Hiking Humboldt Bay

HIKING HUMBOLDT

Humboldt Bay is the eco-tourist destination of a lifetime. Whether you want to hike, bike, or drive, you can choose your own adventure. Our favorite hikes take you through old-growth redwood forests, fern canyons, and desolate beaches.

NEAR THE BAY

Explore 2,350 acres of second growth redwood forest on the east side of Arcata. The Arcata Community Forest offers trails from easy to challenging and is friendly to hikers, bikers and horseback riders. Even the most accessible trails immediately sweep you from the mundane world into a dreamscape of ferns, creeks and towering redwoods. Stop by Arcata City Hall for a map or print one from the city’s website. Our favorite loop starts by the playground and climbs through the canopy and creek beds on Trails #1, #2,#3 and #4 before returning on the easy graded #9. The 5 mile Elk River Trail in Headwaters Forest Reserve is a popular destination, but the majority of its users only enjoy part of the trail. The first mile is level and paved, making it easily accessible to bikers, skaters, and children. The next two miles are unpaved and have a very small elevation gain. You can stick to these first sections of trail and have an easy, breezy day along the South Fork of the Eel River. Or you can ante up and commit to the full 11 mile loop. After leaving those tricycles and dog-walkers behind, you’ll be enveloped by the cool quiet of the forest’s canopy. After a short, steep climb, you enter a loop trail through a beautiful old growth grove, and you’ll feel the redwood magic. The Humboldt Bay Trail system will eventually connect the Elk River to southern Arcata. Today, you can hike or bike from the south at the Hikshari’ trailhead along the Eureka waterfront all the way to Old Town and the Boardwalk. The wide, paved trail highlights the natural beauty of the Bay and brings you up-close and personal to Eureka’s complex identity as both an industrial waterfront and a preserved Victorian seaport.

NORTH

Wade through the creek and over footbridges through the verdant Fern Canyon. This can be done as an easy 1 mile out-and-back hike. It can also be linked with the John Irvine and Miner’s Ridge trails (our personal favorite) for a full-day of redwoods, ferns, creeks, and the most beautiful beach you’ll ever have to yourself. Bonus points for elk sightings. The trails through Lady Bird Johnson Grove is one of the most popular in Redwood National Park. The 1.4 mile loop trail crosses a beautifully designed bridge, offers views of the ridge-top redwood forest and feels very secluded. Also an excellent spot to take your requisite “me hugging a giant redwood” photos.

SOUTH

Some visitors to our redwoods only view them through their windshields. We prefer to actually leave the road and get up close and personal with our towering tree buddies. Doing so doesn’t always require a big commitment- the

Homestead and Big Tree Loop in Humboldt Redwoods State

Park right off the Avenue of the Giants delivers maximum bang for minimum hiking buck. The Big Tree Trail leads hikers through a grand, dense old growth grove along the creek. It crosses Mattole Road and follows the creek to Albee Creek Campground (If you’d like to stay the night, may we recommend site #25?). Take the lush, quiet Homestead Trail back to the Big Tree area to complete the 2.4 mile loop.

Left: Humboldt Bay waterfront, where the Trail will soon connect the Elk River to southern Arcata. Right: Fern Canyon.

PHOTOS BY DREW HYLAND