We took a long hike today, totaling 12 miles which took us a bit under 6 hours. We started on the Miner’s Ridge trail (the trailhead is by the Prairie Creek Visitor’s Center), which began with some beautiful 5 foot high ferns under the tall redwood trees. The trail steadily inclined, and we had stunning views of the forest from a higher perspective. The redwoods were huge –indescribable – you really do not get a perspective of their height and width until you see one that had fallen. As we continued our hike, we were amazed at the quiet of the forest; granted it was a Wednesday, mid-day, off-season, but we heard no animals, even birds, for a long time. We took Miner’s Ridge to the Coastal Trail, where we saw a young bull elk grazing along the shore. The beach was beautiful – sandy and large – it reminded us very much of the Oregon coast. Once done with walking the beach a bit, we took the James Irvine Trail back, with a short detour to Fern Canyon. Fern Canyon is exactly how it sounds – a small canyon with ferns growing along the walls. The James Irvine Trail was just as beautiful as the Miner’s Ridge Trail, beginning with smaller trees, and ending with the redwoods and finally the 5 foot ferns. This is definitely a hike to take if you’re up for it, just be sure you begin early enough in the day.
Tip #1 - You can also drive to the back and Fern Canyon via a dirt road.
Tip #2 – The Redwood Information Center south of Orick is where you want to go for area information – they had a very informative staff.
Tip #1 - You can also drive to the back and Fern Canyon via a dirt road.
Tip #2 – The Redwood Information Center south of Orick is where you want to go for area information – they had a very informative staff.
2 comments:
James Irvine is a good trail. You ever used the site redwoodhikes.com ?? It's one of my favorite redwood hiking trail sites to read.
I was up in Jed Smith redwoods almost the day you posted this. Did a longer hike since the interior road was closed from a fallen redwood.
My page below, has photos of a few of the largest known redwoods. Atlas Tree and Iluvatar are in Prairie Creek redwoods, as is Adventure Tree. Lost Monarch and Del Norte Titan are in Jed Smith redwoods ...
Hidden Largest Known Redwoods
Maybe you have read about those. Hardly any photos exist. That's why I posted the webpage, so others who read about them could see more of what they look like.
Cheers,
MDV
Great sites! Thanks for sharing!
Perhaps we passed one another while on the hike.......
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