Redwood Creek Overlook

Redwood Creek Overlook is a roadside viewpoint on Bald Hills Road, east of Orick and a few miles beyond Lady Bird Johnson Grove. It opens up a broad look at the Redwood Creek valley, forested ridges and, on a clear day, the Pacific. Keep it on a Bald Hills drive if you want to see how the park’s forest changes across the valley. Fog and low cloud can hide the ocean and far ridges, so check visibility before taking the longer drive up.

Look for the color bands below: dark green old-growth redwoods and lighter second-growth forest stand side by side. Interpretive panels pair that view with historic logging photographs and an explanation of restoration work since the late 1970s. For a photo, include both forest shades and leave room for the valley and ocean beyond; the contrast tells more of the story than a tight shot of trees.

When the park expanded into the Redwood Creek watershed in 1978, about 38,000 acres of the acquired land, roughly 70 percent, had been heavily disturbed by timber operations. The area also came with 415 miles of failing or abandoned logging roads. Landslides from those roads sent sediment into streams and damaged coho salmon habitat. Restoration has treated or removed more than 250 road miles, while about 100 at-risk miles remain. The patchwork below is both ancient forest and a landscape still recovering from industrial logging.

The picnic table is part of an art installation for the national Poetry in Parks project. The 24th U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón selected Francisco X. Alarcón’s “Never Alone” for this spot. It’s an easy detail to miss if you step out only for the view.

The signed turnoff is about a mile north of Orick on U.S. 101. Bald Hills Road is narrow, winding, rough and partly gravel; RVs and trailers are not advised. The overlook is a roadside stop and does not need the separate free permit required for the Tall Trees Trail farther along the road.

There’s auto parking, a picnic table, interpretive panels and a vault or composting toilet. Bring extra water on summer days: the open Bald Hills can be much hotter than the coast.