Fern Canyon

North of McKinleyville is Redwood National Park. After 8 miles on a steep up and down dirt road through breathtaking Redwood forests, dodging backhoes, steam rollers, and various other heavy machinery, we emerged at the coast and the trail head for Fern Canyon. A short hike brought us to the entrance of the canyon, where we were transported into another world. Steep walls line either side of a creek bed covered completely in lush, prehistoric ferns. On top of these giant shear walls sit giant redwood trees that filter the light, allowing only sparse beams of light to penetrate into the canyon below giving the place a heavenly and pristine feel. We wandered up the creek bed until we were spit out of the east end of the canyon up a steep set of steps into the Redwood forest creating somewhat of a sensory overload moving from one beautiful vista to the next. Around each corner was another breathtaking sight with a lack of words to describe it.

To get to the trail head, we had to ford a couple of small streams. The Explorer was up to the task and handled them with ease, also making for a fun little sequence of photos.