Crossover Road Loop

The Crossover Road Loop is a roughly 14.8-mile circuit on gravel logging roads through the Mill Creek Addition of Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park. Plan on an all-day outing. The route links Hamilton and Childs Hill with Crossover, Rock Creek, 12 Percent and West Branch roads, then returns by Childs Hill and Hamilton. Its reward is a long look into a recovering watershed, not a destination viewpoint.

The mainline starts beside Mill Creek and runs level for several miles before a long, gentle climb. Crossover Road is narrower and less maintained than Childs Hill; the turn is unmarked and easy to miss. Later, Rock Creek Road gives way to 12 Percent Road, a steep 12-percent descent, then West Branch Road drops on an easier grade through a creek valley. The roads are mostly broad gravel tracks. Many timber-road junctions have no signs, and the correct line can be faint, so use a detailed GPS map; a wrong turn can add miles.

A small old-growth redwood grove sits on the steep hillside near the start, beside the former mill clearing and logging buildings. Crossover is the most forested-feeling stretch, with lush fir stands and pale trunks. A short side road reaches the Crossover 2 clearing, but the former watershed view is now largely screened by pines. Expect a quiet road walk among creeks, forest corridors and visible marks of past timber work, rather than big overlooks.

Mill Creek Addition covers about 25,000 acres. California State Parks says it was intensively logged from 1954 to 2000 and added to the park in 2002; a broad network of logging roads and skid trails remains part of the terrain being restored. Mill and Rock creeks flow toward the Smith River, a designated Wild and Scenic River.

Start at the large paved lot at Mill Creek Day Use Area, walk around the gate and cross the Mill Creek bridge to Hamilton Road. Public access to the addition is limited to weekends, and the gate is locked each evening. Dogs are not allowed on trails except service animals.