Jedediah Smith Redwoods Day Use Area

Jedediah Smith Redwoods Day Use Area is a public picnic and river-access area on the Smith River, where old-growth redwoods meet a broad cobbled bank. It works as a break by the water, a small-boat launch, or the start of the walk toward Stout Grove. Follow the Jedediah Smith Campground entrance road to reach it; the day-use area is separate from the overnight sites. Parking, potable water, and a vault or composting toilet are here. Bring a picnic and give yourself time to sit by the river.

Clear water moves over cobbled banks under the redwoods. The river stays cool even when summer air gets hot, and some of the smooth serpentinite stones are slick underfoot. The Smith is a Wild and Scenic River: nearly 300 miles of its main channel and tributaries carry that protection.

The River Trail leads upriver from the day-use area to a seasonal footbridge across the Smith. It is usually installed from late June through late September, with timing that shifts with river flow. Across it, Stout Grove is a separate 44-acre old-growth stand with a short, roughly half-mile loop and a spur down to the river. Allow about two hours for the visit from here. When the bridge is down, the grove has a separate year-round approach from Howland Hill Road; that narrow, mostly unpaved drive is better suited to small cars and vans than large vehicles.

Stout Grove's name reaches back to the park's start. Frank D. Stout's family donated the first parcel for the park in 1929, and the grove became its first dedicated redwood grove. That makes the short walk across the river a chance to see one of the places tied to the park's early protection.

For a photo that feels like this stop, put the pale cobbles and river in the foreground and let the redwoods fill the far bank. A kayak on shore, when one is there, gives the broad water a sense of scale.