Redwood Park

Fun and different children’s playground. Plenty of room to play. Picnic tables, open grassy area to play frisbee or sunbathe on a warm day. Several trails leave from the park and take you thru tall redwoods. Some are favorite mountain biking trails, others are single track that mostly hikers enjoy.
You may be fortunate enough to meet some local color at the park. People who look a bit disheveled and perhaps made their home in a tree last night. Most are completely harmless. Consider yourself lucky to experience true Arcata culture. Share your lunch or lunch money and you will make a friend for life.
Redwood Day Camp bases out of this park in the summer, so you may experience large quantities of children when school is out.

I grew up going to this park in the ‘80s, playing Red Rover, digging with the manual back-​hoes, and hide-​and-​seek along the redwood trails. Best park I’ve ever been to! I look forward to bringing my kids here in the future.

This park within the Arcata community forest is one of the things that makes our little burg such a cool and wonderful place to live.
The park entrance is accessed by following 14^th street east until it runs into the park entrance at the Union street T intersection. Just follow the road straight across and up through the redwoods to the parking area. It’s tight and small, usually packed but well worth the effort if you can snag a space.
The park has maintained trails that run through, up, down and over into the forest and drop down into the center open grassy area.
We have spent hours walking through this beautiful and amazing forest. As you wander under the massive redwoods, some old growth, secondary growth, and unbelievably huge stumps literally covering acres and acres — it’s like taking a step back in time once you enter the canopy of the forest. Climbing skyward in many places well over 200′ up to the tree tops. You realize really how small you are standing under them.
Huge ferns, the occasional bench to sit, seasonal waterfalls in the bottoms, wooden timber bridges and some really cool cut outs to climb up and onto — it’s a place for kids both young and old to enjoy.
This amazing park within our magical forest is just one more reason why we live in such a cool place.
There are not enough stars on the scale for this community treasure.
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I think this is the most beautiful park I have ever been to. I haven’t been there for over a year, but I still think about it. We were lucky enough to go back again recently, and it was a great as I remembered.
The scenery of the giant redwoods surrounding the park is so beautiful and relaxing. The playground is also really fun. There is a wooden jungle gym area with slides, monkey bars, etc., but our favorite part is on the other side of the divider with the swings that go super high, the super high metal slide, and a twisting ladder arch.
It also has a huge picnic table area that could accommodate a lot of people.
This park is so amazing that I have to give it 5 stars, even though it lacks a good bathroom. It still only has a portable outhouse. :(
I wish this park were closer to us.

Amazing that this park with numerous trails is just a minute’s drive from downtown. We did a short walk with our 2 year old and she enjoyed it. The scenery with huge trees and lush green plants is beautiful. There is also an open grassy field and a playground. My toddler enjoyed the playground quite a bit complete with infant swings and bug kid slides. The people were friendly enough. The downside is that there are no flushable toilets, just porta potties.

This was one of the only redwood parks I could find in No CA that would actually allow (leashed) dogs on a trail. It has lots of incline for a great cardio workout. Gorgeous ferns and tree canopy made for the perfect hike!

We went because we heard there was an off leash dog park, there is not. GO THERE! We soooooo enjoyed our hike through the Redwood grove. It felt like we were in a cathedral!

Huge park, free to park, jungle gym for kids, basketball hoops for everyone to use, many places to hike, towering redwood trees… seriously, how does anyone give this place less than it deserves (five stars)? This is one of the best places I’ve been.

I just love this park… it makes me happy. It’s a hidden treasure in Arcata. The park has excellent playgrounds for the kids and a wide open space right in the middle. There are also some great group amenities available by reservation. But the best part is the absolutely awesome community forest. So many memories in this park from college.

Nice little park for when the weather is good, playground is nicely kept up, trails are awesome. Tends to draw some homeless, but they are mellow & the police are up there quite often keeping things under control.

Play, Hike the Redwoods and Meet Fun Going Travelers
Drive to the end of East 14^th Street past HSU and drive into this lovely city owned forest and park which is a complete slice of Arcata life. Around the parking lot you may see a gathering of «travelers» who although camping is not officially allowed here, seem to have a lot of sleeping bags for the afternoon.
The park has a large grass meadow, just be sure not to trip over a stray jacket or backpack if you want to play a game of frisbee here. There are picnic tables and a BBQ area which can be reserved and a fun playground. From the park you can access a number of hiking trails into the Redwoods. I would recommend trail #1 as it’s a nice half mile loop through the trees, over a couple small bridges and an easy hike for kids.
You can see a bit of everything Arcata here from horses, college students working on an art project, families, to a guy smoking out and carrying a large whiskey bottle.
Dog Friendly — Four paws for a dog friendly large grass meadow and on-​leash trails into a shaded forest with lots of burnt tree stump caves to sniff and crawl into.