Skip to main content

Fern Canyon Trail


This canyon is breath taking. Fern walls, going straight up from the canyon floor, towering redwoods. You walk right up the creek, where boards have been placed across the creek. Plan on your feet getting wet. Early in the season, very wet.

Location

Distance: 1.2 mile. Loop, Maintained dirt and creek bed

Elevation: Flat till upper trail, then stairs. Crowded in season

$8 per car, No dogs, Bathrooms.


While this trail can be crowded during the season, it is so spectacular that it should be on your bucket list. And bring your camera, the good one with a tripod if you have one. If you are driving up Hwy 101, plan for a stop here. It is a 7 mile, beautiful drive to the parking lot. Road prohibited for large vehicles or trailers. Not good for very low slung cars as you may have to ford a creek, especially early in the season.


Animals: Do not mess with the animals. That is not Bambi, that is an elk that does not like you. Give them space, or turn around and go back. 

 The tiny ones can be hurt by you. Step over them. There are fish in the stream, so try to not stir up the silt, and teach children to avoid adding to the silt load. This area has been home to Ewoks and T-Rex as well, but you probably won’t see them right now.


When you first get to the parking lot, you will probably be cursing me. It is dusty, and too small for the number of cars during the busy time of the year. There is a bathroom here, but no water or other amenities. Do take the time to read the informational signs at the trail head. The history here is wonderfully typical of this area.

The first part of the walk as you leave the parking lot is unremarkable. There is a bench just before the Fern Canyon Trail.


Once you turn onto the Fern Canyon Trail, you will understand how special this place truly is.


The canyon itself is up a narrow slot cut by Home Creek. The walls go straight up 50 feet, often with fern covered rock face kept watered by seeping springs. Count the different kinds of ferns you find here. There are at least 5 different verities.

The path itself changes from year to year as the winter creek fills, scouring paths and dropping new rock and silt. The rangers arrange planks to walk across the shallow creek providing access to walkers and to prevent silting that will harm the tiny fish that live here.

Walking up the creek can be challenging for those with mobility issues. Do not expect to do distance today. My walking poles provided me with the balance points I need for crossing the boards. Do not feel that you must continue past your comfort zone. Enjoy how far you go. Quit before you over extend. Even if you just stand and look up the canyon walls, you will be enriched.


A ways up the creek (https://goo.gl/maps/uBnieHvZijX8HKbL7) you can opt to go up the stairs and walk along the developed trail to loop back. The James Irvine Trail has stairs, but is not too challenging for someone that can do 1-2 flights of stairs. Take your time. There is no hurry here.






Thanks to Kay and David for treating me to this lovely walk.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

's-Hertogenbosch June 2024

  I came to Den Bosch for the Bosch Parade.  I don't think one can understand the parade without understanding the town, and vice versa. The experience deserves a post all of its own, so  I will do this in two linked posts. This is not some of my best photography, but the experience was one that I wanted to share. As usual, I fight to make Blogger behave. Perhaps in the next few years we might make a meet up trip for Den Bosch and the parade.  Contact me if you might be interested. First off, the name.  's-Hertogenbosch or Den Bosch. Just accept that how ever you say it you are gonna  be wrong. The Dutch language, along with the Dutch mind set, is totally inexplicable and unexplainable, and totally charming. Like wise "Holland" or "Netherlands" is going to trip you up.  Both words describe the same place, but have subtle differences that really don't matter much, except to those people that it does but don't worry yourself about it The town goes by ...
5 comments
Read more

A Day in Stockholm

I spent a marvelous day in Stockholm in June 2024.  I stayed two nights while on my way to Finland to go on the epic Svalbard expedition, but more on that in a future post. To me, getting there is half the fun, and these side trips are a major part of the fun. I have been taking a brief respite from posting. Illness and overwhelm, you know the story. But with a new summer of travel ahead, I must get back on the horse. This post is mostly a photo dump of my brief stay in Stockholm. I rate my visits in relation of would I go back or not.  I do hope to go back and experience more of what this city has to offer. As usual, the computer has interesting ideas on how to change up my layout. Click any photo to see a larger version and have a slide show and skip what little verbiage I have added.  I stayed in a Scandia Hotel. Think Marriott's or the Hilton in Swedish.  A pretty standard high rise commercial hotel. And some times that is just what one needs.  The breakfast...
3 comments
Read more

Aberdyfi, Aberdovey, UK

So much is written about all of the big stuff around the UK, and yeah it is grand. But I think the one of the finest things one can do is to spend a couple of quiet days at a seaside town.  This is a short piece about a day I spent at Aberdyfi.   Aberdyfi is a very Welsh town tucked in at the mouth of the River Dyfi. There is not a lot of flash and fancy there, but everything there is such a perfect example of a great traditional village. One gets there by train on one of the loveliest route. Catch the train in Shrewsbury. Make sure to ask a conductor if you are in the right car as the train splits one part going north, the other south to Aberystwyth. (Note: you risk permanent damage to your tongue if you try to pronounce some of the towns on the way.) Or if you insist, drive in thru Machynlleth or down the coast.  The main draw is the beach.  The estuary is huge, and full of the estuary kind of the stuff one would hope to find. Boats, osprey, fish, water, mud. ...
6 comments
Read more