The most popular/famous sight in Prairie Creek state park is fern canyon. Ferns grow in great profusion all over the redwood forest, but in fern canyon they grow on vertical walls over 30 feet high and if you don't mind getting your feet a little wet, you can walk through the canyon's winding bottom where some scenes from Jurassic Park were filmed.
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| We had to cross the creek a dozen times ... |
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| ...and climb over jumbles of logs. But it was worth it! |
Fern canyon's entrance is at Gold Bluffs Beach, where we could take Tucker for a romp. On our way back to the truck we saw a lone buck Roosevelt elk grazing.
Roosevelt elk nearly went extinct. In fact, the last herd was down to 15 animals when Prairie Creek SP was created in 1925. Today they are like pigeons in the park. Well, not really, but they are plentiful and fairly complacent around people. It is rutting season and the bulls (1,200 pounds worth) can get aggressive. In fact, one killed a chihuahua a few weeks ago (now THAT seems like an unfair fight!). We were thrilled to see one pretty close up at the beach, but when we were driving back home, we saw a small group of cows and one bull walking (no, strutting) across a meadow near the road.
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