Your Crescent City Vacation

Where the Redwoods meet the Sea

It is "Nature" at it's finest,with it’s famous "Crescent" shape harbor on the Pacific Ocean, flanked by Redwood Forests on three sides. It is guarded by the “haunted” Battery Point Lighthouse, a frequent stop for visitors and photographers alike.

Del Norte County literally means, "of the north". For the visitor, fishermen, camper, surfer, hiker, photography buff, bird and whalewatchers, its natural beauty really brings out the phrase, "paradise" too many.

Whether you prefer a quaint Bed & Breakfast Inn, a 4 star Hotel, family run Motels, Vacation Rentals or you are into camping or Rving. Choose from a hide away in the forest, or right along the beach .

What is your pleasure?

Perched on a cliff where you have a clear view of this rugged coastline of ours?

Or right in the center of things within walking distance to food, shopping, bowling and the movies?

You’ve come to the right place for your Crescent City vacation.

Fishing, surfing, wind and parasurfing,and beachcombing are popular past times.

The commercial boat basin and the docks, sometimes taken over by Harbor Seals and Sea Lions sunning themselves or flocks of sea birds make for some great pictures, but keep your distance from the sea lions-they are wild creatures and BIG.
Just north of the harbor on Highway 101 you will find the road is lined with several motels and restaurants.

OceanWorld allows visitors to experience sea life up close and personnal. It has a great gift shop.

You can't miss it with it's 10-12 foot tall Sea Lion Sculptures.

Turn on Front Street in downtown Crescent City at the signal and head west toward the Pacific Ocean and you'll pass "Beach Front Park", where each July 4th it is covered with exhibits, food booths and an open air flea market.

Walk through the center of a hollow redwood tree log. Or have a picnic at one of the tables near the restrooms.

Across the street, let the kid's play at ""Kid Town" a wooden park with slides, swings and a wooden castle, perfect for any pirates in your car to stretch their legs.


Stop at the "Fred Endert Municiple Swimming Pool"for a refreshing, heated dip, OR, take a picture of the kids sitting on the lap of every kids favorite; a giant Teddy Bear carved out of a redwood tree log.

Take Howe Drive south past the inside of the harbor to the "Marine Mammal Center" and gift shop, they just might be nursing a baby Harbor Seal back to health before releasing it back into the ocean.

If you stay on this street it will wind around to the entrance to the "B" Street Pier where fishing and crabbing are a regular daily event.

Adjacent to the "B" Street Pier around the corner at the south end of "A" Street is the parking lot where whalewatchers, photographers and locals regularly visit

the ""Battery Point Lighthouse" at low tide. Folklore claims it is "Haunted". Tours are available see the schedule for days and times. It changes with the seasons. But you can hike up the hill to the lighthouse any day at low tide. A "must see" on your Crescent City Vacation

To follow the coastline take any numerical street west to the cliffs which eventually turn north on Pebble Beach Drive and follow the water to the intersection of Wahington Blvd which will return you east to the Hwy 101 freeway.

At the end of 9th street is another park with swings, and slides. At the intersection of Pebble Beach Dr. there is a flag pole and memorial marker at the "Brother Jonathan Memorial" for the jewel laden merchant ship the S.S. Emmideo which sunk after running aground on the reef during a storm.

At the north end of Pebble Beach Dr. if you turn left and follow that to the end of the road you'll come to a parking lot at the Pt. Saint George overlook, this building you pass is now a private home.

The Lighthouse is out at sea but flights can be chartered at certain times of the year.

People park in this lot and take walks north over the bluffs to the beach that comes down the coast from the area near the town of Fort Dick at Kellogg Beach past the outlets for Lake Earl and Lake Tolowa. It can get quite windy, so be sure to have a jacket handy.

Surfers have a special spot at the base of these bluffs and ocean surf fishing is also quite popular here.

This is also the parking lot where each April people gather at the crack of dawn just northwest of downtown Crescent City to stare in amazment and aah the sighting of thousands of birds taking off at daybreak from the surrounding fields at Point St. George. So popular it had now become an annual event with the "Aleutian Geese Festival." The misty, rugged North Coast is stark contrast to the sunny, sandy beaches around the southern cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.

Your Crescent City Vacation offers wonderful back to nature adventures and sightseeing within the Del Norte Coast Redwood State Park and the Jedediah Smith Redwood National Park.

Stop by the Visitors Center on the ocean side of Front Street and the Redwood National Park gift shop at 1111 2nd St. which offers brochures of park trails and seasonal activities are available.


Endert's Beach Rd., at the base of "Last Chance Grade" as locals call the mountain between Crescent City and the town of Klamath, ends at a scenic overlook and is the end of the Damnation Creek Trail you passed or will pass on top of the mountain as you travel Hwy 101.

It has beach access, tidepools and a public restroom at the sea level parking lot, even picnic tables. There are miles of unspoiled beach for hiking, skim boarding and surfing.

Take Elk Valley Rd. off Hwy 101 s. near the harbor to Howland Hill Rd.

This road leads past one of the two popular Indian Casinos in our area and leads into the Stout Grovein the Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park.

This narrow dirt road follows, yet at a distance,the course of the south fork of the Smith River east toward Gasquet winding between the massive trunks of old growth redwood trees it is not suitable for RV's or trailers, but any cr or truck shouldn't have a problem.

Sunlight filters through the towering canopy and there are several pulloffs where you can park and take one of the trails back into unspoiled nature forests. these side trails lead deep nito the forest on either side of the dirt road.

Waterfalls and year round streams, handmade bridges and plenty of ferns, wild rhododendrons and other flora will take you back in time.

Don't forget your jacket and camera. Even though Stout Grove is back from the ocean in the mountains and in summer the Hiouchi and Gasquet area are much sunnier and warmer than the coast, it can be chilly underneath these giants redwoods.