Parking
Use the marked pullout on Coastal Drive about one mile from the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway junction. Look carefully for the small Coastal Trail sign; parking is very limited for RVs and trailers.
Overview
About Carruthers Cove Trail
Why go
- A shaded old-road descent ends at a quiet cove with large surf-washed boulders.
- The short route reaches an open Pacific shoreline without committing to a long coastal walk.
Heads up
- The same steep grade has to be climbed back to Coastal Drive.
- The lower track can be rough, narrow, and brushy.
Map & elevation
The route
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
6 active Redwood alerts
- CautionU.S. 101 construction traffic controlsExpect construction-related traffic stops and one-way controlled traffic on U.S. 101; allow extra time and drive cautiously. - NPS reports multiple stops between Orick and Crescent City; delays vary.Official details
- CautionU.S. 199 construction traffic controlsExpect 24/7 one-way controlled traffic on three U.S. 199 segments because of construction. - 6–6.2 miles north of Gasquet: through 6:00 p.m. December 15, 2026; delays up to 10 minutes. - 9.6–9.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Redwood Tour Guide
Your drive to Carruthers Cove Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Redwood National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Redwood audio tourRecorded for this trailhead
Carruthers Cove0:00 / 0:23
“You're approaching the Coastal Drive access for Carruthers Cove, a beach reached on foot farther along the road.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Redwood Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- How Cold Water Feeds the Coast
- Ah-Pah Interpretive Trail
- Tallest and Largest
- The Anemone Under the Shells
- 85 audio storiesacross Redwood’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Black Bear, Elk, California Condor, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 83 trails, 48 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Carruthers Cove Trail
The short versionCarruthers Cove Trail is a 1.
Carruthers Cove Trail is a 1.5-mile out-and-back from Coastal Drive down to a boulder-strewn stretch of Pacific beach. The route follows about 0.77 mile of trail each way; it is steep on the descent and a sustained climb back. Allow roughly 1¼ hours with a short beach stop. The National Park Service lists 0.8 mile without saying whether that is one way or round trip, so I count the mapped road-to-beach route twice.
The trail itselfThe track follows an old skid road through a shady corridor of alder and coastal spruce, then…
The track follows an old skid road through a shady corridor of alder and coastal spruce, then the woods thin near the shore. This isn't a redwood-grove walk. Expect uneven ground, and a narrower, brushier section near the bottom; that stretch has also been described as eroded, with a slope close beside the path. The short distance hides a rougher hike than a stroll to the beach.
At the coveThe trail ends on a driftwood-strewn beach with large boulders in the surf.
The trail ends on a driftwood-strewn beach with large boulders in the surf. Take a little time here before turning around. Continuing along the shore toward Ossagon is a separate extension: passage around the boulders depends on low tide and low surf, and shifting sand changes how much room there is. That beach walk isn't included in this trail's distance.
Access, parking and rulesStart at the marked pullout on Coastal Drive, about a mile from the Newton B.
Start at the marked pullout on Coastal Drive, about a mile from the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway junction. The small sign is easy to miss. Parking is very limited for RVs and trailers; no toilets, drinking water, or food are listed at the trailhead. Ordinary pets aren't allowed on park trails, though service animals are allowed.
A bit of historyThe old skid road is a trace of earlier land use.
The old skid road is a trace of earlier land use. The National Park Service says Carruthers Cove was named for a former landowner who once published the Eureka newspaper. Watch and listen for Roosevelt elk and coastal birds along the way, but sightings are never guaranteed.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Redwood
256 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
2,389 sightingsElkMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
62 sightingsCalifornia CondorMost seen around 1 PMSighting map
60 sightingsCalifornia Sea LionMost seen around 11 AMSighting map
216 sightingsHarbor SealMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
13 sightingsMountain LionMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Redwood. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
