Fern Canyon

When Eva told us about Point Reyes Station, she also mentioned Fern Canyon as a stop we should make. Apparently this small spot inside of the Prairie Creek Redwood State Park was one of the taping locations used in Jurassic Park. We had never heard of this spot before and it wasn't in any of our tourbooks, but it sounded pretty interesting so we decided to check it out.

We continued north in the morning toward Fern Canyon. I thought the thick rolling fog was a bay area thing, but apparently the whole coast has the same affliction.

Fern Canyon is a secluded point in the Prairie Creek Redwood State Park. The whole area has abundant wildlife, especially elk. We were just entering the park when we came across a herd of elk crossing the road. In this picture a young elk is being defiant and several of the females come back for him.

The road to Fern Canyon is an 8 mile, off-road trek through a redwood forest and along the beach.

This picture is not in black-and-white. All the plants and trees along the road are covered with dust from the road, making everything look gray.

The entrance to Fern Canyon is just a glimpse of the ornate beauty of this place. There is a shallow stream that runs through the center of the canyon and ferns cover the walls (hence Fern Canyon).

As you get further in, the canyon walls become almost completely vertical.

Along the canyon walls there are periodic breaks in the ferns where the ground water sprinkles over the sides. The water coming over these miniature waterfalls looks like light rain.

About halfway through the canyon there is an enormous redwood tree that is sprawled across the canyon floor. The part of the tree shown in this picture is around 50 to 60 feet long. There is a second half of the same tree behind the visible part that is around the same length. It looks like the tree fell from the top of the canyon and broke in half when it hit the other canyon wall. It must have felt like an earthquake when this tree fell.

At the end of the canyon, you can take stairs up to the top rim.

All the trees on the top rim of the canyon are covered with leafless branches that look like spines.

Near the top, the branches spiral outward like a web.

On the way back through the canyon, I took one more picture of the fern covered walls.

You can see the dark area under the wall where the water is continuing to cut through the canyon wall.

Right outside of the canyon, we came across several male elk grazing on the side of the road. The herd we saw earlier had two males and about 30 females. I guess these guys didn't get invited to the party.

The beach next to the canyon was covered with fragments of old, dead trees. Strangely enough, there were very few trees close to the beach. I don't know if this occurred naturally or if they were put out here.

We finally got back to the entrance of the park. This is where we had seen the herd earlier. As we were driving by, Liz noticed a bunch of little heads sticking up out of the grass. I guess they were taking their after-lunch nap.

Oregon

By this time, we had decided to skip Seattle so that we could shave some time off of our trip. Our current position required us to continue north and spend several hours driving through Oregon before we could meet up with an interstate.

A few minutes after crossing the border, we stopped for gas. An attendant came out to the car and offered us full-service. The attendant told us that Oregon state law dictates that gas stations are required to offer full service. We were happily surprised and were happy to let someone else do the work.

Another thing we noticed about Oregon was the overabundance of cops in the state. In our few hour trip through the state, we saw 15 to 20 people pulled over on the side of the road. This was a pretty significant change from California, where the last cops we saw were from the robbery. We honestly went 4 or 5 days without seeing a police car in California. I guess Oregon cops have no real crimes to deal with so they coagulate on the highways.

In southern Oregon you can clearly see the Illinois river from the highway. Rapids form throughout the course of the river. This pictures shows one of the more tame rapids we saw. Unfortunately, the pictures of the more intense rapids did not come out. We did see several groups rafting along the river, but I doubt that you can follow the full course of the river though. The rocks get very dense in places. I imagine you have to get out and walk quite a bit.

Going Back to Cali

We took I-5 back south in to California. It seems like a lot of backtracking, but there are just not many ways to get from place to place in the middle of nowhere.

This is Mount Shasta (like the drink) in northern California. I don't have any history for you on this mountain, but Liz and I think it looks like a dead volcano. It is pretty tall (hence all the snow) and it's fairly isolated in this area. It also almost looks like its got an open top. I really have no idea, so don't quote me on that.