Gold Bluffs Beach

No volleyball tournaments, restaurant-packed wharfs, or crowded promenades -- Gold Bluffs Beach is for those who enjoy wild places filled only with the sounds of rolling surf and circling birds. Arrive prepared for fog, although many summer days do bring warm sunshine. Beach lovers enjoy strolling along the edge of the surf for miles, often without passing another person.

Permits are now required to visit Gold Bluffs Beach Day-Use Area, including the Fern Canyon Trailhead, from May 15th to September 15th
Gold Bluffs Beach Day-Use & Fern Canyon Trailhead Reservations

Exploring Fern Canyon

The long, dusty drive to Fern Canyon is soon forgotten when hikers set out on the short loop trail through the lush creek valley. The 50-foot-tall canyon walls are draped in a variety of species of ferns, giving the shaded canyon the appearance of a hanging garden. Among the types ferns are chain, finger, deer, lady, and sword ferns.

Visitors to the canyon can drive out to the end of Davison Road to a trailhead parking area. The brief approach hike passes through meadows often scattered with wildflowers. An occasional Roosevelt elk might be seen there. A gentle stream bubbles out of the canyon. During the summer foot-bridges are installed at stream crossings. The mile-long trail through the canyon loops back along the canyon rim, but many hikers prefer to double back the way they came.

Fern Canyon can also be reached by hike from Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park headquarters area along the James Irvine Trail. The trail descends about 300 feet over its 4½-mile course to the mouth of Fern Canyon.

Caution: Check with rangers or lifeguards that conditions are safe for your planned activities.

Birding

Birders watch the sand, the sky, and bordering shrubs and trees for the wide variety of birds that make the beach area their home or migration stopping place. Among the most common feathered visitors are Whimbrels, Sanderlings, Western Sandpipers, and Western Snowy Plovers. A variety of gulls frequent the beach along with terns and California Brown Pelicans. The freshwater pond near the entrance to Gold Bluffs Beach is home to herons and egrets, bald eagles and ospreys, kingfishers and coots.

Geology

The appearance of specks of gold scatted through the sand at Gold Bluffs Beach was enough to attract a rush of miners to the beach in the 1850s. Savvy miners probably began to work their way up nearby streams searching for the source of the gold, but without luck. The actual source is found in the distant Klamath Mountains where prospectors discovered significant gold in the 1800s. Miners on Gold Bluffs Beach found the most gold concentrated in tide pool pockets. They mined these with moderate success for a few years.

In ancient times mouth of the Klamath River was at Gold Bluffs Beach. Over millenniums, the build-up of sediments gradually pushed the river northward. The composition of the bluffs along the beach are the result of the river depositing eroded material from the Klamath Mountains, giving Gold Bluffs a different composition than other parts of the northern California coast.

Fishing

Surf fishing along Gold Bluffs Beach is a popular past-time for day visitors and those staying in the campground. Options vary about the best tides for fishing, but there is little argument that sand crabs, dug from the beach, are a sure-fire bait. A popular target for surf anglers here are redtail perch which feed on the sand crabs as well as mussels and clams. The beach by Fern Canyon is considered a hot spot for redtail perch.

Hike the California Coastal Trail

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park contains a small section of the California Coastal Trail which one day will extend 1,200 miles from San Diego County north to Del Norte County. Currently the project is more than half-way completed. The trail is a network of public trails for use by everyone from walkers to equestrians.

Prairie Creek Annual Candlelight Walk

December TBA, 2024
Prairie Creek Redwoods SP Visitor Center
A ranger-guided walk through an ancient redwood forest lit by 300 luminaries
5:00 PM to 8:00 PM
$25 per person, children 12 and under are free
Storytelling, silent auction, and refreshments
Reservation become available on November 1
Candlelight Walk at Prairie Creek Redwoods SP