The coast in California is a wonderland for any budding adventure seeker. One day, you can be swimming in glass-clear mountain creeks in the
dazzling Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, a “mini Yosemite” filled with ancient trees
, the next, gazing at the
dramatic Big Sur coastal views of Garrapata State Park
. Even further north, where the great redwoods begin to dominate the shoreline, there’s the 640-acre Sue-meg State Park. It may not get the same attention as other corners of the Golden State — California is home to
America’s most-visited national park site
, after all — but it’s a place where the forests crash into the roaring Pacific Ocean in grand, grand style.
Yep, Sue-meg offers up incredible hiking routes along precipitous cliffs, whale watching from the shoreline, and beaches of glinting gemstones. It’s also packed with camping options. In fact, there are three separate campgrounds, along with individual group sites and some more remote hike-in sites, all of which get popular with folks looking for a base that’s near the iconic Redwood National and State Parks, which are just 14 miles to the north.
Sounds like the sort of wild coastal escape you’ve been searching for? The park entrance is easy to find on the 101 Highway as it snakes northwards out of Eureka. The drive is about 40 minutes from there. The closest airport, the California Redwood Coast-Humboldt County Airport, is even closer to Sue-meg than the town. Touch down there, and you can be amid the coast pines and cliff trails in under 20 minutes after hopping in a rental car.
Read more:
The 5 Best Hidden Hot Spring Hikes In California
Hit The Cliff Trails And Pitch The Tent At Sue-Meg
Sue-meg isn’t all that large for a state park — it’s a whopping 135 times smaller than
Northern California’s largest state reserve, the wild, hidden gem that is Henry W. Coe State Park
. But size hardly matters when you have a cliff trail that’ll have you snapping photos at every bend in the path. It’s called the Rim Trail and it weaves around the headland here for just over 3 miles. Six detours from the main track lead away to various observation points on the coast, where you can survey seas filled with whales and roaring with huge swells. There are also short sections through untouched coastal evergreen forests and lookouts that gaze across ancient sea stacks.
The camping is the other great highlight of this salt-washed part of redwood territory. It’s a top option for folks who want to swap the busy Redwood National and State Parks — where reservations are always a good idea throughout the summer months — for something with a bit less footfall.
There are 120 campsites in all peppering Sue-meg’s clifftop meadows and forests. They each have the usual amenities: fire pits, tables, toilets, and coin showers. Options include the pint-sized Penn Creek Campground, the smallest in Sue-meg, where sites are tucked away under towering spruces. There’s the breezy Agate Beach Campground, hailed as the prettiest in the park for its proximity to the surf-bashed beaches below. Or there’s Abalone Campground, the largest, where you’ll sleep to the sound of swaying trees and crashing waves.
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original article on Islands
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