Prairie Creek Road Trip Day 4

### Day 4 – Sue-meg State Park Coastal Loop

Our final day takes us out of the deep redwood forest and onto one of the most dramatic stretches of California’s North Coast at Sue-meg State Park, formerly known as Patrick’s Point State Park. This will feel completely different from our first three days. Instead of spending most of the day beneath towering redwoods, we’ll follow forest and bluff-top trails overlooking the Pacific, with rocky headlands, offshore sea stacks, hidden coves, and waves crashing far below.
The park sits on a rugged, forested promontory that juts into the Pacific Ocean. A network of trails connects its overlooks and headlands, allowing us to create a beautiful coastal loop and see several of the park’s highlights on foot. Much of the route travels through wind-shaped Sitka spruce and coastal forest before suddenly emerging onto open viewpoints where the entire North Coast seems to spread out in front of us.
One of the highlights is Wedding Rock, a rocky overlook high above the ocean with sweeping views up and down the coastline. From here we can watch waves curling around the offshore rocks and keep an eye out for seabirds and marine mammals. Harbor seals and sea lions are sometimes spotted offshore, and depending upon the season, migrating gray whales can pass along this stretch of coast.
We’ll also explore the area around Patrick’s Point, where the coastline becomes particularly wild and photogenic. Sea stacks rise from the surf, waves explode against the rocks, and small coves are tucked beneath the cliffs. On a clear day the views stretch for miles, but even fog can be beautiful here, drifting through the spruce trees and around the offshore rocks.
Another fascinating part of the park is Sumêg Village, a recreated traditional Yurok village developed in cooperation with local Yurok people. The village includes traditional redwood plank houses, a sweathouse, and a dance house and provides an important reminder that this spectacular landscape has been home to Indigenous people for thousands of years. The park's name was officially changed from Patrick’s Point to Sue-meg State Park in 2021, recognizing the Yurok name for this place.
As we make our way around the park, we’ll move repeatedly between two very different worlds: quiet spruce forest and the enormous open Pacific. Wildflowers can brighten the bluff tops, while ravens, hawks, gulls, and other coastal birds ride the air currents overhead. Tide pools along accessible portions of the shoreline can hold an entirely different miniature world of anemones, mussels, barnacles, and other marine life.
It is a fitting finale to Walking with Giants. We began our trip among ancient redwoods and finish it standing above the Pacific Ocean, looking back toward a coastline where enormous forests meet an equally enormous sea. After several days beneath some of the tallest trees on Earth, today gives us the wide-open horizon before we begin our journey home. 🌲🌊