From the Grove of Titans to The Beach

From the Jedidiah Smith campgrounds it's a 6 mile (one way hike) through the Mill Creek trail. It's a pretty easy hike, but the views are breathtaking. I will never forget the moment I seen the lost monarch. This tree is 320 feet tall It was so big that I thought it was perched on a mountain on the other side of the creek, but as we approached I realized it's base was at ground level. We also came across the screaming titans which was certainly a sight to see. This is a twin redwood, two giant trees fused together. For this reason it is not ranked with other single trees in the top 50 largest redwoods, but it's clearly one of the largest (or two of the largest). 

Later that day we went to the Mill Creek campground and hiked the Damnation Creek trail which takes you directly to one of the most beautiful beaches. It is, in fact, a really nice trail, with an 1100-foot elevation drop to add a little challenge, but I soon found out that the real issue was hiking back up. I had already hiked 12 miles earlier through the grove of titans, so it made the climb up more challenging than I expected. The trail was only about 4 miles total. I hiked and walked a total of 17 miles on this day, and it was worth every single step of it. My recommendation, take a little more time off than we did. Squeezing the grove of titans and the Damnation trail in one day is doable, but you will want to take your time. Both places are certainly bucket list material.