Crescent City, northernmost substantial town in California, spreads inland from the long curving beach which gives it its name. It boasts a major fishing port graced by an improbably picturesque lighthouse. A waterfront park includes the area devastated by the 1962 tsunami, with headquarters for Redwood National Park a block inland.

Parks spread in all directions from the edges of Crescent City - Tolowa Dunes to the north, Jedediah Smith Redwoods to the east and Del Norte Redwoods to the south. Highway 101 follows the coast north and south while Highway 199, the last leg of the Redwood Highway, follows the Smith River northeast into Oregon.