Our hiking plans for Friday afternoon consisted of two parts: the 3-mile Trillium Falls hike around the old growth forest of coastal redwoods in Redwoods National Park (see Fog, Schmog blog), and the 8 mile drive and short hike to Fern Canyon.
The full hike through the canyon and back around the bluffs above the beach is 7 miles, too long for us to tackle late in the afternoon, but it was close to Trillium Falls, and we decided to go at least as far as the Canyon entrance.
From the Falls parking lot we turned left for the 8-mile drive to the canyon.
The road was very narrow, winding, with some short steep grades, and very, very dusty.
After about 4 miles we reached the campground at the edge of the ocean.
That stretch took about 20 minutes and the temperature dropped 5 degrees.
The next four miles were very interesting. In additional to the curves and sweeps and closely passing vehicles, we also drove through a stream
and two creeks,
and waited for about a dozen elk to let us use their road.
This youngster couldn't quite decide whether to challenge us or give way.
This one was tagged and collared.
About an hour after we started our 8-mile ride we parked in the canyon lot and learned how the canyon was formed.
A 1/10 mile paved walk let to the canyon where we crossed three plank bridges
before we reached the place where the canyon narrowed to a slot and the ferns were most visible.
By the time we got this far, it was 5pm, the fog was rolling in again and we were both very cold. We admired the beautiful ferns for a few moments before we retraced our steps
and headed home.
Next, a ride inland.
Louise and Duane
No comments:
Post a Comment