James Irvine - Fern Canyon - Davison Road - Miner's Ridge Trail Loop

After hiking 3 shorter trails on Day 1 at Redwood National Park, Day 2 would feature two hikes: one just 0.2 miles long, the other 11.6 miles long.  We drove to the Prairie Creek Visitor Center again and this time we had no problems finding a parking spot. Maybe that was because everyone was busy taking pictures of the elk that had made their way into the meadow.  We walked a short distance and took some pictures too before beginning our long hike.

The 11.6 mile loop trail we hiked consists of 4 trails: James Irvine, Fern Canyon, Davison Road, and Miner's Ridge.  It is ranked as one of the world's best redwood hikes.

We started the hike just like yesterday's Big Tree Loop, but branched off at the James Irvine trail.  This trail took us through a very lush creek valley area of the park with large areas of ferns and undergrowth, along with the big redwood trees.  Many portions of this trail had bridges or wooden walkways that would normally help you cross water, but all such areas were dry.

It was wet enough though for a few Banana Slugs to make a run (can they do that?) across the trail.

Banana slug on the run....

After almost 5 miles of hiking through this green wonderland, we finally came to and descended into Fern Canyon.  If you ever visit Redwoods National Park, you need to see this canyon.  We hiked to it, but there is also access via Davison road.  The canyon has 50 foot walls lined with ferns and a creek flowing down the middle. The park puts temporary crossing bridges in place during the busy summer season.

Carol & Maggie use one of the temporary bridges to cross the creek

This portion of our hike was the highlight. We'll let the pictures do the talking:

We did come to one area where trees had jammed up and seemed to block the trail.  But we found our way through and enjoyed hiking through this amazing and beautiful canyon - a mere 0.6 miles long.

Tree blockage along Fern Canyon.....we did make it through.

After arriving at the Fern Canyon parking lot, we were faced with two options for continuing our hike.  We could hike through brush and across a creek to the beach and then walk along the beach for 1.2 miles, or hike the Davison road down to the Gold Bluffs Beach campground.  Since there is an elk herd in this area and it was calving season and the creek area would have to be walked around, we opted for the less scenic Davison road option.

About halfway to Gold Bluffs Beach, Glenn spotted a tree with large antlers.  Those antlers belonged to three LARGE bull elks that were resting in the shade.  They were BIG, and we were about 30 yards away. We did take a few pictures and then moved on, not wanting to get closer and make the local 6 o'clock news.

Big Elk along Davison road

Once we arrived at Gold Bluffs Beach campground, we took a much needed lunch break at a campsite. We had already hiked more than half of the loop, but we were tired and it was very warm weather for the area.

Our last leg of the hike was along the Miner's Ridge trail.

The last stretch of our long loop hike

The trail starts by following a road to the tsunami survival area.  It then wound through much thicker undergrowth and we had to almost bushwhack our way through some portions of this trail.  Eventually we returned to more open forest with lots of redwood trees that included lots of segments with large tree roots.

Start of the Miner's Ridge trail heading up to the tsunami survival area

The beautiful Tiger Lily

This hike took us 5-1/2 hours to complete and we were definitely tired when we arrived back at the visitor center.  It was an incredible and beautiful hike that we would recommend to anyone who visits Redwood National Park.  Fern Canyon, as mentioned before, was the highlight.

Even though we were tired, we still had unfinished business from Day 1.  When we hiked the Big Tree Loop trail on Day 1, we evidently took a wrong turn and missed seeing the Big Tree -- largest in girth from bottom to top.  So we drove along the Drury parkway to the Big Tree trail turnout and hiked 0.2 miles to the tree. Of course by this time the batteries on our camera were dead, so we did not get any pictures of the Big Tree.

So we finished the day with 2 hikes -- 11.8 miles.

We still had one more day to hike and would have to look at our options in the evening after some time soaking in the Jacuzzi.-yes, hiking is tough!

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol (& Maggie too)

Big Tree Loop Trail

Having hiked the Lady Bird Johnson Grove trail and the Trillium Falls trail, we finished out our first day at Redwoods National Park by hiking one more short trail.

The Prairie Creek Visitor Center is like grand central station for hiking in the redwoods.  There are numerous trailheads and connector trails located in this area which makes it a popular destination and a tough place to find a parking spot.

Pick a trail, any trail - lots to choose from.

After eating our lunch and being stalked by a Steller's Jay, we began our hike of the Big Tree Loop trail. This loop takes the Prairie Creek trail up to the Big Tree area where it connects with the Foothill trail and then the Cathedral Tree trail before finishing back at the visitor center.  This hike is 3.2 miles and takes you through some of the biggest redwoods in the park and is another of those great introduction hikes to the park.

Beware the stalking Steller's Jay

The trail begins with a large wooden bridge that crosses Prairie Creek and takes you quickly into groves of large redwood trees.  Following our map closely (since there are many trails branching off from this access) we successfully turned off this trail and onto the Prairie Creek trail.

Time to hike!

Wooden bridge area at start of our hike.  The trees are part of the bridge!

Although we would not hike all of the Prairie Creek trail, we hiked enough to enjoy various views of the creek while being constantly surrounded by large redwood trees.  There are benches at different points of this trail for those who want to go at a slower pace or just take in the surroundings.

One of many bench areas along this beautiful trail.

We did encounter a couple of down redwood trees across the trail.  Since these trees are too big to move off the trail, tunnels were cut through them allowing us to walk through two different redwood trees.

One of the two tree tunnels on the Prairie Creek trail

Carol & Glenn at the tunnel tree

Carol & Maggie at the tunnel tree

The trail eventually took us to the Drury Parkway, which is a scenic 13 mile stretch of road through the park.  We crossed the parkway and instead of taking a direct trail to the Big Tree Area, we walked down the parkway to a Hunnewell-Donald Memorial Grove sign per a hiking guide suggestion.  This route would connect with the Foothill trail and then the Cathedral Trees trail and provide us with more redwoods and less noise from Drury Parkway, both of which sounded good to us.

As we hiked along the Foothill trail we somehow missed the Big Tree (hard to do when it is the largest redwood tree (girth) from top to bottom).  Apparently we should have turned right when we turned left or something like that.  We still saw plenty of beautiful giant redwoods, especially when we reached the Cathedral Tree trail.

Big Trees!

As our hike neared its end, we reached the Drury Parkway again.  We hiked up the embankment and crossed, arriving back at the Prairie Creek Visitor Center to complete our first day of hiking.

Day 1 -- 3 hikes -- 7.4 miles. -- amazing beauty!  What a great start to our visit.

Now it was time to get some rest as our hike on day 2 would be one of the top redwood hikes in the world and a challenging 11.6 miles in length.

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol (& Maggie too)

Trillium Falls Trail

After finishing our hike at Lady Bird Johnson Grove, we drove to the south entrance of Redwoods National Park to visit the Thomas H Kuchel Visitor Center. We verified some trail information and enjoyed watching all of the swifts nesting in the eaves of the visitor center, then ventured north on Highway 101 to Davison Road and the Trillium Falls trailhead.

We started by hiking along the paved Davison trail till the Trillium Falls Trail branched off to the right. We quickly noticed how this trail differed from the Lady Bird Johnson Grove since we immediately started climbing along switchbacks into the Redwood forest.

Up and into the Redwoods we go.....

We encountered the lush green of ferns and enjoyed some large Redwood trees before reaching the metal footbridge which crosses a stream while providing us with great views of Trillium Falls just above the crossing.

Maggie and Carol lift a redwood tree up off  the trail 

Although the falls are not large and water levels are low this year, it was still a pretty sight that we took time to enjoy.  Unfortunately, due to the shade and darkness of the area, we only got one picture of Trillium Falls that was ok to keep.

Trillium Falls from footbridge

Footbridge crossing just below Trillium Falls

After hiking along through areas with smaller trees and lots of blackberry brambles and huckleberry shrubs, we crossed an old dirt logging road and once again entered an area dominated by large, impressive redwood trees.  It is just amazing to see these huge trees.

One of many HUGE redwood trees on this hike....

It's a long ways to the top!

We then starting descending and heading back north towards the trailhead when we came to a large footbridge that crosses Elk Meadow to another trailhead.  As the name implies, Elk Meadow is where a herd of elk likes to hang out and sure enough, we got to see a herd of about a dozen elk including a baby elk.  We tried to get some pictures but our camera can only zoom so much, so our best shots are shown below.  This is the time of year for elk calving, so there are signs all around and we were warned at the visitor center to be very cautious around the females, since you can't always see where the young ones are at.

The Elk herd at Elk Meadows

Mother Elk with young at Elk Meadows

The last mile was an easy walk along a dirt road completely surrounded by alder trees till we reached the Davison access trail and completed this nice 2.8 mile loop.

The last mile without redwood trees...

Now that we had 4.2 miles of hiking done, it was time to head to the Prairie Creek Visitor center and get one more hike in for the day, a hike that featured the largest trees in the park and would include walking through redwood trees.....

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol (and Maggie)

Lady Bird Johnson Grove trail

To start our hiking adventures at Redwoods National and State Parks, we chose one of the most popular trails in the park, the Lady Bird Johnson Grove trail.  Its popularity is due to the fact that it is relatively short (1.4 miles), level, and highlights the creation of the National Park in 1968.

The trailhead parking lot was a short 3 miles off Highway 101 on Bald Hills Road near the south entrance of the park. It took us a little while to arrive at the parking lot due to crews clearing vegetation along the road.

The trail begins by crossing a footbridge back over Bald Hills Road and then leading you along through huckleberry shrubs, salal, and ferns with Tiger Lilies and Rhododendrons adding color to the green undergrowth.

Footbridge over Bald Hills Road at beginning of trail

Tiger Lily

View of Lady Bird Johnson Grove trail

The real stars of course were the Redwood trees. Normally a ridge top or hillside grove like this area would feature smaller trees compared to those groves on the valley floor.  This particular grove however, features a lot of big monster trees and the trail allows access to see them up close.  Pictures don't do justice, but here are few of the Redwood trees along this hike.

The grove dedication site on the trail features an open area with benches and the dedication plaque. It offers the hiker an opportunity to just sit back and take in the silence and wonderful sight of this awesome area.

Dedication plaque

Carol, Maggie, & Glenn 

If you ever plan on visiting Redwoods National Park, we would recommend you take the time to hike this trail as an introduction to the park like we did.  For us, it was now time to venture on to another hike, slightly longer - Trillium Falls.

Trekking Together,
Glenn & Carol (and Maggie)