Cross country trip from Michigan to Redwood National Park, CA

16 years ago

I am trying to plan a trip from northern MI to Redwood park CA. I did a search on here for Redwood National Park and could not find anything about the park itself. Does anyone have any advice about the Redwood National Park. RNP is our main/final destination then return trip home. I have never been there or anywhere west, and I don't know of anyone that has. so my questions are...

for my husband, myself, daughter 18, daughter 8, son 6, 2 dogs Golden ret. and a newfoundland. We plan on camping (tent) for the most part unless it is bad weather.

What to do when we get there?

Are most National/State parks Dog friendly?

We will need to stop a lot along the way because of the kids and dogs. So what parks or things to do are there along the way? (we like site seeing, camping, outdoors things)

How long should I plan on it taking us? We like to take our time and my DH has a 30 day vacation he can take in the summer. We were thinking mid June to mid July(not that we have to take a 30 day vac. just that's the time frame we have).

It is basically a 2500 mile trip(give or take) so maybe spread out over 2 weeks or less, do you think that would be reasonable?

I have always wanted to go to the Redwoods park, and we would like to make it a family cross country trip. (yea 2 weeks in a Tahoe with 3 kids and 2 dogs that's going to be a vacation) :)

also any susgestions on traveling with kids and dogs?

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Comments (2)

mariend
16 years ago
I would suggest leaving the dogs in a good kennel at home even though you love them dearly. My SIL is a Park Ranger in the Redwood Park system and they do have some very strick rules. It will take you about 5=8 days to get there and what part of MI are you in? Mid June, I would take the upper roads, thru MT, ID etc and avoid the roads thru the Los Angeles area. If you belong to AAA, you can get maps and books and there are also books listing Motels that accept Dogs, but you will pay extra. Also when you go into a eating place, the dogs must stay in the car. The Redwoods are beatiful but not dog friendly. Tent camping is good, but be aware of the bears etc in the area. If you want more information, please email me and tell me where you are starting from etc. We are from CA and have relatives in MI and No Calif. For what a good kennel charges, it will be around the same as what motels charge extra for dogs and many will not take large dogs. Nor will many campgrounds. I do wish you the best.
marge727
16 years ago
I have made the trip from Ishpeming to Redwoods and camped years ago. I would certainly leave the dogs with a friend. Its difficult being in a car with 3 kids --at least we had a motor home the last few years of camping.
California and some of the Western states do not have frequent Highway rest stops or they are under repair, so you may have to rely on stopping at restaurants and that won't be helpful to the dogs. In Michigan you could stop in lots of places and let the dogs run--I wouldn't try that in the Western deserts, or the freeways.
What you may want to try is what mariend suggested. Join AAA; their trip ticks and State books are wonderful. they will tell you where gas stations are and interesting places to stop. Whats even a good idea is we have a Garmin GPS. It will tell you restaurants, gas stations and give you directions vocally. We wouldn't travel anywhere without that. If your car has one built in--wonderful. I would recommend that with tent camping your options in the West are more limited than you would guess. Unless you have been here --I would suggest a KOA campground every so often so you can wash clothes, etc. Do they take dogs?
Redwoods NP is okay--but consider Zion or Bryce. They have huge trees also. You would have to make reservations now (unless its too late)
We just finished a 14 hour plane trip and then a 6 hour car trip with 3 kids (at least they were grandchildren) and it was Australia but it made me recall traveling with my own kids when they were younger. You yearn for peace, quiet and a shower at the end of the day. As you travel across the West,available campgrounds aren't at convenient intervals. We live in California and have sometimes hunted a long time when we didn't have reservations. With two dogs you would have very limited choices in some places.
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Cross country trip from Michigan to Redwood National Park, CA

Comments (2)

mariend

marge727

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