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When you reach Bridge 2, where a vending machine has maps for sale, look across the creek: there stands the monument’s tallest tree — 253 feet — and, at 13 feet in diameter, its most stout. Stay on the east side of the creek for now; you’ll visit the west side later. Beyond the bridge, the canyon holding Redwood Creek narrows, with steep hillsides rising both left and right.

Fallen Giant

Near the end of your hike, when you reach a fallen tree, sawed to clear a path for the trail, take a minute to imagine yourself nearby on April 6, 1993, when this 419-year-old giant, its roots loosened by winter rains, came crashing down. Actually, the tree had begun to lean several centuries ago, but it responded by growing more wood on the supporting side. Thus its cross-section is an oval instead of a circle.

Redwood Creek

Redwood Creek has runs of coho salmon and steelhead trout, both listed as threatened species under federal law. Channeled in the 1930s to prevent flooding, the creek is now being allowed to resume its winding course.