Prairie Creek Redwoods

From Humboldt we drove north along the coast to Prairie Creek Redwoods National Park. We made a stop for food and fuel supplies in Eureka, which had a very cute historic downtown. One of our favorite shops:


We made it to Prairie Creek by early afternoon and settled quickly so that we could begin our exploration of this new, much wetter redwood forest.


We found a great deal of animal and plant diversity and went on a plant identification walk to learn more.

Perhaps our favorite discovery: the Thimble berry. It grows wild, along with salmon berry and Himalayan blackberry. It tastes a bit like a raspberry, with slightly earthier tones and is ripe when it is bright red.

The Leopard Lilly


Wild Iris


Rhododendrons, which famously grow as large trees in the region

One of a large population of slimy, crawly creatures. Pretty cute though.

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The next day we geared up for a 12 mile loop through the forest, out to the beach, and back again. It was so beautiful and comfortable hiking in the cool, misty forest, we decided that there really is nothing better.




The midway point of our hike was Fern Canyon, a gorgeous little stretch of 30-50 ft high walls covered in delicate ferns and moss:


This is the cone of the redwood tree. It carries seeds that are little bigger than those of a tomato.
That's right, this little seed is the beginning of these trees: