Hike of the Week: Mill Creek Trail, Jedediah Smith State Park, CA
Walk among giants on this quiet hike past the Grove of Titans and other 300-foot-tall redwood trees.
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Trail Facts
- Distance: 5.4 miles (out and back)
- Time: 3 hours
- Difficulty: 2 out of 5
Summary
Cash in on NorCal’s record rainfall with a walk through an eerily quiet, drippy redwood corridor. You may cross paths with other visitors in the first quarter-mile or so, but once you leave the Grove of Titans, you’ll have the other 300-footers to yourself. Rain also brings mosses, ferns, banana slugs, and sorrels.
Do it east to west from Stout Grove (41.7936, -124.0866), if parking allows (it should in winter). After the initial neck-craners, follow rain-swollen Mill Creek as it meanders below more redwoods and maples. The canopy is so dense in places that it feels more like a tunnel than a trail, as it deposits you to the turnaround point at Howland Hill Road.
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