96 2024-25 TRAVEL GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA
B Y J O H N F L I N N
T
his should put things in perspective: The North Coast's
tallest building is only 77 feet tall, but its tallest tree, named
Hyperion, stands 379 feet tall. Until you've seen one up close,
it's hard to grasp just how neck-craningly high a coastal redwood
tree can grow. These 3,000-year-old arboreal titans—nature's
loftiest skyscrapers—grow in only one place in the world: a narrow
strip of fog-shrouded mountains along California's wild and rela-
tively unvisited North Coast.
The Redwood Highway
Old-growth redwoods are preserved in a chain of parks strung along
Highway 101, known in these parts as the Redwood Highway. In
southern Humboldt County, Humboldt Redwoods State Park strad-
dles the scenic drive known as the Avenue of the Giants. In
northern Humboldt and Del Norte counties, a cluster of parks—
Redwood National Park and Prairie Creek Redwoods, Del Norte
Coast Redwoods and Jedediah Smith Redwoods state parks—form
one contiguous redwood reserve.
NORTH
COAST
TOP CITIES
Mendocino, Eureka, Crescent City, Fort Bragg,
Garberville, Arcata, Ukiah, Cloverdale, Ferndale
DOMESTIC GATEWAY
The Arcata-Eureka Airport (EKA), 16 miles (26 km) from
downtown Eureka, has service from San Francisco and
other hubs, but no international flights
TOURISM WEBSITES
visitdelnortecounty.com
northofordinaryca.com
northcoastca.com
visitredwoods.com
visitmendocino.com
redwoodcoastparks.com
POPULATION
1,003,000
NORTH COAST
Beyond the redwood forests lies a land of Victorian
villages and picture-perfect fishing harbors
