Redwood National Park Things to Do

Across the beach from the overlook you will see the DeMartin House. This was a thriving ranch and dairy farm owned by Louis and Agnes DeMartin. Mrs. DeMartin was famous for her hospitality and her skills in the kitchen including baking great fresh bread. Over the years, numerous traders and others trekking along the coastal trails took advantage of the DeMartin’s hospitality. They were instrumental in the development and improvement of routes between Eureka and Crescent City, culminating in US Highway 101. In keeping with the tradition of hospitality the DeMartins were famous for, their house is now an American Youth Hostel, still providing lodging and rest to weary travelers from around the world.

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Not far north of Lady Bird Johnson Grove is Lost man Creek. The area along Lost Man Creek offers another slight variation on the environment of the redwood forest. The constant availability of water enables other types of trees and plants to mingle with the redwood giants.

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Here you see an area with a dense cover of ferns. This area was badly damaged by a fire. The ferns, like these Sword Ferns, are the first plants to inhabit these burned out areas. Along with grasses and mosses, they live and die enriching the soil for the wildflowers and low shrubs that sustain the roots of the Douglas Fir, the Hemlock and the Coast Redwood beginning the 1000 year cycle for old growth forests.

Redwoods do not die easily, and even after they do they provide life and safety to the forest. The trees frequently lean against each other and provide roosts for birds and food for insects. After they eventually fall they provide food for other land bound animals.

This area was clear-cut by the logging industry in the 1960s. Notice how much smaller these trees are and the absence of any of the real giants. Nothing was left here but the stumps of the trees. The forest is recovering though and will return to its natural state.

This hollowed out redwood is a fire survivor. The fire that helps clear out the underbrush frequently also kills the trees; but not the redwood. The thick bark of a redwood does not contain volatile resins like pines, and firs and its sap is mostly water. This makes the redwood more resistant to fire, however, fire can get through cracks in the bark and damage the more tender inner part of the tree. The hollowed out trees like this one provide important shelter for wildlife.

The scientific name for the Coastal Redwood is “sempervirens” which translates to “everlasting”. Some of these trees were here when the Mayans and the Aztecs flourished or when Marco Polo traversed the Asian continent.

There is a booklet you can buy that will tell you information about the trees and their forest. The information coresponds to numbers on the trail. The first stop is entitled Timeless. Walking through the grove it is easy to imagine the people who entered the groves thousands of years ago. Many of these trees have been here over 500 years and some as many as 2000. They are growing in nutrients provided by the previous generation of trees. How many people have looked up in awe at these 370 foot tall giants?