Damnation Creek Trail

Damnation Creek is a 4-mile out-and-back from Highway 101 to a small rocky cove where the creek reaches the Pacific. You drop about 1,100 feet from the road and climb it all back on the return, so allow roughly 2½ to 3 hours before adding time for the forest or tide pools. If you want one hike that moves from old-growth redwoods through a ferny creek canyon to the coast, this is a memorable choice. If you want an easy beach stroll, pick something else.

The path climbs for its first 0.2 mile, then tips into a long descent through about 17 switchbacks. At the Coastal Trail crossing, turn right and look for the Damnation Creek path splitting off to the left shortly afterward. It is easy to keep walking along the coast by mistake. The largest redwoods are in the first part of the walk; the beach is the payoff at the bottom, not an early viewpoint.

Near Highway 101, the trail threads through an open grove of old-growth redwoods with ferns, tall huckleberry and rhododendron beneath them. The largest trees are near the start, where traffic noise still carries from the highway. After the Coastal Trail crossing, that sound drops away and the redwoods get smaller. Ferns and huckleberry continue along the slope. Rhododendrons usually flower from mid-May into June, though the blooms are scattered rather than one solid show.

The crossing follows an old stretch of Highway 101 used from 1920 to 1934. It is a brief oddity in the middle of a walk that otherwise keeps changing by habitat rather than by landmark.

Around the lower half, redwoods give way to Sitka spruce. The tread gets rougher, steeper and brushier, with a few slumped sections. It drops into a fern-filled canyon where you hear Damnation Creek before reaching it. The small bridges lower down cross side drainages, not the main creek. Keep watching the footing as the path approaches the coast; the last drop to the cove uses narrow steps cut into rock.

The end is a small, rocky beach beneath steep coastal slopes, with the Sister Rocks offshore. At a low enough tide, the shore can reveal pools with crabs, sea stars and anemones. Starting about an hour before low tide gives you time to look around. The beach is narrow and may largely disappear at high tide. Waves can surge onto the rocks, and the points north and south can leave you cut off by the incoming tide, so stay in the safe cove area and don't test the surf. For a photo, include some of the rocky shore with a sea stack offshore; a natural arch nearby can make the scale look strange in a good way.

This is a down-and-back route with the hardest sustained work saved for the climb to the highway. Lower footing can be rough or overgrown, and the final rock steps are steep. Pets are not allowed on park trails, though service animals are permitted. The trailhead is an unmarked highway pullout; see the parking directions before setting out.