Experience the Smith

Adventures in the Smith River Area

Have you ever wanted to spend some time high above a forest in a Lookout? This is your chance. The U.S. Forest Service rents to the public its Bear Butte Basin Fire Lookout and adjacent Pierson Cabin for up to four days at a time, first-come, first-served. Reservations are competitive so start checking on availability January 1st for availability. Click here for reservations. Click here to read more about Bear Basin Butte.

No luck landing a Bear Basin Butte reservation? Visit Ship Mountain Lookout a few miles south. One of the last manned lookouts in the state, Ship Mountain offers stunning views of the coast and Mount Shasta and a chance to get up close and personal with an Osborne Firefinder. The fire locating tool was invented in 1911 to provide a compass reading for a distant smoke, when the sights lined up on. Recommended reading to enhance your visit might include Kerouac’s Desolation Angels, Philip Connors’s Fire Season, or John Suiter’s Poets on the Peaks.

Got an itch to see a carnivorous plant? There’s an insectivorous native plant called Darlingtonia californica that inhabits wetlands throughout the watershed. One good place to see it is the Smith River NRA’s Darlingtonia Trail, which begins right off Highway 199 at milepost 17.9, between Panther Flat and Grassy Flat Campgrounds. Look for Botanical Trail signs on the highway and take the short, paved road to the parking area. Read more in our Trail Guide.

Visit a fabulous redwood grove. Depart from Crescent City on Howland Hill Road, which becomes a gravel road through Jedediah Smith State Park. After four scenic miles you will see a small restroom building with parking for a few vehicles. Across the road you will see a small sign for the Mill Creek Trail and Grove of Titans. Park and walk this easy trail through impressive redwoods before meeting up with Mill Creek and some of Earth’s largest trees. Return the way you came for a total hike of just under two miles. For companion reading, including an account of Michael Taylor and Steve Sillett’s “discovery” of this fabled grove, check out Richard Preston’s book The Wild Trees.

Unparalleled swimming. Tucked away on most Smith tributaries, are some of the Smith’s best swimming holes. Some offer deep gorges, white sand beaches and easy access but for the adventurer there is nothing quite like the North Fork. From the Stony Creek Trailhead take the short but steep hike which passes botanical wonders recovering from the 2023 Smith River Complex fires, before dropping to exposed peridotite that looks more like a desert landscape than the forested neighborhood where you began the hike. In summer, continue on the trail to cross Stony Creek to access the warmer waters of the North Fork Smith River. There are no sandy beaches, but the picture-perfect pools are sublime. Find a flat rock to warm up on or jump right into the deep pools. If lounging isn’t for you, bring a tube and float downstream to the Middle Fork confluence. Read more in our Trail Guide.

A boater’s paradise. From family-friendly summer floats on the main stem Smith, to class V gorges for whitewater experts only, the Smith is a boater’s playpen. Click here to check out a 2016 Spring trip on the North Fork Smith, world-renowned for its red- and tan-rock canyons, California pitcher plants, and fun class IV rapids, this is one of the best one-day wilderness boating trips in the country. For a guided trip, contact Redwood Rides Adventure Outfitters.

Take a step back in time – Battery Point Lighthouse, built in 1855, offers the chance to see an operational lighthouse, meet the caretakers and visit a museum to learn about the structure’s maritime history. Part of the allure of this photogenic lighthouse is that it is only accessible during low tide and calm seas. Check the Del Norte Historical Society website for more history and Tide Forecast for tide times.

If you can’t make it to the lighthouse at least visit the Del Norte County Museum at 6th and H Street (577 H Street) and see their exhibit about the lighthouse. The Museum is open to the public May through September from 10 AM to 4 PM, Monday through Saturday. October through April the Museum is open Monday and Saturday from 10 AM to 4 PM. Special tours and showings can be arranged in the off-season. Visit their website here.

Go Fish! The Smith River is quite possibly the best place for salmon, trout and steelhead fishing in California. We can reveal that much without revealing any secret spots. We urge you to wet a line in the Smith and try your luck. Click here for CDFW’s Freshwater Regulations Map.

See an Ophiolite up close and personal. Her full name is Josephine Ophiolite and she is said to be “best exposed” along the Smith River. Seriously, if you are interested in geology or have read John McPhee’s marvelous book Assembling California, you are aware of such things as peridotites, radiolarian chart, and the Steinmann Trinity. Here’s your chance to see, close at hand, the whole ophiolitic column.  To learn more read this.

Swim with the fishes. The clear waters and deep pools of the Smith River offer visitors a chance to put on a mask and snorkel to swim with the native salmon and trout. Even in mid-summer the water is cool so you’ll appreciate a wetsuit with a hood and it’s always smart to dive with a buddy. Learn to identify the numerous coastal cutthroat trout but keep your eyes peeled for the massive missiles known as summer steelhead or spring chinook. Often, they’ll be hiding deep in the pool under a ledge or between boulders; you’ll have to dive down to see them. Don’t forget to look up in the fast water at the very head of the pool, behind the “bubble curtain,” where many fish will hide in the summer months. On the South Fork of the Smith, a good place to look for fish is near the mouth of Craig’s Creek. An easy path from the road will take you to the pool.

Forget your mask and snorkel at home?  Visit our local dive shop.

Visit an area with unabashed conifer diversity— 14 species of conifers within one square mile! The World Wildlife Fund says that conifer diversity in the Smith River environs is the highest in the new world north of Mexico. Within the Bear Basin Butte Botanical Area (8,764 acres) you can see this full range on a short day-trip. If you are inclined you could make it a longer trip and stay at Bear Basin Fire Lookout (see #1 above) or backpack into the nearby Siskiyou Wilderness. Before you head out pick up a copy of Ronald Lanner’s Conifers of California or Michael Kauffmann’s Conifer Country and study up so you can identify all 14. Better yet, hike part of the Bigfoot Trail to encounter an astounding 32 conifer species. The trail begins in Crescent City and travels 360 miles to the Yolla Bolly – Middle Eel Wilderness.

To enjoy a botanically diverse coastal hike, check out Little Bald Hills Trail. It begins in stunning old growth redwood forest, gradually transitioning to diverse evergreens and Jeffrey pine savannah. Serpentine rocks of the Josephine Ophiolite dominate its higher elevations. Mountain bikes are permitted on this trail. We recommend starting your ride from its southeastern terminus via Paradise Trail from South Fork Road. Read more in our Trail Guide.

Seeking a bigger adventure? Lace up your boots and head north of the border to hike the 50-mile John and Lilla Leach Memorial Loop in the strange and wonderful Kalmiopsis Wilderness. Although currently outside the boundaries of the Smith River National Recreation Area, a campaign is underway to add the North Fork Smith and its tributaries, imparting permanent protections from their Kalmiopsis headwaters to the California border. Read more and take action here.

Looking to contribute to local stewardship? It is up to each one of us to leave special places better than we found them. Please learn and follow Leave No Trace Principles, consider volunteering for a Smith River Alliance river or coastal cleanup, and donate to support our restoration work if you have the means to do so. Happy trails!