Fog, flowers, elk, and footbridges.
This page covers Redwood National and State Parks: Redwood National Park plus Jedediah Smith, Del Norte Coast, and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Parks, managed together by the National Park Service and California State Parks. Muir Woods and Humboldt Redwoods State Park are separate parks. The rows come from NPS pages. NPS's rhododendron bloom page returned an error when we checked, so we don't publish a bloom date.
| Subject | Window | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Summer fog | Summer | NPS says that in summer, where cold ocean water meets dry land, a narrow band of fog seeps up deeply eroded river canyons, wrapping the coast redwoods in moisture during the drier months. Inland is generally warmer and sunnier (NPS weather page). Coastal temperatures stay in the mid-40s to low 60s °F all year. |
| Storm season | October through April | From October through April, a high pressure area over the North Pacific drives storms onshore that drop most of the region's 60 to 80 inches of yearly rain. In winter, NPS says the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway is often closed for days at a time because of fallen redwoods or ice. |
| Bald Hills lupine super bloom | Mid-May through June, some years | Every few years, a super bloom of purple, blue, and white lupine covers the Childs Hill and Williams Ridge grasslands in the Bald Hills, and it lasts 2 to 4 weeks. It isn't every year: NPS says a super bloom came in 1999, two years after a large prescribed burn in 1997, and again in 2009, two years after a 2007 burn (NPS riverbank lupine article). |
| Elk calving | Late May through June | NPS's Roosevelt elk page puts calving season at late May through June, when cows may be extremely defensive; its Fern Canyon page says late May to early June. Calves are born in grassy, open areas. |
| Fern Canyon footbridges | June to September | Fern Canyon is a mini-canyon of fern-covered walls along Home Creek, off Gold Bluffs Beach. From June to September, wooden footbridges help you get partway up the creek, but NPS says to plan to get wet anyway: you wade the creek and climb over fallen trees even when the boardwalk is in. The full loop is 1 mile with 150 feet of gain, and a quarter mile along Home Creek shows the steep, leafy walls. Check current conditions to see if the bridges are in (NPS Fern Canyon page); the conditions page listed 2026's as removed on September 10. |
| Elk rut | Late August through October | NPS's Roosevelt elk page puts the rut at late August through October (its Fern Canyon page says August through October), when bulls are especially irritable, and NPS says elk can be aggressive, especially in the fall mating season. Bulls carry their big antlers from late summer through winter. NPS names Orick, Elk Meadow, Elk Prairie at the Prairie Creek Visitor Center, and south of Crescent City as the places elk are most often seen, and a herd is often around Fern Canyon (NPS watch wild elk). |
| Car-free Drury Parkway | First Saturday of each month, October to May | From October to May, NPS closes the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway to motor vehicles on the first Saturday of each month for Bike and Hike Day. The 10-mile parkway runs past thousands of acres of old-growth redwoods in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park (NPS Drury Parkway page). |
Sunrise and sunset on the coast.
At the Thomas H. Kuchel Visitor Center, near Orick, the sun sets at 8:53 p.m. on June 21 and 4:50 p.m. on December 21, per the U.S. Naval Observatory. In rut season it sets at 7:15 p.m. on September 21 and 6:26 p.m. on October 21, and rises at 7:03 a.m. and 7:35 a.m..
NPS doesn't give a best time of day for fog. What it does say is that summer fog forms where cold ocean meets land and moves up the river canyons, and that inland is generally warmer and sunnier.
Crowds and Fern Canyon reservations.
June is the busiest month, at about 95,000 visits. July runs 96% of that and August 85%, and in the rut, September runs 76% and October 52%. December is down to 24%.
Driving to Fern Canyon from May 15 to September 15 needs a free Gold Bluffs Beach / Fern Canyon parking reservation, online only and never same-day (the Fern Canyon trail page's details box and NPS's scenic drives page say May 1 to September 30, so go by the NPS Fern Canyon reservations page). Without one, you can hike in on the James Irvine Trail, about 10.4 miles round trip from the Prairie Creek Visitor Center. Davison Road has two stream crossings, and low-clearance cars often get stuck; trailers aren't allowed, and NPS says it isn't suitable for large RVs. Gold Bluffs Beach charges a $12 day-use fee; see Redwood fees. Month tradeoffs are on the best time to visit Redwood page.
Elk, drones, and permits.
Give elk room. NPS says elk are dangerous, unpredictable, and can be aggressive, especially in the fall mating season, so always give them 25 yards (a quarter of a football field), whether you're at the roadside or on a trail, and farther in spring and fall. Near Fern Canyon, don't approach them for any reason. Use the pull-outs at Elk Meadow and along Elk Prairie. Around Orick, much of the land is private, so watch the park boundaries and highway traffic (NPS watch wild elk).
Redwood has no drone page of its own. NPS-wide, NPS says that for the most part, launching or landing a drone is prohibited in national parks (NPS unmanned aircraft page).
Permits: Redwood's permits page lists filming and photography, along with events and weddings, as activities that require a permit, and its detailed filming page was offline when we checked. NPS-wide, filming and still photography by eight or fewer people with hand-carried equipment usually needs no permit or fee, and commercial and non-commercial work is treated the same (NPS filming and photography permits). Ask the park before a larger or commercial shoot.
Winter changes access. From December to May, Redwood Creek runs high and fast and the footbridges across it are removed until summer. At any time of year, pets aren't permitted in Fern Canyon (service animals are exempt).
Common questions.
What are the best places to take pictures in Redwood National Park?
NPS doesn't rank photo spots, but it names a few places for particular subjects. Fern Canyon is its "stunning mini-canyon covered with ferns," best walked from June to September when the footbridges are in. The Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway runs 10 miles past old-growth redwoods, and any size vehicle can drive it. For elk, it names Orick, Elk Meadow, Elk Prairie at the Prairie Creek Visitor Center, and south of Crescent City. In super bloom years, lupine covers the Bald Hills grasslands from mid-May through June.
Dates, fees, and rules change. Confirm the current details on the official pages before you leave. NPS Fern Canyon reservations · NPS watch wild elk · NPS Drury Parkway · NPS permits
Facts on this page last verified September 10, 2026.
Where these facts come from
Fog, storms, rain, and coastal temperatures come from the NPS weather page; the lupine super bloom and its fire link from the NPS riverbank lupine article; Fern Canyon, its footbridges, the elk herd, low-clearance cars on Davison Road, and its calving and rut wording from the NPS Fern Canyon page; calving and rut seasons from the NPS Roosevelt elk page; the 2026 footbridge status from the NPS current conditions page; elk places, the 25-yard rule, calves, antlers, and pull-outs from NPS watch wild elk, and farther spring and fall distances from the NPS Roosevelt elk page. Fern Canyon reservations, the hike-in route, the day-use fee, and pets come from the NPS Fern Canyon reservations page, and the May 1 to September 30 window from the NPS scenic drives page and the Fern Canyon trail page; the Drury Parkway, Bike and Hike Day, and winter closures from the NPS Drury Parkway page; Redwood Creek bridges from the NPS Redwood Creek Trail page; permits from the NPS Redwood permits page and NPS filming and photography permits; the drone rule from the NPS unmanned aircraft page; co-management from California State Parks. Sunrise and sunset come from the U.S. Naval Observatory for 2026 at the Thomas H. Kuchel Visitor Center in local clock time. Pins are our OpenStreetMap routing waypoints; the park boundary is from the NPS boundary service and state outlines from the U.S. Census. Crowd numbers are five-year monthly means (2021 to 2025) of recreation visits from the NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package on NPS IRMA Stats. Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.
Independent site. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Park Service. Data comes from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025; editorial analysis is ours. The NPS Arrowhead and other NPS marks are not used.