Portola Redwoods State Park

What a special place this was! A hidden jem of a state park. Every campsite was a good campsite. We did not have a reservation but read online that they accept walk-ins if there is space. We had such a hard time choosing a spot, because 1. there were so many available, and 2. we were choosing between great and really great.

The park had recently installed metal bear boxes for food at all of the campsites. But they were not for bears. Instead, the boxes were placed there to keep a very aggressive bird from eating too much and overpopulating. This aggressive bird eats the eggs of another bird which is in danger of going extinct. We went from keeping our food away from bears in Sequoia to keeping our food away from birds in Portola!

We drove here straight from Sequoia where it had rained on us. We hung up our wet hammock and dish towels to dry. Early in the morning, it slightly rained on us again. But this time all of our things were put away. As the rain dwindled to a soft drizzle, we took a beautiful and peaceful walk through old growth redwoods. The trail was just off of our campsite. Hot tea in hand, water drops randomly fell between the layers of branches above to the tops of our shoulders. There was a deep gentle silence in the air. All we heard was the stream nearby, the gentle rain, and birds on their morning commute.

Portola was one of the most beautiful redwood campgrounds I have ever stayed it. Let’s get to the pictures!

The drive down into the valley…