November redwoods trip
 

Planning a 4-5+ day trip to the redwood area. RT drive from LA, so 2 days driving up and back (would like different routes). Want to "drive hard" up and meander back with stops. Looking for itinerary suggestions with these thoughts in mind:

* hiking mix of both short (1-2 hrs) to medium (4-5 hrs) with variety of terrain
* off the beaten path type activities ..Strange and not touristy is good
*quaint, quirky,clean, inexpensive lodging (cheap is good, prefer no chain hotels)
*good food that's like my lodging desires
Back to LA- no wineries, no big crowds (well have plenty of this on roadways and in/around LA)

Note: we're flying out from DC and camping not an option

Airbnb will be the best source of inexpensive accommodation by far, once you decide where you'll be staying. https://www.airbnb.com

Wondering why you are flying in and out of LAX?

Since you are starting in LA, you'll want to check out the redwoods in the Santa Cruz mountain and/or Big Sur. Those are the closest redwoods to your starting point - I wouldn't go any farther north with the time you have. And given the large fire burning in Big Sur right now, I would focus on the Santa Cruz mountains. The Sobrantes fire in Big Sur will undoubtedly be extinguished by then, but I don't know how the redwood groves will be affected by then.

You could do something like this:

Day 1: Drive LA to Santa Cruz area (about 6 hours). You can stay in Santa Cruz, Capitola, or Aptos if you want to be near the ocean, or in Scotts Valley, Felton, Ben Lomond, or Boulder Creek if you want to be in the mountains. If you get up to SC in time, you might go to Henry Cowell state park for a small hike and to see some redwoods - or check out Santa Cruz or Capitola. We've stayed at the Quality Inn and Suites in Ben Lomond when hiking in the SC mountains - its a chain, but its a convenient location and has good rates. Its also across from the Tyrolean Inn, which is a German restaurant that's been around forever and has good food - definitely fits the quirky criteria - and they have good German beers on tap which they serve in liter and half liter mugs.

Day 2: Big Basin state park - spend the day hiking in the park. Overnight in the same place as Day 1.

Day 3: On Day 3 you could stay in the SC area and do some more hiking - there are lots of choices - for off the beaten path, consider Forest of Nicene Marks. Or you could head down to the Monterey area - Monterey, Pacific Grove, Carmel. Point Lobos, just south of Carmel has some good, easy hikes and tremendous scenery.

Day 4: Drive through Big Sur - overnight around San Simeon, Cambria, or Morro Bay. Depending on the conditions in Big Sur, there are several different hikes you could do - longer and shorter ones, depending on the time you have. I'd wait a bit to decide.

Day 5: Drive back to LA

Sorry, but 4 or 5 days is not long enough time to visit the northern redwoods from LA and back. You would want at least 7 days and that would be very VERY rushed.

If that is all the time you have either fly in/out of SFO or limit yourselves to the Santa Cruz/Big Sur redwoods.

Even then SFO would be better.

If you're going to follow ideas for Santa Cruz redwood hikes, you must go to Fall Creek Park, which is an annex to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. Separate entrance - you will have to get directions at the park entrance - it's about a mile north on Felton Empire Grade. The most beautiful redwood park, along a lovely running creek. with tumbling falls. A true treasure.

Really appreciate the suggestions so far, thanks! Flight in/out LAX is a hard set- spending time with friends and will be hiking Channel Islands-1-2 days
Regarding Redwoods-Was thinking of a 3amish drive departure from LA to arrive mid-section area of Redwoods middle of day. Avenue of the Giants? Any "to do " in the south side of this?

Ave. of the Giants is 600 miles, 9+ hours drive from LA, Henry Cowell is 350.

I think that Avenue of the Giants is too far for the time you have and what you want to do. You will spend all of your time on the road without much time to see the redwoods themselves, and you definitely wouldn't have time to meander back to LA as you had envisioned. That's why people are suggesting the Santa Cruz mountains instead.

>>Was thinking of a 3amish drive departure from LA to arrive mid-section area of Redwoods middle of day. Avenue of the Giants?<<

Not at all feasible.

Depending from where in the humongous LA area you are starting -- the drive to The Avenue will be over 11 hours w/o a single stop.

Being a bit like Gumby, I heed to your advice and suggestions and will re-focus and target the "Giants" of Santa Cruz, yay! I appreciate your best interest re-direction. I haven't spent any time looking into this area and will start with the suggested spots/hikes. Any recommendations for go to websites?

Still ISO mom/pop family owned small motel options, possibly cabins ... (Side note: have on going competition to find lodging spots that are decent for under $100. I hold record �� And wanna maintain it)

Any quirky town attractions worth time? ( note: historical spots are great), natural hot springs?

With gratitude.
J.Renee

under $100 may be difficult - when is the trip?

Fern River is comfortably under $100 for somes of their cottages at least parts of the year, and is in a lovely location. Do be aware, in many parts of CA you need to add between about 10% and 14+% occupancy tax to any posted rates.

http://www.fernriver.com

Here's one of my go-to hiking sites: http://www.redwoodhikes.com/

If you scroll about half way down, you'll get a list of hikes categorized by the park that they are in - the green highlighted hike are the ones with old growth redwood trees.

Here are some of my favorites from that site:

Big Basin State Park:
1. Berry Creek Falls if you want an all-day hike
2. Creeping Forest for a short hike
3. Slippery Rock - this is trail doesn't take you far from civilization, but you go through some really nice groves

Portola Redwoods state park:
1. Peters Creek Loop - This one is more off the beaten track - much less visited than others, and takes some work, but the pay off is great.

Pfeiffer Big Sur:
1. Pfeiffer Falls - check the status of the park before you go though - its in the fire area, and I am not sure of the condition

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park:
1. Ewoldson Trail - lots of different eco-systems on this one due to the elevation change and the topography - you have some nice redwood groves at the begining and end of the hike.

Limekiln state park:
1. There aren't any old-growth groves in this park, but the there are a few easy trails through a beautiful canyon with second-growth redwoods and a couple nice creeks running through.


I mentioned Forest of Nisene Marks before - this is a neat place, and a real locals' park, not very well-known outside the area. You don't have many old-growth trees, but you do have a lot of second-growth, and it is just a really nice park.

http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/666/fi...bBroch2012.pdf

Definitely plan a few days around Monterey and Carmel. You can hike or rent bikes. Monterey has wonderful bike paths along the Bay. Lots of hotels at a range of price points and good restaurants.

-YES!! To the bike suggestion, big into biking (road and trail, not mountain). Rx for where to rent bikes? (Prefer to ride on own and not with a tour group)
- keeping a watch on fire status, thanks for reminder to do so!
- lodging, I was thinking pre-tax for low (cheap) rate
- thanks for the many descriptive hike suggestions November-moon

My last responsibility of planning for this trip - hiking Channel Islands with possible snorkel. This would be 2 + day trips, back and forth each day (staying with friends close to ferry point North LA). I looked into this several years ago, the trip didn't happen. Any thoughts suggestions for this portion of CA vacation, Channel Islands early November?

>>with possible snorkel<<

You'll need wet suits . . .

For Channel Islands you need to book with Island Packers, they go out of Ventura and Channel Islands Harbor near Oxnard to Anacapa and Santa Cruz. You might also want to consider Catalina, which has decent snorkeling and diving, easier to get to via the Catalina Express from San Pedro or Long Beach. Where is Ferry Point, North LA? Never heard of it and I was born and raised in the LA area.

For bike riding, there is a long multi-use path through Monterey called the Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail. It goes through the heart of Monterey, so has some busy sections, but it thins out outside the Wharf and Cannery Row area.

https://www.traillink.com/trail/mont...ion-trail.aspx

If you ride to Pacific Grove, you can continue on roads to Asilomar and then onto 17 Mile Drive.

Here are a couple links for bike rental in Monterey:

https://www.baybikes.com/rentals

http://www.adventuresbythesea.com/mo...e-rentals.html

I hit "post" too soon :)

There is also good biking in the Santa Cruz area - it is a very bike-friendly place.

West Cliff Drive is a nice, quick ride - from the wharf area to the lighthouse is only about a mile, and then you can continue along the coastline to Natural Bridges state beach, which is really nice. If you don't mind hills, you can ride up to the university for some great views.

The other direction - you can go over the railroad tressle, through the Seabright neighborhood and past the yacht harbor and link up with East Cliff Drive which will take you along the coast that way. You can ride down to Capitola Village, which has a bunch of restaurants and a nice beach.

The red woods are amazing, we did a train ride in Santa Cruz that takes you through the redwoods forest and that was a unique experience, check out the mystery spot if you get a chance!