Fern Canyon

Fern Canyon is a narrow natural ravine at the north end of Gold Bluffs Beach in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. Home Creek runs over a cobbled floor between steep, leafy walls draped in ferns. The draw is the close, green corridor around the stream; giant redwoods do not grow in the canyon itself, though Sitka spruce and other conifers frame it.

The fern walls begin about a quarter-mile from the parking area. From there, you can follow the creek up and return the same way, or take the roughly one-mile loop, which climbs the left wall on stairs and gains about 150 feet. The creek walk changes elevation by only about 30 feet, so you can choose how much of the loop to do.

Crossing Home Creek is part of the visit. Water levels and flood-deposited log jams change the footing, and seasonal footbridges are not always in place. Waterproof shoes with good traction make more sense than trying to keep your feet dry. This is a creek bed and stairway walk, not a wheelchair-accessible path.

Davison Road from Highway 101 is about eight miles of single-lane gravel. It has two stream crossings that can be difficult after rain; a high-clearance vehicle is useful when water is up. Trailers and RVs over 24 feet are prohibited, as are vehicles more than 8 feet wide. A vehicle reservation is required for the day-use area from May 15 through September 15; it is not required outside that seasonal window. If you would rather hike in, the James Irvine Trail route from Prairie Creek Visitor Center is about 10.4 miles round trip.

The parking area has a vault toilet and picnic table, but no potable water or food service, so bring what you need. Dogs are not allowed in the canyon; leashed pets are allowed on Gold Bluffs Beach.

The canyon's moist walls hold a thick fern cover, while Sitka spruce and other conifers grow around it. Roosevelt elk are often in the wider area. Give them room, especially cows with calves in early summer and bulls in autumn.

The canyon walls expose gravel deposited about four million years ago by an ancestral Klamath River that carried material west from the Klamath Mountains. Waves working the coast over many winters helped flatten the lower canyon floor, leaving the stream corridor visitors walk today.

Gold mining is part of the area's history. At the Pacific Mining Company's peak in the 1880s, about 300 people searched for gold nearby. Most of the mining had ended by the 1920s after proving unprofitable.

The signature view is from inside the channel, looking along the creek with the fern walls rising on both sides. Let the water or a fallen log lead the eye into the canyon; the strongest view is reached on foot, not from the parking area.