Redwood National Park

Love it!

Great shot!

Very nice. I like the composition. It's almost like you're looking through a window for the background.

I like this park, too, but not in my top 5. Mike, have you been to the Utah parks?

I'd call this "This way and that way". Nice

Looks like tree lover's paradise. Nice shot.

sparker1 wrote in post #11021751
I like this park, too, but not in my top 5. Mike, have you been to the Utah parks?

Yep. Nice parks, but I prefer more water and wildllife.

Mike55 wrote in post #11019457
I fell in love with this park. Shot right to my top five.

First time there?

Or just a fondness that has grown?

If you get to that park enough, we may cross paths. I drive down about every 10 weeks on average.

First visit and floored. I found the forest overall to be more interesting than Kings Canyon/Seqouia, and I was blown away by the wildlife species interaction on the beaches.

I'd move to Eureka in a second if I could, lol.

Mike55 wrote in post #11025342
First visit and floored. I found the forest overall to be more interesting than Kings Canyon/Seqouia, and I was blown away by the wildlife species interaction on the beaches.

I'd move to Eureka in a second if I could, lol.

One couple in particular, who travel around the world, but others too, have mentioned that they find the coast redwood forest the more magnificent as an entire. I'd move down that way too if I could start out all over again. Probably Brookings, Oregon, maybe Trinidad or Arcata in CA.

The past few years, I've been discovering that there are magnificent spots in the heart of the parks where virtually nobody goes. Many photographers repeat popularly seen sights. But it seems that very very few explore for hidden scenery. It almost has to be done as a duo, with someone else. And a GPS or compass to get out.

But even the well-known sights are impressive and abundant.

I bet there's just so much to explore. And the decent weather there makes it all the more doable.

It's funny, you hear so much about "the northwoods" of the midwest, but almost nothing about Northern California. I was blown away by not just the forest of Redwood country, but the forest around Lassen and Shasta too. Northern California knocked me on my tail. Just hundreds of miles of nothing but forest and volcanic peaks, and then the coastal redwoods. This stuff makes other over-hyped areas look sad in comparison, and no one ever really even talks about it. Lassen barely gets visitors compared to other parks.

Great country there, just spectacular. I put the area in my top five easily, along with Grand Teton, Glacier, Yellowstone.

What's your top 5?

We visited Yosemite a few years ago and it instantly became one of my favorite places on earth.

1. Glacier NP, Montana
2. Gallatin National Forest, Montana
3. Grand Teton NP, Wyoming
4. Redwood NP, California
5. Yellowstone NP, Wyoming/Montana
6. Bridger-Teton National Forest (Wind River Range, etc), Wyoming
7. Flathead National Forest, Montana
8. Lolo National Forest, Montana
9. Lassen Volcanic NP, California
10. Bitterroot National Forest, Montana/Idaho (Selway Bitterroot Wilderness, etc)

I'm not big on Yosemite. Not enough water for my tastes, too hot and way too crowded. I will say that some of the views in that park are mindblowing. I tent 100% of the time and I also found the style of camping and the campgrounds there to be not quite right.

Glacier IMHO does everything, and does it well. There's nothing one dimensional about it. I think the wildlife is better than in Yellowstone along with the scenery. The park is filled with water and there's a ton of wilderness. The "wow" moments there reach above the other parks. Jsut when you think Glacier can't get any crazier, it does.


On the last night this year in Glacier I remember sitting on the bank of a quiet lake. At each corner of the lake was a moose calf and cow(three pairs in total). A blue heron was feeding on the north end, and three deer played and splashed on the west end. On the cliffs above the lake were a momma grizzly and two cubs. A thousand feet northeast of the bears were about eight mountain goats, one of them with a kid. As I sat there in awe of the majestic forest, mountains, numerous visible waterfalls and all the wildlife, I thought "nothing can top this." And immediately, in typical Glacier fashion it was topped. I heard bushes cracking, and one of the moose calves and cow skitted away. A giant bull elk 8x8 emerged from the bushes, leaned its head back and bugled, then drank, bugled again and walked back into the brush.

You won't see that in any other NP in the lower 48.

My top 5:
1. Arches
2. Zion
3. Bryce
4. Canyonlands
5. Canyon de Chelly

All those trees in the parks above hide the beautiful landscape.