This Lush California Trail Has ‘Jurassic Park’ Vibes. Here’s How to Book a Reservation

This Lush California Trail Has ‘Jurassic Park’ Vibes. Here’s How to Book a Reservation
Fern Canyon Trail in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in Orick, Calif., greets visitors with 50-foot-tall walls covered in fern, on June 13, 2022. Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS
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Your feet will get wet, your car will need washing, and you won’t mind. That’s just one measure of what awaits on the short, scenic hike through Fern Canyon in Humboldt County, California’s Prairie Creek Redwood State Park.

The Fern Canyon Loop Trail, which neighbors Gold Bluffs Beach, measures barely a mile. The altitude change is only about 150 feet. But the path takes you up a narrow canyon into a primordial jumble of greenery between walls that rise 50 to 80 feet high on each side, nearly straight up.