Lost Man in Tall Trees

Bandit Route













This is a hike and bike route. Not hike-a-bike! But rather … bike-hike-bike. What??!!!!

Yep, ride your bike to a hard to access hiking trailhead. Do the hike. Hop back on your bike, and ride back to the start.

The Tall Trees Grove hike – a commonly featured hike in travel magazines and blogs – within Redwood National park is not easy to access. To get to the trailhead by car, you need to get a permit, unlock & then re-lock the gate, descend a narrow, winding gravel road, do the hike and then drive the road out and open & lock the gate (again!!).

With a bike, a lock, hiking shoes and some fortitude you can do the whole thing with a lot less hassle. **Read More

The hike is ~ 4 miles in length with an elevation gain and loss of 800 feet. The grove itself, located on a thin strip of flat land alongside Redwood Creek, is rather small and narrow. In fact, there’s only about a quarter-mile of big-tree scenery, and the grove’s edge is always in sight. It’s an exceptionally beautiful place, though, with its own unique look: a reserved magnificence, with dark-trunked monster redwoods set among 5-foot-tall ferns and a dense understory of hazelnut and other small trees. A large break in the canopy over the nearby creek makes the grove unusually bright and cheerful. It’s much different from the extravagant lushness of Prairie Creek or the expansive brilliance of Jedediah Smith.[Redwood Hikes] The bike portion of the route is an extended version of the Lost Man route. The out & back dogleg to the hiking trailhead is at about the halfway point. You can find all the details of the loop section of the bike route in the Lost Man route description. The biking dogleg is a gated gravel road descending to the hiking trailhead. It is steep, winding, with a loot of tree canopy. We found the down and up to be a lot of fun …. and a bit of a challenge. There are no water stops along the way. We also recommend the use of a red blinky light for both Bald Hills road and Highway 101. An alternative start is the Lost Man Creek picnic area. This deletes about 9 miles and 450 feet of gain.

Lat / Long: 41.327335, -124.015588 We have classified this as a Bandit Route in that it is an extension of the Lost Man route. We have ridden this entire route, we have not done the hike. This is one of the first routes we documented at Dirty Freehub (2014). In the beginning we were not very good at taking pictures or writing a detailed route description. Thus, if you do ride this route and would be willing to share some pictures and intel with us, it would be greatly appreciated! Our email address is below.

Adventure / Gravel Route

– Tootsie Roll Wrapper: 43 miles / 5100 ft gain (excluding the hike)

– Surface: ~ 60% gravel, 15% (wide) single track, 25% paved

– eBike Friendly: No

– Location: ~ Northern California (Coast)

– Published: April 2020

Difficulty

Moderate+. Due to elevation gain / distance ratio exceeding 1.0.

When we like to ride this …

Our preference, is outside of the tourist season on a sunny day. Spring can be particularly beautiful.

The Start

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park visitor center.

Lat / Long: 41.363839, -124.023014

Downloads

Wahoo / Garmin Direct Download

Cue Sheet / GPX file / TCX file

Legend

Red = paved road

Brown = gravel / dirt road

Blue = single track

For help with GPS files, the RideWithGPs mapping app and to learn how to download our routes for free, see the “Using Our Rides” page.