You’ll want to take a closer look at this beautiful Ranch Home Amidst Majestic Redwoods that was designed by Donlyn Lyndon, Dick Whitaker, and Tomas Frank and built by Empire Contracting, Inc. The beautiful home is nestled in the redwood forest on the upslope side of Highway 1 in The Sea Ranch. The builder, David Hillmer, describes the architectural project as a fantastic example of a home that knows where it is and which is beautifully sited and designed. You’ll love the view towards the bedroom when you get to the top of the entry stairs where your eye can follow the trees from their trunks through the window, then track up to the treetops through the skylight. Also, you’ll love the way they brought the forest indoors through the use of the round support columns.
The Sea Ranch home design is built on a gently sloping site, with the cabin gradually stepping down on the landscape from the master bedroom down to the light-filled living room. The sloping diagonal roof helps frame views of the forest and provides tall-ceiling volumes for the bedroom and bathroom areas. The home has strategically placed windows and skylights to open the house up to views and sun-dappled light.
Inside, your eye is immediately drawn to the double-height, nearly floor-to-ceiling panels of glass that open the living room up to views of the redwood forest and blur the line between indoor and outdoor living. Cylindrical tree trunk-like columns hold up interior beams and bring the feeling of the forest indoors. There is a rotating wood stove is tucked in the corner next to beautiful filigreed wooden screens brought over from India that evoke the lacy undergrowth of the redwood leaves.
The Redwood National and State Parks are a string of protected forests, beaches, and grasslands located along Northern California’s coast. The Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park has trails that take you through dense old-growth woods. The Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park is home to Fern Canyon, with its high, plant-covered walls. The Roosevelt elk frequent nearby Elk Prairie. The giant redwood clusters include Redwood National Park’s Lady Bird Johnson Grove. Redwood National Park is an expansive area that is a clustered network of national and state sites, home to stunning giants that grow over 350 feet tall.
You can hike to Fern Canyon on the James Irvine Trail. Enter prehistoric wilderness on this 9-mile roundtrip hike. You can enjoy the densely verdant forest that served as the backdrop for several scenes in Jurassic Park 2, including the untimely demise of dino-hunter Dieter Stark. Make your way along with redwood growths and through the 50-foot-deep canyon dripping with ferns.
Drive the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway where this 10-mile road cuts through the heart of an old-growth forest in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. There you will see herds of Roosevelt elk roaming the woods which are easy to spot right from your car’s windows. If you want a more immersive experience, hop out and go for a hike at one of the many trailheads, including the Big Tree Wayside and Ah-Pah.
