Redwood National Park road closures.

Every Redwood road and its rules.

Redwood National and State Parks follow Highway 101 for about 50 miles between Crescent City and Orick, and there are no entrance stations along the way. The current conditions page lists roads and day use areas from south to north, and says any road or day use area it doesn't list is open. On its table updated September 10, 2026, every listed road was open. Bald Hills Road had hazard conditions from road damage, and Mill Creek Day Use Area had a partial closure on weekdays, open for day use on weekends with the gate locked each evening. The park says conditions can change quickly because of weather, road maintenance, wildfires, and other factors.

Open roads, and what can close them.

Howland Hill Road, in the north of the parks, is listed as a year-round drive. It's 10 miles long and mostly narrow. From Crescent City it turns unpaved after about a mile and a half, as it enters Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, and stays unpaved for about five and a half miles. In spring, crews often repair it after winter storms, and parts may close for short periods.

The Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway runs ten paved miles through Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, past thousands of acres of old-growth redwood forest, and any vehicle of any size can drive it. Allow at least 20 minutes without stops, and reach it from Highway 101 at exit 765 or exit 753. Bald Hills Road, easiest to reach from Highway 101 about a mile north of Orick, is open but has road damage, so drive slowly and watch for cars crossing lanes to avoid it. Visitors to Lady Bird Johnson Grove drive its first three miles, and NPS calls the Lyons Ranch Trailhead, 17 miles east of Highway 101, a good place to turn around.

Two smaller roads work differently. NPS's scenic drives page says Cal-Barrel Road, a short unpaved road off the parkway, is closed to vehicles during the winter season, though the conditions table listed it open in September. On Coastal Drive, the former route south of Alder Camp toward Carruthers Cove is closed to motor vehicles. The Coastal Drive Loop north of Alder Camp is open and mostly paved, with a one-way northbound section between High Bluff Overlook and Klamath Beach Road.

Fern Canyon: the reservation season.

From May 15 through September 15, each vehicle driving to the Gold Bluffs Beach Area for day use, to park at the Gold Bluffs Beach picnic area or Fern Canyon, needs a reservation. Reservations are only issued online, and there are no same-day reservations, only in-advance or day-before ones. Campers with a current Gold Bluffs Beach or Elk Prairie Campground reservation don't need one. Walking in isn't restricted: the James Irvine Trail from the Prairie Creek Visitor Center reaches Fern Canyon in about 10.4 miles round trip. For now the conditions page lists that trail as partly open: the easternmost stairs between it and Fern Canyon are closed for construction, and the western stairs still reach the Fern Canyon Loop. The NPS Fern Canyon reservations page has the booking details.

Go by that reservations page on dates. It, the Gold Bluffs Beach page, and the conditions table all give May 15 to September 15. The Fern Canyon trail page's details box and NPS's scenic drives page still say May 1 to September 30, and the reservations page is the one that runs the booking system. Davison Road itself is 8 miles of single-lane gravel off Highway 101, with two stream crossings that can get your feet wet pretty much year-round, and NPS recommends high clearance vehicles, especially after rain storms.

Bike and Hike Days and winter storms.

From October to May, the park closes the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway to motorized vehicles on the first Saturday of each month for Bike and Hike Day, and hikers, leashed pets, strollers, and people on all sorts of wheels take over the road. Applied to the calendar, that's October 3, November 7, and December 5, 2026, then January 2, February 6, March 6, April 3, and May 1, 2027. Plan a drive on the parkway for another day.

Winter also closes the parkway without a schedule. NPS says it is often closed for days at a time because of fallen redwood trees or ice on the road, and park alerts carry the current conditions. Our Redwood in winter page covers the rest of a winter trip.

How crowds follow the reservation season.

Redwood's crowd follows the Fern Canyon reservation season. April averages 43% of the visits of June, the busiest month. May, when reservations start on the 15th, is 68%, and June is the peak.

September, when reservations end on the 15th, still averages 76% of June. October, the first month with Bike and Hike Days, is 52%, and November 30%. So a late September or October trip gets Fern Canyon without a reservation and with smaller crowds, as long as you plan around the first Saturday. The best time to visit Redwood page weighs the months, and the October guide covers the first full month without Fern Canyon reservations.

RVs, trailers, and narrow roads.

Five roads are poor choices for big vehicles. Recreational vehicles, trucks, and vehicles with trailers are too wide for Howland Hill Road. Bald Hills Road isn't recommended for RVs or trailers: it's windy, narrow, and rough, partly gravel and very dusty in summer, and logging trucks use it. On Davison Road, the Gold Bluffs Beach page says recreational vehicles and vehicles towing a trailer aren't permitted, while the reservations page says RVs over 24 feet and trailers aren't permitted. The conditions table says Cal-Barrel Road isn't recommended for trailers and large vehicles, and the scenic drives page says motorhomes, RVs, and trailers are prohibited there. On Coastal Drive, the section beyond High Bluff Overlook isn't suitable for RVs or vehicles towing trailers.

The parkway is the easy one: any vehicle of any size can drive it. Our Redwood camping page lists campground RV limits.

Common questions.

Are the redwoods open right now?

The roads are. Redwood has no entrance stations, and the park's conditions table lists its main roads as open, with any road it doesn't list also open. Two rules apply on set dates: a vehicle reservation for Fern Canyon from May 15 to September 15, and the parkway's Bike and Hike Day closures on the first Saturday of each month from October to May. Check the NPS current conditions page for storm closures before you drive.

Can you still drive through the redwood forest?

Yes. The Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway takes any vehicle of any size ten miles through old-growth redwood forest in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, except on Bike and Hike Days and when winter storms close it. Howland Hill Road, a 10-mile road east of Crescent City, is another drive among the redwoods, but it's mostly unpaved and too narrow for RVs, trucks, and trailers.

Is Redwood National Park open all year?

Its main roads have no closing season on the park's table, and there are no entrance stations, though NPS's scenic drives page closes the short Cal-Barrel Road to vehicles in winter. What changes through the year is access: Fern Canyon needs a vehicle reservation from May 15 to September 15, the parkway closes to cars on the first Saturday of each month from October to May, and winter storms can close the parkway for days.

Is Redwood National Park open during a government shutdown?

Its roads generally stay open. The current National Park Service contingency plan says park roads, lookouts, trails, and open-air memorials will generally remain accessible to visitors during a lapse in appropriations. It also says parks will not provide regular road or trail condition updates, and that an area must be closed if access becomes a safety issue, such as weather or road conditions. The conditions table and alerts may not keep up, which matters most in winter storms.

Where these facts come from

Road status, the Bald Hills hazard, Davison Road stream crossings, Cal-Barrel Road's listing, Mill Creek, the Damnation Creek closure, the James Irvine Trail status, and the Caltrans pointers come from the NPS current conditions page (updated September 10, 2026); Cal-Barrel Road's winter closure, Coastal Drive, and the May 1 to September 30 window from the NPS scenic drives page and the NPS Fern Canyon trail page; the Highway 101 construction stops from an NPS park alert; the reservation window, who needs one, booking rules, the hike-in alternative, and Davison Road's length and vehicle rule from the NPS Fern Canyon reservations page (updated August 21, 2026); the other Davison Road vehicle rule from the NPS Gold Bluffs Beach page. The parkway's length, vehicles, exits, Bike and Hike Day, and winter closures come from the NPS Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway page; Howland Hill Road from the NPS Howland Hill Road page; Bald Hills Road from the NPS Bald Hills Road page; the 50-mile corridor and entrance stations from the NPS directions page. The Bike and Hike Day dates apply the park's first-Saturday rule to the calendar. The shutdown answer comes from the September 2025 National Park Service contingency plan posted on the Department of the Interior shutdown page. The road lines on the map are OpenStreetMap geometry between the end nodes of each named road, routed by OSRM (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); they show where each road runs, not its gates. 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.