Trinidad & Eureka
Our Days Spent Exploring Trinidad & Eureka, California | Hiking Trinidad Head | Hiking the Lady Bird Johnson Grove Trail in the Redwoods | Visiting Fort Humboldt State Historic Site & Humboldt National Wildlife Refuge | December 2025
We started today bright and early with leaving the rest area where we had slept and driving to the waterfront in Trinidad to spend our morning. Curtis had a meeting first thing, so I made us breakfast and we hung out in the van until he was done. We then went out for a morning hike on a loop trail around Trinidad Head. Unfortunately the trail to the lighthouse was closed today, but besides that we enjoyed our long walk and listening to the waves and some nearby sea lions that were just out of view.
When we made it back to the van, we started to discuss what our next moves should be. We kept looking at maps of roads through the coastal mountains into the valley, trying to judge which one would provide some good places to camp and to hike. By this point, we had been on the coast for almost 2 weeks, and I could tell Curtis was ready for the trip to be more mountain focused. And so we decided to make today our last official full day on the coast. We decided that to make the most of it, we wanted to do one more hike in the Redwoods, and then enjoy one last sunset on the beach.
We drove back North to the Lady Bird Johnson Grove trailhead and walked one last loop trail in the Redwoods. I tried to soak up every detail of this last hike to remember, and also so that when we would eventually visit Sequoia National Park that I would better be able to compare the differences and similarities in the forests. And then we drove back down to the coast. The clouds scattered in the sky were promising a good sunset, but we couldn’t have expected just how good it would be. It lasted so long, with the clouds reflecting bright colors — it was the kind of sunset that made all the evening commuters pull over on the highway to take in its beauty. It truly did feel like the perfect ending to our time on the Pacific!
That night, we returned to the same rest area where we had stayed the night before. The next morning, we drove back to Trinidad early for breakfast again, and then continued driving South to Eureka. We did some chores in town, got our first In-N-Out of the trip, and visited Fort Humboldt State Historic Site – famous for being one of General/President Grant’s first posts in the Army, and less famous for its role in the pacification of the coastal tribes.
For our last stop before heading East into the mountains, we drove to Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Here, we went for a walk around the wetlands, just to bird watch and enjoy what we assumed would be our last warmer, sunny weather for a while.
And that concludes our two weeks spent on the Pacific Coast on this trip. A road trip that I had long been hoping to take, both for the sake of revisiting places and seeing new ones. I felt like I was already becoming nostalgic for this time, even before we left. I’m so thankful for the beautiful weather we had for most of our time here, for all the gorgeous views, the trails we hiked, the wildlife we saw, and all the beautiful sunsets. I’m looking forward to the day when we can return to the Best Coast!
