Camping and Hiking Big Basin Redwoods State Park

Well hello there!  The past week, my family and I were off the grid  and surrounded by God’s great beauty.  We were camping in Big Basin Redwood Forest near Santa Cruz, California.  Our family loves hiking, camping, and outdoor adventures.  We felt that it was a much needed trip before moving cross country to the mid-west.

Our boys have seen and camped under Redwood trees before… but not at Big Basin Redwoods State Park.  This was our first time at this state park.  We were excited to be out of cell service range (well my husband and I were excited about this), able to explore and climb on big trees, and just get dirty (well my boys were excited about this one).

Big Basin is California’s oldest State Park, established in 1902. Home to the largest continuous stand of Ancient Coast Redwoods south of San Francisco, the park consists of Old Growth and recovering Redwood Forest.

We went camping with my in-love’s who drove down from Oregon for the camping adventure.  It was nice to have the extra set of eyes and hands when setting up and breaking camp.  Also it was helpful for taking turns with distracting the boys and going off on adventures hiking, climbing trees, and even finding creeks to play in.

Hitting my daily goal (step and activity) on my polar loop is super easy when camping.  You are very seldom inactive and are always moving.  Whether you are trekking a mile just to use the restroom… or exploring a new hiking trail… movement is abundant when camping here.

We hiked the Blooms Creek Trail often as our campsite was off the trail.  We also hiked the Redwood Trail which was a super easy loop trail.  We saw the Mother and Father of the Forest trees.  These trees are presumed to be the tallest and largest in circumference of all the trees in this forest.  It was a pretty spectacular sight!

 

Yes, I know.  We are supposed to stay off the fence… but I couldn’t pass up on this cute photo opp of my monkeys by the tree.  Making memories and taking photos is what I love to do.

Camping for multiple days means dirty kids.  Dirty kids = happy kids.  My youngest loved being a little dust and dirt ball this whole trip.  He would just find a dusty/dirty spot and make a dirt castle while pouring it all over his lap and body.  Thank goodness he is cute… he was a complete dirty mess the whole trip.

Even though tent camping is a lot of work… it is always nice to see how much it relaxes my husband.  It is nice to unplug, unwind, and just relax while enjoying nature.  This is why we tent camp.  Making memories and finding time to unwind.  Perfect combination.

Yes, I was there too.  I really need to figure out a way to remember to get me in the photos as we go on these adventures.  Selfies are the way to go until I figure something else out.

The two older boys, my husband and I hiked the Sempervirens Falls Trail.  It was a 4+ mile hike from our campsite.  It was fairly flat and followed the road (which was a bummer).  However, we were able to see and get into thicker forest as we came across hike in campsites.  These were were the gorgeous campsites were, in my honest opinion.

For a little extra work of packing your gear in… you could enjoy privacy, trails, and nature galore!  It was gorgeous!

Because California is in a drought, the Sempervirens Falls was not as impressive as years past.  However, the trickle of water flowing down the falls was still a pretty sight.

Our last night of camping, we were greeted to a pleasant surprise.  My mother-in-love’s cousins (who live in Santa Cruz) drove over to have dinner with us.  The boys were super excited to see Big Cousin Jimmy again (he visited when we camped Portola Redwoods last fall).  It was great seeing family.

As always when you return from a trip, the day after vacation is busy.  I have spent the better half of my day doing laundry and cleaning up from our camping adventure.  It was well worth the extra work… and we are already planning on another camping trip next month.  We are hoping to camp Yosemite the end of September… we are praying the temperatures are not going to be too chilly.

Have you seen (camping, hiking or trail running) the redwoods?
Have you been to Big Basin Redwoods State Park?