Cathedral Trees Loop Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Prairie Creek Big Tree Trailhead
- End point: Prairie Creek Visitor Center Trailhead
- Hike type: Loop
- Distance: 3.3 miles
- Elevation gain: 205 feet
- High point: 285 feet
- Difficulty: Easy
- Seasons: All year
- Family Friendly: Yes
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: On some sections, like the Big Tree
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Hike Description
This loop takes you through groves of massive redwoods, many of them on lists of the “largest” or “tallest.” The star of the show is the Big Tree, a short walk from the trailhead, which at 28,619 cubic feet, is the 15th largest coast redwood. The tree also amazes with its 23 ¾ foot diameter, massive branches, and an estimated age of 1,500 years. In the vicinity are several other unlabeled champions, including Illuvatar, the largest tree by volume in the park, which earned international fame as the subject of a fold out composite photo in the October 2009 issue of National Geographic. This is a relatively flat hike that circles back up Prairie Creek. It is also, except during the summer high season, quite uncrowded once you leave the vicinity of the Big Tree. You can begin this hike at the Prairie Creek Visitor Center Trailhead as well.
Walk past the information kiosk, and take the accessible trail leading to the left. In short order, you’ll arrive at the Big Tree, where a platform has been built to keep admirers from compacting the soil around the roots. Take time in this clearing to gaze up in awe at the massive trunk. Several trails lead off from here, but to do the loop, look for the Foothill/Circle Trail sign and find yourself winding among more massive trees. At the junction with the Circle Trail, go right and cross a trickling brook among younger redwoods. When you reach the Cathedral Trees-Circle Trail Junction, head left on the Cathedral Trees Trail.
The trail ascends a slope past a redwood with “spiral” bark and then drops to a snapped-off giant with a towering secondary trunk. Traverse a sword fern hillside on a rooty tread before dropping to narrow gravel Cal Barrel Road. The trail resumes across the road, but first look for a plaque on a fallen redwood declaring your entry to the Declaration of Independence Grove. Switchback down twice to a bottomland of salmonberry and hazel thickets, coming to the Cathedral Trees-Rhododendron Trail Junction.
Stay on the Cathedral Trees Trail, and arrive near Boyes Creek. Maples, alder, hemlock, and salmonberry overhang the trail. You’ll pass a venerable bay laurel tree and also a few Sitka spruce. The trail continues past the junction with the Elk Prairie Trail, where the “accessible” section of the Cathedral Trees Trail begins. Hike through a leafy bay laurel copse, and then enter a grove of big redwoods. Keep left at the junction with the Foothill Trail, and cross a footbridge over Boyes Creek. Now alders shade the trail although there’s also an infestation of blackberry. The trail splits: one route is up and across the highway, while another passes under the road bridge over Boyes Creek. The routes merge on the west side of the highway and lead you to the Prairie Creek Visitor Center Trailhead.
If the visitor center is open, step inside and check out the displays. To continue the hike, go left if you're facing out of the visitor center and come to a large sign detailing various trail mileages. Walk to your right, and cross Prairie Creek on a footbridge built into two big redwoods. Other vegetation includes alder, bay laurel, evergreen huckleberry, and sword fern. At the Prairie Creek-Nature Trail Junction, go right for the Big Tree. There’s an imposing cathedral cluster of redwoods here, all rising from the same lignotuber.
Two colossi tower on your left as Prairie Creek runs to the right. This section of the loop passes through the Murrelet State Wilderness, and salmonberry, alder, and maple predominate in the riparian environment. You’ll pass through two hiker tunnels cut through a couple of downed redwoods and cross a footbridge. Then there’s a bridge crossing of Prairie Creek; a flow gauge measures the current below a small shed. A couple more footbridges take you to a bend in the creek and a massive salal-covered log. A hollow “fire cave” tree with a “secret” entrance presents a photo opportunity. Hike across a sword fern flat to a junction, where you’ll go right to cross the Newton B. Drury Parkway.
In short order, the trail takes you through a redwood grove to the clearing at the Big Tree, where you’ll meet up with the crowds once more.
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park (California Department of Parks and Recreation)
- Redwood National and State Parks Maps (National Park Service)
- Redwood National and State Parks: Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park
- Redwood Hikes Press: Redwood National and State Parks North
- National Geographic: Redwood National and State Parks
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- Restrooms, picnic area; visitor center and campground nearby
- No pets permitted
- Do not approach the elk!
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Cathedral Trees Loop Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Cathedral Trees Loop Hike
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- Hike the Parks: Redwood National & State Parks by John Soares
- Best Short Hikes in Redwood National & State Parks by Jerry & Gisela Rohde
More Links
- Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park (California Department of Parks and Recreation)
- Redwood National and State Parks (National Park Service)
- The Big Tree Loop (Redwood Hikes)
- Cathedral Trees Trail (All Trails)
- Cathedral Trees Trail (Hiking Project)
- My Favorite Redwood Grove: An Ancient North Coast Forest Where Time Stands Still (Save the Redwoods)
- Big Tree Wayside Walk (National Park Service)
- Big Tree – 15th Largest Coast Redwood (Famous Redwoods)
Contributors
- bobcat (creator)