Reservation Availability

Established in 1922 and named after Friend W. Richardson, the 25th governor of California, the park is bisected by Hwy. 101 and the south fork of the Eel River. Camping, hiking, swimming, and just relaxing are popular ctivities throughout much of the year. Fishing for salmon and steelhead is during the winter.

Standish-Hickey began as a 40-acre campground acquired by the Save-the-Redwoods League in 1922. It was named to honor Edward Ritter Hickey local lumberman who died of influenza while caring for the victims of the epidemic of 1918. In the late 1950's, the Standish family donated over five hundred acres, and additional acquisitions through the years have brough the park's total acreage to 1,012. Much of the land, clear-cut and then burned over in a disastrous fire in the mid-1940's is just now regaining its former beauty.

In the early 1900s, loggers came to what is now Humboldt Redwoods State Park to cut down lofty ancient redwoods for grape stakes and shingles. The founders of Save the Redwoods League thought that was akin to “chopping up a grandfather clock for kindling.” From the acquisition of a single grove in 1921, the League has raised millions of dollars to build and expand this park. Today Humboldt Redwoods spans 53,000 acres, an area almost twice the size of San Francisco. About one third, or 17,000 acres, of the park is old-growth redwood forest—the largest expanse of ancient redwoods left on the planet. This park offers one of the best places to see redwoods by car in the entire North Coast region: the 32-mile-long Avenue of the Giants. Good stops along the way include Founder’s Grove, with its fallen 362-foot Dyerville Giant, and the California Federation of Women’s Clubs Hearthstone, designed by famed architect Julia Morgan.

Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park, located on the tranquil Van Duzen River, is a 400-acre gem of a park that has everything. The campground is set between the river and HWY 36, offering several sites with river frontage. With only 28 sites, reservations are highly recommended during the summer months. If you are interested in our group camp, please call the park directly. Grizzly Creek is also a very popular day-use park with many families returning every weekend from the surrounding areas to BBQ and swim.

MacKerricher State Park offers a variety of habitats; beach, bluff, headland, dune, forest and wetland. Tidepools are along the shore. Seals live the rocks off the park's Mendocino coast. More than 90 species of birds visit or live near Cleone Lake, a formal tidal lagoon. During winter and spring the nearby headland provides a good lookout for whale watching. The park is popular with hikers, joggers, equestrians and bicyclists. Fishing is also popular, with trout in two fresh-water lakes. The park has a wheelchair accessible nature trail.