The old growth runs a hundred and fifty miles up Highway 101. Where you sleep decides how much of your holiday you spend driving — so this is the honest comparison first, and our houses second.
Corridor
~150 miles
Bases
Five real options
Our houses
Four
Book
Earlier than feels necessary
A stay at Baywood puts Arcata, the coast, and the northern redwood parks within reach.
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Every guide tells you to stay near the redwoods. That is not much help when the redwoods are spread across three hours of driving. Here is what each base actually costs you.
Base
Northern parks
Avenue
What you get
Arcata & Bayside
≈ 1 hr
≈ 1 hr
The midpoint, and the only base with a real town around it — restaurants, groceries, a Saturday farmers market, a city-owned redwood forest, and Cal Poly Humboldt. Twenty-five minutes to the coast. You are not in the old growth, but you are an hour from all of it.
Trinidad
≈ 40 min
≈ 1 hr 25
Beautiful, right on the water, and closer to the northern parks. Very small — limited food, limited rooms, and you will drive to Arcata for anything you forgot.
Orick
≈ 15 min
≈ 1 hr 45
Closest to Fern Canyon, Prairie Creek and the Tall Trees road. Almost no services at all. A base for people who want the trailhead and nothing else.
Eureka
≈ 1 hr 15
≈ 50 min
The biggest town, the most hotel rooms, and a Victorian old town worth an evening. Slightly further from everything, and it does not feel like a redwood trip.
Southern Humboldt
≈ 2 hrs
On it
Garberville, Redway, Miranda, Myers Flat — and the Avenue itself. The right base for the southern groves and Richardson Grove, and a long way from the national park.
Our homes
Four houses on the corridor
Two in the south beside the Avenue, one on the coast at Shelter Cove, one in the north by Arcata. All built for groups, all with a guidebook written for that house.
North · Bayside, near Arcata & Cal Poly Humboldt
Baywood Redwood Retreat
Tri-level and newly renovated, backing onto the Baywood golf course with second-growth redwoods behind and room for sixteen. Twelve hundred square feet of patio brings together an outdoor kitchen, a gas fire pit that seats ten, a seven-person hot tub, and four hundred feet of string lights. Up a short trail behind the house is a hammock deck with panoramic views. Quiet enough at night that you will hear owls, three miles from dinner in Arcata.
Panoramic views over the Eel River Valley and the mountains beyond. Hot tub, and an outdoor kitchen built around an Evo grill — the deck is where everyone ends up, whether that is morning coffee or watching the fog move up the valley after dinner.
Tucked into the redwoods and built for a group, minutes from the old growth. The base camp for the Avenue — Founders Grove, Rockefeller Forest and the drive itself are all close by.
Four storeys and 3,300 square feet on the bluff, sleeping twelve. Radiant floors you will appreciate after a day on the beach, a covered patio with a hot tub, and a fenced turf lawn set back from the water — which matters with small children. Room to park a boat out front, and a short walk down to the black sand.
A guidebook comes with every stay — the trails worth the drive, where to eat, and how to spend each day, written for that home.
Check-in details arrive before you travel, with directions off US-101.
Questions get a real person. Before, during, or at 9pm when something is not working.
Practical
Booking a redwood trip
Book earlier than feels necessary. There are not many beds in this county. Summer weekends, holidays and graduation weekend at Cal Poly Humboldt go first.
Two nights minimum, honestly. Everything here is a drive. One night means most of your stay is the road.
September and October are the local’s answer. Clearest skies of the year, summer crowds gone, and the trees do not change.
Check what is open in the off season. Restaurant hours contract sharply outside summer, especially in the small towns.
Confirm pet policies directly. They vary by property and change.
Groups do better in a house. From about six people, one house is usually cheaper than three hotel rooms and considerably easier.
Cell service is patchy everywhere. Sort accommodation before you leave the highway, and download your maps.
