Lady Bird Johnson Grove Trail

Lady Bird Johnson Grove is a 1.5 mile loop from the Bald Hills Road parking lot, crossing a hikers’ bridge to a gentle interpretive circuit through an upland redwood forest. Allow about an hour if you stop at the numbered markers. The walk begins with a short approach to the grove loop and returns over that same access; that extra walk appears to explain why the park’s south-trails table also gives a one-mile figure. The mapped grove circuit itself is about 0.9 mile, while the complete parking-to-parking route measures about 1.4 miles.

This is an easy walk with small rises and dips, not a strenuous climb. I’d choose it for a well-marked, self-guided first look at an upland redwood grove and a bit of park history. If you’re after the largest lowland trees, this grove is more restrained: shrubs close around much of the path and limit long views. The open stand beyond the Berry Glen junction is the exception and the best place to slow down.

The signed lot is about three miles up Bald Hills Road. The road is narrow and winding, with few places to turn around; NPS advises against bringing RVs, buses or coaches, and vehicles towing trailers, and they cannot use the small trailhead lot. The lot often fills during summer from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Roadside parking is prohibited, so plan to arrive outside that busy stretch rather than count on finding a shoulder space.

Cross the footbridge over Bald Hills Road to begin. The bridge is sloped, and the park does not classify the route as wheelchair accessible. Dogs are not allowed on park trails. Cell coverage is very limited, so download the NPS numbered-stop tour before driving up if you want to use it along the way.

The first stretch follows a former roadbed through huckleberry and salal, with a few larger trees among the second-growth Douglas-fir near the parking area. It climbs slightly, then eases downhill. Beyond the bridge, the forest changes quickly: this grove was never logged, and the old trees stand in a thick understory rather than in a wide-open parkland. Follow the numbered markers around the loop; at the Berry Glen junction, stay on the grove circuit instead of taking the separate connector trail.

About half a mile from the start, a plaque and benches mark the dedication clearing. Redwood National Park was established in 1968, as clear-cut logging had reached the hills around the original park boundary. This small opening made a natural place for the park’s dedication ceremony. The following year, President Richard Nixon dedicated the grove to Lady Bird Johnson for her conservation work. The path across the clearing follows an old roadbed that once formed part of Bald Hills Road; the rest of the loop was added in 1973.

Just beyond the Berry Glen junction, look for the relatively open stand around interpretive post 9. Large trunks rise above a lush fern floor there, giving you a better view of the trees than the shrub-lined stretches before and after it. For a photo, include the whole trunks with ferns along the bottom of the frame; a tight bark close-up misses the scale that makes this part worth stopping for.

After that opening, huckleberry and rhododendron close in again and screen longer views. This is an upland grove, about 1,200 feet above sea level, so the trees feel different from the big lowland stands: the payoff is the shift in forest character, the quiet roadbed and the occasional open pocket, rather than an uninterrupted view of giant trunks. The west-facing slope tends to catch more fog than lowland groves, which can make the forest feel especially enclosed when mist settles in.

Rhododendrons and azaleas add color in spring; bloom reports vary from May into mid-June, so the exact week changes. Past the final numbered stops, the path rejoins the ridgetop roadbed. Turn left to retrace the approach and cross back to the parking lot.