Prairie Creek Trail

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park protects a long meadow corridor flanked by old-growth coast redwood, and the Prairie Creek Trail loops through both habitats in a single outing. The meadow itself is the centerpiece: a herd of roughly 120 Roosevelt elk resides here year-round, the bulls carrying massive antlers through autumn when the rut fills the meadow with bugling that carries for miles in the coastal fog. Elk within 50 feet of the trail are routine, and the September rut brings visitor numbers second only to the summer solstice. The forest sections of the loop pass through redwoods exceeding 300 feet in height and 20 feet in circumference, their bark the color of cinnamon and deeply furrowed in channels that channel rainwater to the root zone. Sword ferns reach shoulder height in the understory, and banana slugs — the canary-yellow detritivores that serve as the forest's decomposition engine — are visible on every damp morning. The trail crosses Prairie Creek on a footbridge midway through the loop, where coho salmon spawn in November and December, turning the clear water orange-red with their bodies.