haha!), took a ton of pictures, and really just absorbed this ancient forest. Some people just blew through the loop. Not us.
    We also walked down to Redwood Creek and sat for about 20 minutes eating snacks, drinking water, and enjoying the sun.

    I'm so glad we secured this permit. This hike was a bit hard on the way up, but totally worth it.

    *we know now that the Hyperion tree, located in a secret grove somewhat close to Tall Trees, is the tallest tree in the world at 381 feet. If you are caught trying to find that tree, you get a $5k fine and up to 6 months in jail. Thank you Michael Taylor for pursuing your dream of finding the world's tallest tree! I believe it was in 2006 that he and another guy, that I don't recall, found this in the Heave Creek area. A man petrified of heights is responsible for the discovery of Hyperion.    Read more

  • Sara WithrowRedwoods 2026Traveler
    111

    Klamath Overlook

    June 28 in the United States ⋅ 🌬 59 °F

    We skipped the Lady Bird Grove hike. First, we were tired. Second, it was PACKED! No thanks.
    So we decided to head up to Trees of Mystery, but needed gas (badly. We had like 70 miles till empty) and food. So I tried to be spontaneous, with hardly any cell service, by finding a spot on the river to eat. I got close. We ended up at this beautiful overlook in Klamath.
    It was VERY windy. But it was beautiful. We ate our lunches and got back on the road.    Read more

  • Sara WithrowRedwoods 2026Traveler
    11111

    Trees of Mystery

    June 28 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 63 °F

    We did the touristy thing. Paid the high entry fee and enjoyed the ride. I was very disappointed that I couldn't touch Babe's balls, as that is a childhood memory for me. Alas, Blue was being repaired.

    We walked in, looked at the garden area, went up the skywalk to walk amidst the trees. Then we wandered around the different types of trees and the redwoods they have. We made it to the gondola, waited in line for about 10 minutes, and managed to hop into a car without injuring ourselves.
    The gondola was cool! Looking down and around was very impressive. When we got to the top, we walked to the overlook, which was mostly blocked by trees (not a bad thing), then headed to the gondola to ride back down. There was an option of taking the long wilderness path down, but we feel we hiked a good amount over the past 3 days, so opted for the easy option.
    They corral you through more redwoods, including the Infernal, through the story of Paul Bunyan and Babe (whoch was cheesy and fun), and drop you out right into the gift shop. I bought a magnet and we headed home.    Read more

  • Sara WithrowRedwoods 2026Traveler
    1

    Jerry's Rogue Jets

    June 29 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 57 °F

    Today's adventure was a lot less physical, more of a relaxing ride!
    We arrived at Jerry's Rogue Jets at 8:20 AM, got checked in and we're first in line. Our Wilderness adventure left at 9. It was very windy and pretty cool. We dressed in layers, anticipating the arrival of warm sunshine. We were not disappointed. It got so nice out, I was able to just be in my tank top.

    This 104 mile round trip jet ride was a blast. We enjoyed beautiful scenery, fun narration from Captain John, exciting turns, spins and bumps along the shallow water, and wildlife.
    We saw Great Blue Herons, Osprey, Bald Eagles, Western River Turtle, Black-Tail Deer, a Salmon, and a mama Brown Bear and her two cubs.

    At the end of our six hour journey, we headed to the gift shop where we saw we won a free souvenir photo of our trip! Yay!    Read more

  • Sara WithrowRedwoods 2026Traveler
    1
    111111

    Agness - Cougar Lane Lodge

    June 29 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F

    We stopped here 2 times. Once on the way up for a bathroom break. Then we headed back here for lunch. On this tour the lunch is included. We got Caleb a piece of cobbler as a birthday dessert. It was delish!
    Our food was pretty good too. Oh, and I had a beer.

    This is a cute area and I think Cory and I would love to stay up here a couple nights. Also, we want to raft and camp along the Rogue. We saw so many rafters doing that. It looks awesome!    Read more

  • Sara WithrowRedwoods 2026Traveler
    1111111

    Caleb Turns 20

    June 29 in the United States ⋅ 🌬 63 °F

    My baby boy is 20!
    We had a fun day on the jet boats, then we came home and Cory made Caleb his requested dinner: steak and crab. We had fruit salad a garlic toast as well.
    After that we hung around and chatted, then headed down to the beach to watch the sunset.
    The sunset was glorious! It was extremely windy, so we took shelter as we waited for the big show. Cory's knee is bothering him, sp it was nice to just sit in the shelter and relax.

    I'm blessed to have been able to spend this birthday with Caleb. I love you so very much, bug! Thank you for being you.    Read more

  • Sara WithrowRedwoods 2026Traveler

    Home

    June 30 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 64 °F

    We made our way home today. First, Caleb and I went down to the beach for low tide. We saw lots of sea stars, anemones, crabs, etc. Beautiful!

    Our Airbnb hostess left a gift card to a local coffee shop, so we stopped on our way out, and we got to see the harbor too.

    We decided to dip back into California and then head up through Roseburg, Medford, etc. Unfortunately, they are doing a lot of construction, so it added an hour to our trip. A positive about that...we were able to stop in Eugene to eat at Texas Roadhouse, which was a stop Caleb really wanted to make. He even bought us our linner (dinner and lunch combined).

    Well, it was a great trip! We took our last picture on the disposable camera when we got home. Can't wait to see them!

    My top 3 stops:
    1. Natural Bridges
    2. Fern Canyon
    3. Tall Trees
    And the fact that Caleb wanted to hang out with us. I loved watching him play on the beach, and loved chatting with him. I will cherish these moments.

    Cory's favorite things:
    1. Hanging out with Caleb on his birthday
    2. All the excursions we went on

    Caleb's favorite things:
    I’ll give you an in depth response because you went in depth to research this trip and make it happen.

    Number 1 Jerry's rouge boat tour: This was my favorite activity for many reasons. From the moment it began with the harbor seals basking in the sun which immediately made it more engaging and our tour guide and captain James and his dry sense of humor. He took us along the river and we got to see some truly unique scenery and wildlife. The main thing that put this in number one is how James told the story of the river and the many lives along its bank. From horrific massacres to stories of love, it made the river come alive and it felt like its own world, and in a way it is. I want to one day make the multi day trip down its rapids and have my own adventure on its rapids.

    Number 2 Fern Canyon: This place was very cool. Starting with the adventurous drive along the gravel road with its many potholes and stream crossings, then exploring the canyon, attempting to navigate the challenges the trail presented surrounded by the beautiful scenery. As well as when we tried to follow the creek to the ocean, we ended up discovering a hidden trail and seeing wildlife, plants and geography we never intended to see. And when we finally reached the sea and stood against the waves I had fun “Land Surfing” and resisting their pull into the sea. This hike engaged my mind and body in a fun way. Overall it was a magical safari that I think was good for everyone, except poor Peebo.

    Number 3 The Tall Trees hike: The scale of the redwoods is beyond anything ive ever seen, they are massive ancient giants tucked away in a hidden valley. The book we listened to helped me appreciate the redwoods beyond just size and age. Hearing about the stories of the people who dedicated their lives in search of the ultimate tree and pushed ever deeper into the forest along with the ecosystems in and around the trees and their place in the forest made them seem more like their own worlds built in their branches.

    Overall the trip was amazing and showed me many new things and was a great way to end my 19th year. Thank you mom ❤️    Read more

    Trip end
    June 30, 2026