Hiking Humboldt Volume 1

The book will arrive in Humboldt the last week of August 2023

FREE eBook with paperback purchase until September 2023

Primeval forests harboring the world’s tallest trees. Sea cliffs, pristine beaches, and towering coastal sand dunes. Mountain prairies, meadows, and vistas. Rivers, lakes, lagoons, and bays. Bears, elk, seals, otters, and birds galore. And solitude – lots and lots of solitude. Humboldt County offers all this and much more to the intrepid hiker.

On California’s remote North Coast, closer to Oregon than to the Bay Area, Humboldt County takes up 2.5% of the state but has only 0.4% of its population, nearly all of which is concentrated around Humboldt Bay and the lower Eel River. That leaves a whole lot of uninhabited land. It boasts a national park, 14 state parks, two national forests, a national wildlife refuge, a national monument, and the nation’s first national conservation area and only forest reserve. Its natural diversity is amazing.

Humboldt has built a reputation on two plants: coast redwood and marijuana. It is less well known as a hiking destination. This book and its companion volume are meant to introduce residents and visitors alike to what they’ve been missing. The 58 hikes presented here, totaling 532 miles, are all 5-15 miles in length and wholly within Humboldt County. They range from easy strolls to challenging adventures but all require at least a couple of hours to complete and can be done in a single day, even factoring in driving time from Eureka. Hiking Humboldt Volume 2, written by Rees Hughes, presents shorter hikes and road and “urban” walks.

Whatever your experience level, you’ll find days of outdoor enjoyment in these pages. I’ve checked out every mile, and I can say honestly that Humboldt hiking is world-class. Get out there!

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