Redwood National and State Parks

Coast redwoods are the tallest trees on Earth. One can grow about 367 feet tall, higher than a football field is long.

Summers here are dry. The redwoods drink fog that blows in from the ocean. Fog gives them about 40 percent of their summer water.

Roosevelt elk graze in the park's grassy prairies. They are one of the biggest members of the deer family. Stay back at least 25 yards.

When the ocean pulls back, it leaves tide pools in the rocks. Sea stars, anemones, and crabs live in these little pools. Look, but do not grab.

The Yurok people have lived by the Klamath River since time immemorial. The river gives them salmon to catch, and salmon are part of their food and traditions.

Inside an old-growth grove, soft green ferns cover the ground under the giant trees. The tall redwoods keep the forest floor cool and damp.

A banana slug is a slow, yellow slug that lives on the wet forest floor. It helps the forest by eating dead leaves and turning them into soil.

Fern Canyon is a narrow canyon with walls covered in green ferns. The walls stand about 30 to 80 feet high, and a small creek runs along the bottom. Bring shoes that can get wet.

The marbled murrelet is a small seabird that fishes in the ocean but nests in the redwoods. It lays one egg high in an old tree, on a wide branch covered in soft moss.

An old-growth forest is one that has grown for hundreds of years and was never cut down. Some redwoods here are 600 to 2,000 years old.