Why Crescent City:
Avelo flight credit that would become useless for me once they left the Burbank market. Using the flight credit and a promo code, I was able to find a perfectly timed roundtrip flight to Eureka for $6.49. Can’t beat that!
Having already been to the Eureka area two years ago with Maisie, I decided to head north to Crescent City. I visited Crescent City briefly on a road trip back in 2013 (during the very early days of the blog) but did not spent enough time to really experience the area.
October 10, 2025: A Lively Surprise
The flight from Burbank to Arcata/Eureka was uneventful and took 1 hour 20 minutes. Upon landing, I picked up my rental car and headed north along the 101. The drive to Crescent City took around the same amount of time as the flight.
Crescent City is in Del Norte County (pronounced Del Nort not Nort-ay as it was originally settled by Portuguese-speaking people from the Azores). Crescent City is the only incorporated city in the county.
I checked into my motel at 21:15 and then started to look for places to eat. Unfortunately, the vast majority of restaurants close at 20:00 and a few at 21:00. According to Google Maps, the only non-fast food chain open was a craft beer bar called Enoteca. Within seconds of stepping out of my car, I was approached by a tweaked out homeless man. He incoherently yelled at me but eventually wandered away. Yikes!
Enoteca was busy, as this was clearly the ONLY nightlife in town – meaning all sorts of people were here. I saw many older people, a few wannabe cowboys, a goth lesbian couple and much more. The kitchen was about to close but they stayed open to make me a blue cheese burger. The burger was $22 all-in but was INCREDIBLE. A band was getting ready to play so I decided to grab a beer and people.
At 21:45, the band started to play. They rocked out to 50’s and 60’s rock: think Johnny B Goode, La Bamba, Shout. They were led by a lady in her late 20’s dressed like a rockabilly guy with an oversized suit, her long hair gelled back. She was rocking the house – running up and down the stage, dropping to the ground and singing on her back, swerving the microphone stand around. The crowd loved it and everybody in the bar was dancing in their own special way. What a show!
At 10:30, the band finished, and the bartender yelled for last call. I headed to the motel to go to sleep.
October 11, 2025: A Big Day
After a good night’s sleep, it was time to see the area’s star attraction: the redwood forests. Just east of Crescent City is Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, home to some of the best coastal redwood groves in the world.
Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park along with Redwoods National Park, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park and Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park are all managed as a single unit run by the National Park Service. Paradoxically, the state parks are better than the National Park. That is because the State Parks were preserved decades earlier and contain the old growth forests. Redwoods National Park only came to be in response to overharvesting by the local logging companies during the mid-20th century and most of its land is now secondary growth forests.
Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park contains numerous hikes to see the world’s tallest trees. I started with a 5-mile Boy Scout Tree trail.
This out and back trail leads through the misty old growth redwood forests and eventually reaches the 2,000+ year old Boy Scout Tree. The tree is 238 feet (72 meters) tall and 23 feet wide.
I then did a 1.7-mile hike to the Grove of the Titans. This more-popular trail led to trees that are 323 feet (98 meters) tall. Life feels extremely insignificant next to these giants.
I then did a final 0.5 mile-hike in the Stout Grove.
Each hike did feel distinct, but the scenery is all very similar.
For lunch, I went to the Historic Hiouchi Café for an omelet. Who did I run into? The band from last night! They were on their way back to their hometown in Oregon. They recognized me and we had a nice chat. They were all dressed like lumberjacks which appears to be the standard in this part of the world.
For the rest of the afternoon, I decided to drive north into Oregon. The border was just 23 minutes from the café.
The first town in Oregon is Brookings and just north of it is reportedly the prettiest stretch of the entire Oregon Coast. Maisie and I visited the central part of the Oregon Coast last summer but missed this stretch. This area, known as the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor, is world-famous for being the live background for millions of Apple computers using the Mac OS Sonoma operating system.
I stopped at a couple viewpoints, but the most beautiful was a natural bridge.
I got some ice cream in Brookings and then stopped at the Crissey Field State Recreation Area, a beach that abuts the Oregon/California border. I walked over to the border, which is both the northwestern corner of California and the southwestern corner of Oregon. This place could not be more different than then southwestern corner of California on the coastal border with Mexico.
For dinner, I went to the SeaQuake Brewery, which did not exist when I visited back in 2013. It was THE place to be – there was a wait for tables. I sat at the bar and got some really good food and a flight of beer.
Exhausted from the half-marathon of walking, I went to bed early.
October 12, 2025: Southbound
Having seen the major attractions in Crescent City and north in Oregon, it was time to start the journey back to the airport for my 20:00 flight.
My first stop was the Trees of Mystery, a privately-owned forest sightseeing attraction. For $30, I got to walk amongst some twisty trees and see many wood sculptures. The highlight was undoubtedly the skywalk.
There is also a gondola that takes you to the top of a small mountain with views of the Pacific.
To me, the Trees of Mystery is not worth it. There is only one large redwood tree on the property and it seems silly to pay $30 when you can see bigger trees for free.
Just further south is the Klamath River. The Yurok tribe inhabits both banks of the river- their reservation extending 44 miles up the river. The river used to have one of the world’s largest salmon runs, but the creation of dams and pollution stemming from agricultural runoff stopped caused the salmon to stop coming. Recent efforts by the tribe have resulted in the undamming of the Klamath River. Salmon still can’t reach the headwaters in Oregon, but they have started to come back. The tribe’s efforts have been a major news story over the past few years.
On the reservation is the Tour Thru Tree, which as the name suggests, is a tree that you can drive through. There are three in California – I have now driven through all three!
At the mouth of the Klamath River is a small portion of Redwoods National Park. It contains a one-way dirt road with numerous scenic lookouts. Despite the name, no redwood trees here.
Near the town of Orick, I stopped for lunch at Mojo Pizza, a shack which weirdly had 500 Google reviews and a perfect 5 star rating. What’s the deal here?!
I pulled up to the shack and met the owners, Molly and Jordan. They came to the area to work in the marijuana fields, but after legalization, the industry became dominated by large corporations and wages dropped. So, they decided to pivot into pizza. They opened MoJo Pizza, which is a combination of their two names, in the summer of 2024.
Having lived in New York City, I can tell you that this pizza is the real deal. I think the crust had cornmeal.
To pass the time, I did yet another hike in the redwoods after lunch. There’s really not much else to do. Yes, its pretty but you can only see so many redwoods.
Near the town of Trinidad, I visited Sue-Meg State Park. The park has come coastal walks, but its unique feature is a recreated Yurok native village built in the 1990’s. The site has historically been used by the Yurok but it was a much simpler affair than the recreated village which has sweat lodges and is used for cultural events.
I had finally made it back to Eureka. I got dinner in the town of Arcata and then headed to the airport to fly home to Burbank.
Final Thoughts:
The redwoods are so beautiful and the ones up in Del Norte and Humboldt Counties are 50% larger than the ones in the Bay Area. There really is a difference.
That said, besides hiking through the redwoods and looking at the coast, there is basically nothing else to do. The hikes eventually blend together. The towns have little to offer. I was able to be social and meet people, but I think the average tourist could get lonely and bored.
Therefore, I would recommend spending no more than 3 days here and going with a friend.
I enjoyed seeing the stark difference crossing the border into Oregon. There seemed to be so much more life and energy in Oregon. However, there are no redwoods in Oregon (save for a single inaccessible grove).
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