Fern Canyon

Today, Mary-Anne and Joe picked me up and got to see the KOA I'm working at. We headed 50 miles down the coast to Elk Meadow (we saw a few elk lying in the grass at Elk Prairie but none at the meadow. Then we wended our way on a one-lane unpaved road, wet and muddy from rain, up over some small hills and down to Gold Bluff Beach and along that to the Fern Canyon trailhead, fording a few streams along the way.

Less than a quarter-mile along a nice level trail we entered Fern Canyon, a micro-climate where ferns have grown to cover the walls of the canyon, waving in the breeze, with an active creek along the bottom. Here's a couple of pictures.


Not only was it overcast but it was really really humid, which made it feel really chilly. Interesting experience, though. And this place was filmed by Lucas for use in Star Wars for the Ewok planet.

Joe found a tiny fleck of gold in the stream. This area had a mini-Gold Rush back in the 1890s.

After leaving here, we drove to the Trees of Mystery so they could see the Native American Museum collection.

Back to Crescent City. We were all starving so we wound up at the Chart Room Restaurant. Joe had chili and a vege sandwich. Mary-Anne and I both had the seafood platter, with ling cod, shrimp, and scallops, grilled, fries, coleslaw. Didn't take us long at all to scarf it all down.

We stopped by their motel to get some goodies they'd brought across country for me. The most important was two packages of Newman's Ginger Creme Cookies. I've looked everywhere and the only place I've found them is the Ingles in Asheville. Very odd.

After a stop at Safeway for me to pick up a few grociers, we wended our way back to the KOA. Sat and chatted a bit, took a few photos, hugged, and they went back to town, planning to go across to the Battery Point Lighthouse at low tide.

A very nice day. It was great to see them both. They say they're having a wonderful time and doing lots of silly things. Good!