Following our never ending search of the mysterious dreamcatchers in the trees, Al, Danny, and I decided to check out Fern Canyon. Al informed us that Steven Speilberg chose this location to film Jurrasic Park 2 and I decided that if Avatar were real, Fern Canyon might be somewhere in Pandora.
Throughout the whole hike, Al would say, "just around the corner, it's about to get really cool." This quickly became the theme of our hike and every corner I was anxious to see what Al had in store for us.
I couldn't help, but stop every time I saw something that I wanted to take a photo of. Despite being incredibly hard to photograph, the redwoods have some amazing surroundings and are considered to be temperate rain forests.
As we all looked forward to making it to Fern Canyon, I kept my eyes peeled for Big Foot. If he exists, Northern California certainly seems like the perfect place for him to live.
The temperature was cool and moist. Dew collected on everything and every inch of the ground, trees, and forest floor was covered in green. I almost expected to hear tropical birds singing and monkeys playing in the trees, but for the most part it was quiet except for us.
Occasionally we would stumble across some elk tracks and large packs of centipedes dancing in the damp earth below our feet. You couldn't help, but step on them at times because they were everywhere.
Once we realized what time it was we put away the cameras and started to move quickly to reach our final destination...Fern Canyon.
The trail lowered into the canyon with 50-80 foot walls on either side with a modest creek running through. It's crazy to think that over time this small little creek created this canyon. Walking through the ferns you could hear tiny water falls all over and the soft dripping sound of water finding it's way through the leaves into the creak.
Pictures don't to Fern Canyon justice, but being there was special. It was magical and much brighter than the forest trail we took to get here. As time was running out, after spending some time in the canyon, we packed up and headed back another 5 miles to our car in perfect time to watch the sunset over the ocean.