Trillium Falls Trail

After finishing our hike at Lady Bird Johnson Grove, we drove to the south entrance of Redwoods National Park to visit the Thomas H Kuchel Visitor Center. We verified some trail information and enjoyed watching all of the swifts nesting in the eaves of the visitor center, then ventured north on Highway 101 to Davison Road and the Trillium Falls trailhead.

We started by hiking along the paved Davison trail till the Trillium Falls Trail branched off to the right. We quickly noticed how this trail differed from the Lady Bird Johnson Grove since we immediately started climbing along switchbacks into the Redwood forest.

Up and into the Redwoods we go.....

We encountered the lush green of ferns and enjoyed some large Redwood trees before reaching the metal footbridge which crosses a stream while providing us with great views of Trillium Falls just above the crossing.

Maggie and Carol lift a redwood tree up off  the trail 

Although the falls are not large and water levels are low this year, it was still a pretty sight that we took time to enjoy.  Unfortunately, due to the shade and darkness of the area, we only got one picture of Trillium Falls that was ok to keep.

Trillium Falls from footbridge

Footbridge crossing just below Trillium Falls

After hiking along through areas with smaller trees and lots of blackberry brambles and huckleberry shrubs, we crossed an old dirt logging road and once again entered an area dominated by large, impressive redwood trees.  It is just amazing to see these huge trees.

One of many HUGE redwood trees on this hike....

It's a long ways to the top!

We then starting descending and heading back north towards the trailhead when we came to a large footbridge that crosses Elk Meadow to another trailhead.  As the name implies, Elk Meadow is where a herd of elk likes to hang out and sure enough, we got to see a herd of about a dozen elk including a baby elk.  We tried to get some pictures but our camera can only zoom so much, so our best shots are shown below.  This is the time of year for elk calving, so there are signs all around and we were warned at the visitor center to be very cautious around the females, since you can't always see where the young ones are at.

The Elk herd at Elk Meadows

Mother Elk with young at Elk Meadows

The last mile was an easy walk along a dirt road completely surrounded by alder trees till we reached the Davison access trail and completed this nice 2.8 mile loop.

The last mile without redwood trees...

Now that we had 4.2 miles of hiking done, it was time to head to the Prairie Creek Visitor center and get one more hike in for the day, a hike that featured the largest trees in the park and would include walking through redwood trees.....

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol (and Maggie)

Lady Bird Johnson Grove trail

To start our hiking adventures at Redwoods National and State Parks, we chose one of the most popular trails in the park, the Lady Bird Johnson Grove trail.  Its popularity is due to the fact that it is relatively short (1.4 miles), level, and highlights the creation of the National Park in 1968.

The trailhead parking lot was a short 3 miles off Highway 101 on Bald Hills Road near the south entrance of the park. It took us a little while to arrive at the parking lot due to crews clearing vegetation along the road.

The trail begins by crossing a footbridge back over Bald Hills Road and then leading you along through huckleberry shrubs, salal, and ferns with Tiger Lilies and Rhododendrons adding color to the green undergrowth.

Footbridge over Bald Hills Road at beginning of trail

Tiger Lily

View of Lady Bird Johnson Grove trail

The real stars of course were the Redwood trees. Normally a ridge top or hillside grove like this area would feature smaller trees compared to those groves on the valley floor.  This particular grove however, features a lot of big monster trees and the trail allows access to see them up close.  Pictures don't do justice, but here are few of the Redwood trees along this hike.

The grove dedication site on the trail features an open area with benches and the dedication plaque. It offers the hiker an opportunity to just sit back and take in the silence and wonderful sight of this awesome area.

Dedication plaque

Carol, Maggie, & Glenn 

If you ever plan on visiting Redwoods National Park, we would recommend you take the time to hike this trail as an introduction to the park like we did.  For us, it was now time to venture on to another hike, slightly longer - Trillium Falls.

Trekking Together,
Glenn & Carol (and Maggie)

Limpy Creek and Waters Creek Trails

Since the weather has been so nice, we decided to get another hike in and gave Glenn's sister the choice of trails. Drum roll please..........she chose......OK, you read the post title so you know, Limpy Creek trail and Waters Creek trail.

After a short drive to Grants Pass, we headed south a few miles to the Limpy Creek trail which is on Limpy Creek road.  Although this trail is just a 1-mile loop, it is a great wildflower trail and easy for families to hike.  We have hiked this trail in March and April, but never this late in the year.  Although the creek was low, we still enjoyed hearing the creek as we hiked through the forested portion and even saw a giant slug out for a hike.

Even slugs hike on the Limpy Creek trail!

Also in the forested area we saw for the first time a yellow Ground Cone.  We love Ground Cones but have never seen a yellow one.  The pictures we took came out blurry, so you will have to take our word for it. We also saw another flower for the first time, the Twinflower.  There was only one area where they were growing and maybe a dozen plants total.

Twinflower

The two main meadows that the trail passes through still had lots flowers including Self Heal, Meadow Death Camas, Hairy Owl Clover, White Brodiaea and even one of Glenn's favorites, the Monkey Flower.

Self Heal

After we finished the Limpy Creek trail, we drove down Highway 199 a few miles to Waters Creek Road to get to the Waters Creek trailhead.  Sure makes it easy to find these trailheads when the road name matches the trail name!

As we hiked through the meadow at the beginning of the trail, we were surrounded by the color of various flowers including the Bachelor's Button which had blue, purple and even white blooms. So in honor of The Dating Game (if you remember that show), here they are:

Bachelor #1

Bachelor #2

Bachelor #3

Once we arrived at the loop portion of the trail, we took the longer outer loop trail.  There is a shorter inner loop that is a wheelchair accessible trail. Throughout the loop we constantly saw a yellow flower.  We are not sure what it is yet, so if you know, please let us know.

Mystery Flower? Do you know what variety??

We also saw another new flower to us - Prince's Pine.

Prince's Pine

Normally on the Waters Creek trail you hear the creek as the loop follows along in the shaded canyon and eventually crosses the creek on the return segment.  However the creek today was dry - which means there was no Water in Waters Creek.

Waters Creek without water

The combination of these two hikes gave us the chance to take in some more wildflowers before they are all spent and allowed us to enjoy forested areas, meadows, and creeks (with and without water).  If you haven't got out to see some wildflowers yet this year, you still have some time, but not much.  If  you are near Grants Pass or have the time to drive there, either one of these two hikes will provide you with some wildflowers and give you a good excuse to get outside and hike.

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol