Most visitors to the Russian River redwoods stop at the big trees in Armstrong Redwoods. Fewer continue into Austin Creek State Recreation Area, which Wikipedia describes as an isolated wilderness area in Sonoma County that shares a common entrance with the reserve.

The landscape

Wikipedia puts the park at 5,927 acres, with elevations from 150 to 1,500 feet. That range creates riparian areas, chaparral and conifer and oak woodlands, plus grassy hillsides, oak-capped knolls and rocky summits with glimpses of the Pacific. There are about 20 miles of trails.

Spring wildflowers listed by Wikipedia include Douglas irises, Indian paintbrush, buttercups, lupines, California poppies and shooting stars. Birds seen in the area include wild turkeys, wood ducks, great blue herons, white-tailed kites and California quail.

Bullfrog Pond campground

California State Parks says Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods, a cooperating association, operates Austin Creek and has reopened the Bullfrog Pond campground under an operating agreement with the state. Key details from the state page:

  • There are 23 campsites, each with a picnic table and fire ring. Sites 1 through 8 (except host site 4) are first-come, first-served; sites 9 through 24 are reserved through Hipcamp.
  • Camping is $35 a night ($33 for visitors 62 and older), and extra vehicles are $8.
  • There are flush toilets and sinks but no showers, no group camping and no hike-and-bike sites. Vehicles over 20 feet will not fit.
  • The pond itself almost always goes dry by mid-summer. Ticks are prevalent, and State Parks advises watching for rattlesnakes in warmer weather.

Rules worth knowing

Day use runs from 8 a.m. to one hour after sunset, seven days a week, and costs $10 per vehicle ($9 for seniors). Dogs are allowed only in paid campsites, picnic areas and on paved roads, and never on trails or dirt roads. Bikes are allowed on paved roads and fire roads but not trails. The state says all trails are currently closed to pack animals, and drones are banned in the district's parks.

Pond Farm

The park also holds the remains of the Pond Farm artists' colony, which dates to the 1940s. State Parks says it was the home of ceramicist Marguerite Wildenhain. Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods offers guided tours, and a 360-degree virtual tour made with CyArk and Parks California lets people explore the studio online.

A park that almost closed

Wikipedia notes Austin Creek was threatened with closure in 2008 and was one of 70 state parks proposed for closure in July 2012. That September, State Parks gave Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods permission to run it.