Experience the Magic of Hiking in the Redwoods – Day 2

Day 1 in the Redwood Parks was mostly spent in Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park. Here, on Day 2, we explore Prairie Creek Redwood State Park, covering 8 miles of trails and encountering the following places: Fern Canyon, James Irvine Trail, Clintonia Trail, Miners Ridge Trail, and Golds Bluff Beach.

Here is the link to the official Redwoods National and State Parks maps.

Fern Canyon

Fern Canyon was our entry point to our 8 mile hike in Prairie Creek Redwood State Park. To get to the trailhead we took the long drive down Davidson Street, an unpaved road that winds itself through the woods to Beach Road, where our Jeep enjoyed crossing and over a few flowing streams. There’s an entrance gate before you get to Gold’s Bluff Campsite and our America the Beautiful Annual National Park pass was accepted. We drove past the campsite to the end of the road and, though it was already 8 am, we were pleasantly surprise to find we were only the third vehicle here. 

From the road-end (which conveniently has an outhouse), Fern Canyon is just .5 miles and the entrance had us stunned. A slow moving creek is trickling between two vertical canyon walls and the pebbled ground is strewn with man made boards to help visitors navigate across the shallow creek. We wandered in awe all the way through the canyon which varied in height, width, and vegetation. One area was more prominently covered in vertical ferns than others and in some places there were trees that had fallen into the canyon creating artistic obstacles.

A few running leaps later and we made it to the staircase that took us up out of Fern Canyon without wet feet. This is where we met up with the second part of our hike. We took a right onto the James Irvine Trail. 

James Irvine Trail, Clintonia Trail, and Miners Ridge Trail

The James Irvine Trail starts out with a lot of tree roots to clamber over and not many Redwood trees in sight. Instead, moss covered seaside trees tower overhead as you hike along Home Creek, crossing back and forth via footbridge. This trail is quite lush with ferns and other vegetation up until you turn off onto the Clintonia Trail. 

When you turn onto the Clintonia Trail the hiking path starts to open up allowing for side by side walking and then the Redwood giants start to emerge. This trail and the first mile of the Miner’s Ridge Trail were my favorite because you walk through groves where trunks of Redwoods are above you, farther up the hillside making them extra super tall, and also below you, farther down the hillside, giving you a mid trunk view of these amazing trees. 

Turning back toward the coast when meeting Miners Ridge Trail will take you through more hillside Redwood groves filled with giant hallowed out trees, a few enormous cutoff stumps, and a few fun log bridges. Then the trail sends you back down toward sea level and through the lush vegetation of another creek bottom. Eventually you will make your way out of the thick greenery as the trail ends on a tsunami evacuation road, which will eventually lead you right down to Gold Bluff Beach campground. 

Gold Bluff Beach

The final stretch of our day hike was one mile of picturesque beach along the stretch of coast between Gold Bluff Beach Campsite and Fern Canyon Trailhead (where our Jeep was parked). We entered the sand through the campsite and found a piece of white driftwood to sit on where we ate our sandwiches and watched the waves roll in. As we walked along the Pacific Ocean’s edge, the most amazing thing happened; we saw sea lions in the waves just off shore! It was so cool to see them just cruising around in the waves. The ocean view is amazing and the shoreline is equally amazing with golden color bluffs, trees, and the sea fog combines to make an atmosphere. 

We encountered just three other sets of hikers on our entire 8 mile hike, excluding the 1 mile of beach. 

Here are some helpful links to the California State Park website and the link to the brochure map.

Newton B Drury Scenic Parkway

We also took some time to drive the very scenic Newton B Drury Scenic Parkway which is a historic road that cuts through a gorgeous grove of redwoods. Most notably we visited the “Big Tree” which is 256’ tall, 23.7′ in diameter, 74.5’ I circumference, and is an estimated age of 1,500 years old. We also hiked the trailhead of Prairie Creek Trail, trying to soak in our last stop in the giant trees, we definitely didn’t want to leave. The trails in this area are well trod with plenty of space to spread out from our fellow wanderers. 

The “other” touristy thing we did was stop at the Tour Through Tree in Klamath City to take the customary picture of a vehicle driving through the giant tree. It cost us $5 and we were the only ones there when we stopped first thing in the morning. I wouldn’t wait in line for this photo, but we still had fun doing it!

Happy exploring!