South Fork to Rhododendron to Cathedral to Foothill Loop is a 7.4 mile lightly trafficked loop trail located near Orick, California that features a great forest setting and is rated as difficult. The trail is primarily used for hiking, running, nature trips, and bird watching and is accessible year-round.
Incredible groves of huge redwoods and sequoias, very secluded.
Great secluded hike through redwoods. Quite slippery on the downhills over branches so be careful. We “accidentally” followed the rhododendron trail vs connecting with the road about 5 miles in, which added about a mile and made us traverse some poison oak infested short stretches, so follow the AllTrails map precisely. But this was a great one no doubt.
Beautiful hike but the mileage is off. By counting mileage from the park signs I estimated this hike at 7.2 or 7.3 miles rather than the 5.9 listed. The trail is super uneven in sections to the point where its maddening, one foot is on a totally different elevation than the other for a lot of the time, so watch out if you have knee issues, especially if you wear a weighted pack like me when I do this hike for training purposes. Also....exposed tree roots. Lots of them. And slick too. Other than that a great hike, but definitely challenging in its own way!
We did this hike two days ago and while most of the rhododendron flowers have fallen now we still captured a few and overall we found this hike to be beyond worth it. We debated between doing the out and back full rhododendron and this loop and were told by a ranger at the station to do this one. While I can't compare the two we definitely weren't disappointed with this hike! There are a lot of really unique aspects to this one. So many trees to walk through, one fallen tree that even makes up part of the trail. Not to be missed!
nice hike be to stretch your legs and justify that cold beer at the end. Mildly strenuous if you are in good shape.
Incredible. It can be rough at times. Some narrow passes and some fallen redwoods to climb over. If you go during the winter like me, or after rain be careful on the roots that line the trails. They can be slick. Absolutely worth it if you have the capability and the time. The waterfall was beautiful, the bridges, and the thousands of old growth sequoias make the hike feel like you’re back in prehistoric times. I’m blessed to live near here
This trail is awesome. It's one that i will do many times in the future and highly recommend. There are a couple of old growth redwoods down that you have to climb over. I did South Fork a few days ago and I think it's the toughest little trail in the park. Rhody is the most beautiful and interesting trail in the park....period. One that I'll do again and again. Went through my 3rd camera lately or I'd have awesome pics to post.