There are already too many lists of things you should see, yet I’m going to make another: Sights that are so beautiful, they still exceed even the most hyped expectations.
First on my list is Burney Falls in Shasta County, a canyon-sized waterfall that just gets more and more magical as California gets more and more dry.
But a very close second is Fern Canyon in Humboldt County, a place I’d been wanting to see for years after seeing pictures of its towering walls covered in ferns. And despite all that time waiting and dreaming, it was even more awe-inspiring than I hoped for.
You do have to work for that awe, however. It took me so long to make the trek to Fern Canyon because it is so remote: Located in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in very northern Humboldt County, the canyon is more than a four-hour drive from Ukiah. And with few options of places to stay nearby that don’t involve camping, I wasn’t able to make the journey until a friend offered to drive me in a camper van.
Once you drive to Orick, there are two main ways to reach the canyon. The first is to continue several miles up a windy, narrow gravel road (picture Usal Road with fewer potholes) to a medium-sized parking lot, then to walk a short distance to the opening of the canyon.
The second involves tons more walking (by tons I mean hours and hours and miles and miles of it) because it requires you to park at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, then hike several miles to the canyon’s loop trail. Round-trip, the hike is at least a dozen miles.
When my friend and I went to Fern Canyon last month, our only option was the marathon hike because, this year, the park instituted a reservation system for the parking lot, not allowing people past the kiosk on Davidson Road between May 1 and Sept. 30 unless they had gone online and booked a time in advance.
Another friend said he booked a time for the parking lot earlier this year because he has two young kids, and “there was no way they were hiking 14 miles.”
But if you can walk all those miles (my friend’s app said we had gone 14 miles by the time we hiked to the canyon and back) I highly recommend it, as the James Irvine Trail you use to reach Fern Canyon is another wonder worthy of a visit.
I have never hiked in so large a forest, and can’t describe the feeling of walking for miles and miles and seeing nothing but a floor of green ferns and a sky full of redwoods. It was as immersive and overwhelming as walking under skyscrapers in San Francisco, only all you hear is water running in the distance, and all you can see are towering trees for 10 miles.
Once you reach Fern Canyon, the water will be running under your feet, so be prepared. Don’t be like the man I saw wearing slacks and penny loafers, wailing as he tried in vain to keep them dry. The Fern Canyon Trail is advertised as a “one-mile loop,” but it’s neither a trail nor a loop, really. It’s mostly a meander through the canyon, climbing over logs and bridges while many others do the same.
And what’s it like to see a canyon full of ferns growing 50-feet high? I think my friend described it perfectly with a simple, “Whoa.”
If You Go…
Now that you no longer need a permit to park near the canyon, there might be even more people joining you there these days. When asked recently how crowded the parking lot is, a ranger at the park said the best plan of action would be to “come early,” because while kids are back in school, “this is the season when the retired people travel. So the parking lot could suddenly fill up on a Wednesday, you never know.”
(photos by Justine Frederiksen, Ukiah Daily Journal)
It’s a magical place. My sis and I are in our sixties, we went last Friday driving north through Orick where we saw a herd of Elk in the road, some with the biggest racks I have ever seen. When we drove into the Fern Canyon park we saw more magnificent Elk, the road was better then I’ve ever seen it. We arrived in the parking lot at 9am at the same time as a young family with two kids. It’s a short walk into the Fern Canyon loop, I wore duck boots so I could navigate the creek just fine. Had to climb over a few big logs, the trail is well flagged and the stairs are in good shape. Had fun only ran into two nice young men from Montana who were heading to Portland next. At the top of the trail we could see the young family in the canyon making their way through the creek. We then found a nice picnic bench in the day use beach area, had lunch then walked the beach not seeing a soul. As we headed back home we saw the Elk herd had gathered at Orick school ground with many people admiring them.