Redwood Vacation Coast to Coast: Affordable
Continued from: Largest Coast Redwoods
About the few basic expenses. If you just want to know the best places for viewing or photographing big coast redwoods, see my other page Best Places to See Redwoods
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Copyright 2009 by Mario Vaden
Online, I see countless posts by people stating they would love to visit the redwoods someday. Many may not realize how inexpensive the vacation can be.
To provide an example, I investigated a few essential expenses to present here. For a basic week of self-guided redwood vacation hiking.
The best place to see redwoods are the north parks. Humboldt redwoods, Redwood National Park, Prairie Creek redwoods and Jedediah Smith redwoods: between Hiouchi and Myers Flat in California. Portland to Myers Flat is 464 miles in 8.75 hours. San Francisco to Hiouchi is 364 miles in 7.25 hours.
The times are close, and I based the figures below for folks flying to Portland. Interstate 5 to Grants Pass, and Highway 199 to Crescent City is fairly streamlined.
The plan below is for spending 2 nights at a motel in Crescent City. 1 night in a motel at the city of Fortuna and hiking a full day in Humboldt Redwoods. Plus staying other nights at the motel in Orick. Campground fees were raised in 2009 to $35: the difference between a campground site and a motel room is small. So how about looking at motels for the present. 2 people would slice some expenses in half. And some motels give group discounts, like the Comfort Inn in Fortuna.
Plane Ticket Hypothetical Atlanta, GA to Portland, OR. Searched Expedia.com. April 11 to April 18 in 2010. Least expensive was Midwest Air. 1 week
Automobile Rental Budget rental in Portand, Oregon, with unlimited miles for 7 days Fuel Round trip Portland to Myers Flat 924 miles. Economy car 30 miles / gal... 31 gallons at $3 each. Averaging OR & CA. Food Eat generously at restaurants 3 meals per day. 7 days at $40 per day. Lodging 1 night at the Comfort Inn in Fortuna $71.
3 nights at the Palms Motel & Cafe in Orick $165.
2 nights at the Curly Redwood Lodge in Crescent City $110VACATION TOTAL Edit 2021: a twist to numbers above, a random price check for Chicago O'Hare to Medford, Oregon International on Oct. 5th to Oct. 12th 2021 shows tickets as low as $261.00
Medford's airport is the closest to Redwood National and State Parks - only 2 hours away. Plane fare around $260 would drop the tally above (2021) to $1141.00 and $812.00
A notch up from the Palms Motel would be to stay in Trinidad about 19 miles south, or at a motel in Klamath, like at the Trees of Mystery 21 miles north. Very good freeways. Figure 1 mile per minute. Basically just 20 minutes away in either direction from Redwood National Park. Palms Motel is listed merely as a point of close proximity and lower cost. Its not a favorite. But the National Geographic crew stayed there, so it can get you by. Surely they picked it to shorten daily travel.
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From Germany or UK, it looks like plane fare begins around $900 for a special. That would raise the Total from overseas to about $1850 US dollars. That would be \£1155.00 UK currency.
Where to start and finish? For a trip like this, consider the first night at in Crescent City, because that would only add a 5.5 hour drive following the flight. Then hike at Jedediah Smith Redwoods the next day. It can make sense to go near Fortuna the 2nd night, and head back northward the following days, with the last night at Crescent City again, for a short drive back to Portland. From San Francisco, maybe begin and end in Fortuna. Prairie Creek and Redwood National Park have a lot to offer and miles of trails: good destinations to invest several days. For a first trip to the redwoods, motels are a fine option to streamline the vacation.
How about an RV? If you rent a big RV, unless you also rent and tow a small vehicle behind, you may loose quite a bit of time traveling on roads. And you will miss exploring at several destinations like Stout Grove along the narrow Howland Hill Road
Do you want a climbing experience? If you have an itch to climb tall evergreens, here are two choices to contact for details and cost. If the addresses change, let me know:
Pacific Climbing Institute of Eugene, Oregon ~ 208 miles NE of Jedediah Smith redwoods
New Tribe & Climbing Northwest of Grants Pass, OR ~ 72 miles NE of Jedediah Smith redwoods
Note !! these maps don't included Medford Oregon International airport which may be the best choice, only 2 hours from Redwood National and State Parks.
Maps to north redwoods - left, from Portland; right, from San Francisco
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