Explore Fern Canyon

Magical place within redwood national park. Must do trail in the area. Hiking the loop is about a mile long and takes about 30-40 minutes. Elevation about 150ft for the loop. But one can just see the canyon without much effort of a hike. Just a 10 minute walk leads to the river and canyon with a good view. Shoes get wet if river flow is too much but wooden bridges are placed to avoid entering water during summer. Entry is by timed reservation only. Slots are released months ahead but they also release limited slots at 9AM the day before. Need to pay $12 cash at entrance station. Road is mostly gravel for about 7 miles and takes 45 minutes off of 101. Some places have flowing creeks which might be tough for low clearance vehicles. Parking is plenty and we had no issues finding a spot. Pit toilets available at parking.

Beautiful !! Reserved tickets to Gold Bluffs beach a month earlier. A short easy hike to the place. There were a couple of streams of water to the visitor center. The road wasn’t that good, quite bumpy, big potholes. Quite a number of people came in SUVs, but saw a few sedans also.

I felt like a fairy in an enchanted forest. My kids loved it (16 & 8). It was an easy hike with lots of beautiful landscape. I wanted to stay here forever. So many ferns, slugs & mushrooms. We didn’t do the loop but it wasn’t that long. We were able to get a reservation because we were camping at Golden Bluffs so I can’t comment on the process but we went after 5pm and there was plenty of parking but the canyon was full of people. Popular place & I can see why

Like walking through a rain forest!!! If you can, definitely take the time to walk thru Fern Canyon. You will not regret it!!!!!!!! Be careful driving the road to get here, it gets narrow with plenty of blind corners.

One of the highlights to our trip, be sure to secure your pass before you go. Go early to avoid crowds. Water shoes are not required but we are glad we wore ours!