Zigzag #2 to Fern Canyon by West Ridge, Friendship Ridge, and California Coastal Trail

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

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It is my opinion that on any given day, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park will have the best weather anywhere. Well, at least it's most likely to have good weather. It is possible a few other people have heard, or maybe it was just that it was a Friday, because there were quite a few people in the various turnouts. There were fewer as I got north and by Zigzag #2, there were only two cars there already. This is actually the north trailhead for the Prairie Creek Trail and the spot I crossed the road to start back when I failed to find any rhododendron blooming along the Rhododendron Trail. It's too late for those now, but the redwoods are always about and tall.

Getting started at the signed trailhead. They sign suggests a loop with Zigzag #1 if wanting a longer hike.

The biggest trees live down right beside the creek.

Everything is well signed. The Prairie Creek Trail turns south and Zigzag #2 turns north looking like it will follow the creek the other way. It crosses the shallow creek, a little further, and then turns to climb. The zigzags are short as they climb to the ridge trail above. There are a several, then a longer stretch, and several more. It flattens out a bit on its own ridge just as it arrives at West Ridge Trail.

Little plants grow in the steps up the bridge across Prairie Creek. Most the creeks have bridges across them.

The trees on the ridge are generally much smaller.

High on the ridge with choices. I want to go north, so right.

There's memorial groves up on the ridge. One even has a little trail, but it doesn't go very far at all. I very much enjoyed walking along the ridge top trees, their multitude being very visible down on either side. The ocean roar became very audible along one section above the crease of a creek.

I can see why someone might choose to have their memorial grove up here instead of down by the creek where they are easier to get to. The trail just goes about 100 feet now.

The sun shines through a hole in a burned, tall stump.

There's still plenty of big trees up on the ridge, too.

Wandering along the top of the ridge.

Then I saw the stump. I had not been expecting that. Past the first stump, the trail is on an old road and there are more roads that travel down toward the ocean. There's a bit over half a mile that was logged, and not that long ago. The area is thick with tiny redwoods. It is crazy to see an area of just four huge stumps with more than 100 tiny stems trying to take the space for themselves. The forest is dark and the floor thick with the litter of discarded branches and fallen trees. A few big trees were left. One with crazy iterations wasn't good enough. A pair that were shortened by a storm weren't worth cutting. A row of four, each with a burned strip down the side were left for later. Otherwise, the forest is like a crazy tangle of thin wood.

There's a big stump back there and a lot of new trees trying to take its place creating a lot of debris.

A trunk split into many and branches with super massive spiders popping out of all sides save this tree.

If you look at the old USGS maps, they show where the road came up from the main road below and a Zigzag #3. Neither is apparent as a path now. I wonder what became of #3. The evidence of destruction ends and ocean roar is audible as the trail becomes trail again just before the junction with Friendship Ridge. I turned left for a clockwise circuit and met the first people of the day on trail. There were four groups going counterclockwise all nearing the top of the ridge. Perhaps I was going the "wrong way". Near the top is a trail marked as memorial groves which I suspect is the Boat Creek Trail marked on the park map.

Boat Creek Trail? Presumably the sign for the memorial groves will get planted eventually. The trail is narrow, but it is there, and a sign a few feet in warns those trying to make a loop that this has no outlet.

The trees are not so big along Friendship Ridge, but still fairly open.

The trees get smaller nearing the ocean and let in other sorts more. Although skinny and numerous, it is still a very different forest from the logged one above.

I passed another group before coming down to Irvine Trail where backpackers were just passing. I could hear a lot of voices. Some of them, like the backpackers, were even German. I walked the short way down to Fern Canyon, where someone greeted me in the traditional way, "Is this the way to the waterfall?" It must be traditional since I got the same greeting last time I was in that spot. As the waterfall is somewhere up the coast and that junction is inland up a creek, no, it is not the way to the waterfall. I decided to wander through the canyon again even though I knew it would be stuffed with people. I'd thought it might not be. I thought I saw the state park web site saying the road was closed for repairs and the bridges weren't in yet. Maybe I imagined it. Neither was true. Even with the bridges, I didn't make any attempt to keep my feet dry this time. The canyon wasn't crammed in shoulder to shoulder, but there were a few dozen wandering about. There were more Germans and others from Europe mixed in. I thought travel between counties was difficult at the moment. Did I imagine that too? One can only hope. That more than half the people wandering the place were wearing masks suggests not.

Fern Canyon looks to have about the same amount of water as in March, but a lot more people.

Fun to observe the trees at the tops of the vertical sides.

There are waterfalls within the canyon. They are rather dribbly and more marked by the moss instead of ferns than by the falling water.

I got to the James Irvine Trail again and went up the steps to see of that's where the California Coastal Trail is. It isn't. I just ended up having to pass a couple more groups who had decided to circle back from their short jaunt up the canyon. I went down and tried again just following the canyon down. That worked. I just had to avoid anything with a sign indicating that it was marshy beyond and I should very much keep out.

This is the way to the waterfall. It still feels a bit like being in a canyon, but there is only one wall through here.

I was sort of expecting to end up on the beach and making my way on sand to the next bit, but the trail actually travels a lot like the road does, just inside the trees below the cliffs. There's a wide expanse of not-quite-dunes before the beach and the waves I couldn't see. It doesn't stay within the trees and comes out into spots I suspect become shallow puddles when it rains. I could see remnants of the old road it followed within the trees, but wasn't going to try to follow those when everything it dry.

Out on the edge of the dunes, such as they are.

I saw one wave break through there, but it must have been a big one because the next few just showed a little rolling like this.

The view ahead to the rest of the coast to the north. The conifers here are generally Sitka spruce.

The trail dips back into the trees once in a while and along one I could hear water falling. I'd made it to the waterfall. Well, not so much the waterfall as a waterfall. There are actually three in close proximity and I expect the middle one is the waterfall. All have little trails up to the base, but the middle one also has a bench down by the main trail and is slightly more flow.

The first waterfall is really just a bigger trickle than the ones in Fern Canyon.

Funny to look up it from below. The trees stick out very far and probably fell slightly to get that way.

There's a bit more water in the second waterfall, but it really isn't that much either.

It's a pretty little waterfall.

One last waterfall, and it really is a trickle.

I continued on, noticing no more possible waterfalls. There are a couple spots where there might be streams, but they have canyons.

The changes in vegetation show where the area floods regularly. It's all dry now and covered in invasive purple pennyroyal.

There's a fair bit of shade to travel within.

The next time the trail gets into the trees, it is on its way to the junction. There is no bridge over Butler Creek, which isn't all that big. There probably was one once as there is another nearby. A little sign points the way up West Ridge Trail once again. It also points the way to a trail camp in another half mile. That's where I would want to do my backpacking to. Too bad it has been removed.

A little water coming out a big, dark canyon at the Butler Creek crossing.

A little sign points out the steps at the far northwest side of the West Ridge Trail.

I briefly thought about checking out the trail camp, but decided to leave that to another outing. I headed up the steps and past a sign proclaiming me safe from tsunamis. The trail looks like it was once a road. It follows beside the creek, but I couldn't see it running down below the short cliff. I heard some sounds like water falling into a pool shortly before the trail crosses the creek. That must be where the cliff sided canyon starts. There's probably another waterfall to check out there somewhere.

I can hear the sounds of water tumbling, but can't see anything from here.

The bridge over one fork of the creek is looking a little concerning. The break doesn't look that old, either.

The trail on the old road starts climbing steeply up along the ridge.

Redwoods are more visible as the trail wraps away from the ocean, and less as it gets into view.

A brief flat bit on the trail for a little rest while hiking.

The best view of waves on the whole hike is from halfway up the ridge.

Looking very much like the top of a ridge as the trail levels again.

I found more memorial groves, many with benches, once at the top. I dreaded passing the junction a little. It means quickly getting back into the cut forest. Not only is it a mess, but the trail drops off the ridge and into soggy areas with lots of low growth along the way. There is encroaching vegetation an mud to worry about.

These Clintonia were mystery leaves when I went on the Rhododendron Trail. They've been sprays of purple flowers since and now fruits in a quite impressive shade of blue.

Stump sprouts so thick that the edge of the tree is now a wall of smaller trees.

The banana slugs on this day were all quite bright yellow with no splotches while the ones two days before were all with big brown splotches.

Road through the forest thick with skinny redwood stems.

The road ends and the more open forest begins again.

I enjoyed the light in the forest as the sun got lower. Back at Zigzag #2 I had to decide if I wanted to continue on to Zigzag #1. Yes, I did want to stay up on the ridge a little longer, but I felt my legs were voting against. It would probably be past sunset when I got back if I did that. Truthfully, the only deadline is when parking along Newton B. Drury becomes illegal at 10PM. One can wander these forests a certain amount in the dark. I headed down the same wiggling track I climbed in the morning.

Prairie Creek as it flows under the bridge.

There was still one other car parked in the turnout. It was one I'd seen in the morning too, so I wondered how far they were going that they managed to hike even longer than I did.




©2020 Valerie Norton
Written 15 Aug 2020