5 Tips for Hiking Fern Canyon in the Redwoods

For our second day in the Redwoods, we wanted to do a longer hike so we decided on the Fern Canyon / Friendship Ridge / West Ridge / Coastal Trail loop. It was listed as seven miles but it is longer than that. We got lost on the Fern Canyon Loop so we had to backtrack and ended up hiking over nine miles. It was a long, tough hike but seeing so many Elk made it worth it.

Don’t make the same mistake we did! Here are our five tips for hiking Fern Canyon in the Redwoods: 1) Give yourself plenty of time to get there, 2) Don’t miss the stairs as we did!, 3) Bring a change of socks, 4) Pack a snack, 5) Want to see Elk? Get a later start. Don’t have time to read this now? Pin it for later!

Tips

Give yourself plenty of time to get to the Fern Canyon Day Use parking lot
- Fern Canyon Day Use is at the end of Davison Road which is unpaved and rough. We had to cross two little streams.
- A vehicle with high clearance is not required but definitely makes the trip easier.
  - The Mazada behind us had no issues but we did pass a Telsa stopped in the middle of the road.
- It took us approximately 30 minutes to get there once we got off Highway 101.
- There is an $8 day-use fee but National Park Service (NPS) passes are honored.
Don’t miss the stairs on the Fern Canyon Loop as we did!
- The Fern Canyon Loop is short so keep a lookout for the stairs on the left side of Home Creek.
- Don’t make the same mistake we did and miss these stairs.
- If the creek crossings are feeling like they are becoming impassable and your feet are getting really wet you have probably gone too far.
Bring a change of socks or wear waterproof shoes
- Depending on how good your balance is or isn’t your shoes might get very wet while crossing Home Creek.
- We hiked at the end of February and some of the branches you step on for crossing the creek were submerged.
- Long hikes are not fun with wet feet so bring a change of socks.
- During the summer, footbridges are installed.
Pack a snack
- The Fern Canyon / Friendship Ridge / West Ridge / Coastal Trail loop is long and challenging. There are a lot of switchbacks on Friendship Ridge.
- There is a wooden bench on Friendship Ridge and this is a great spot to take a break and have a snack.
- I love my Itzy Ritzy Reusable Snack Bag from Amazon. This machine-washable bag is perfect for our hiking snacks.
Want to see Elk? Get a later start.
- You want to finish your hike in the late afternoon.
- We recommend a Noon start. Just make sure you are out of there before sunset.
- Around 4 pm we saw over 15 Elk on the Coastal Trail before the Fern Canyon Day Use parking lot.
- On our drive home, we saw 40-50 at the Elk Meadow around 5 pm.
- Take a look at our video here.

Maps

Fern Canyon / Friendship Ridge / West Ridge / Coastal Trail loop

Trail Maps

Interested in this hike? Click here for the trail map.

Looking for other hikes in the area? Click here for the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park brochure.

Prefer an easier hike? Hike the Fern Canyon Loop only which is listed as 0.6 miles but just over one mile from the parking lot.

Redwood National Park Map

Looking for the Redwood National Park map click here. This map is also broken down into North and South maps. Get the detailed North map here which includes Crescent City and Klamath, and the detailed South map here which includes the Prairie Creek Visitor Center and Kuchel Visitor Center.

California Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip

Where are we going next on our CA US 101 road trip? Check out our CA Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip by RV route.

Thinking about visiting the Redwoods? Looking for things to do? How about places to stay? Check out our Redwood articles including our Planning a Trip to Trinidad CA article.

Interested in things to do in California? Take a look at our California articles. Where are we going next? Don’t miss an adventure, subscribe today.