Still Wild: Prairie Creek State Park 

Costal fog often covers the redwood forest and slowly burns off in the morning in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.

Late spring and early June brings on the rhododendron flowers throughout the park.

Recommend stopping by the trailhead for Trillium Falls on your way to Fern Canyon for a beautiful hike in old-growth redwoods, lots of trillium and a large waterfall in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.

A large redwood tree "goose pen" (a burned out stump) provided a view of the redwoods along the Trillium Falls trail.

An unusual tunnel tree straddles the Hope Creek trail in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. Lots of wildflowers on this loop trail with Ten Taypo Trail in old-growth redwoods.

An unusual snowplant found along the top of the Hope Creek trail.

Late spring means rhododendrons blooming in the redwoods in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park (Hope Creek trail).

One of many Columbia lily flowers blooming along the Hope Creek trail.

Walking up the small creek in Fern Canyon when seasonal bridges were available.

A tall waterfall coming off the bluffs at Gold Beach along the Coastal Trail north of Fern Canyon.

A sign along the Gold Bluffs road warns to avoid Roosevelt elk cows with calves.

Sighting a young Barred Owl along the Ossagon Trail was a special treat on a August hike.

The signage at the Big Tree suggests there are many other "big trees" to look at in the park.

A closer look at the big tree signage.

The Madison Grant stone monument located in the Elk Prairie of Prairie Creek State Park along the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway on Oct. 12, 2020 prior to it being removed.

The old-growth redwood trees in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park are massive and often over 300 feet tall.

Taking in the sights along the trail.

This is one of 111 memorial groves in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park and this has a local connection. Zipporah Russ donated the land for Russ Park in Ferndale.

The "Hike and Bike Day" on the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway allows you to walk the centerline while looking at the redwoods without fear of vehicle traffic.

While not an every-day occurrence, large bull Roosevelt elk often hang out near the sign for the Elk Prairie Campground and Visitor Center on the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway.

Do not approach the Roosevelt elk that can be found anywhere along the trails, beaches or roads in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.

Sand verbena blossoms on the ocean beach near Ossagon Rocks.

A black-and-white look at sand verbena blossoms near the Ossagon Rocks on the ocean beach.

After the Madison Grant plaque was removed from the stone monument on June 14, it was placed in State Park District Superintendent Victor Bjelajac's vehicle for delivery to State Park storage. The plaque reads: "Madison Grant Forest and Elk Refuge Dedicated to the Memory of Madison Grant, 1865-1957. Conservationist. Author. Anthropologist. A Founder of the Save-the-Redwoods League. This area of 1600 acres, habitat of the last surviving herd in California of Roosevelt Elk is established as a memorial by De Forest Grant, John D. Rockefeller Jr., Archer M. Huntington, New York Zoological Society, Boone and Crockett Club, National Aududon Society, American Wildlife Foundation, Save-the-Redwoods League, California State Parks Commission. 1948"

After the Madison Grant plaque was removed from the stone monument on June 14, it was placed in State Park District Superintendent Victor Bjelajac's vehicle for delivery to State Park storage. The plaque reads: "Madison Grant Forest and Elk Refuge Dedicated to the Memory of Madison Grant, 1865-1957. Conservationist. Author. Anthropologist. A Founder of the Save-the-Redwoods League. This area of 1600 acres, habitat of the last surviving herd in California of Roosevelt Elk is established as a memorial by De Forest Grant, John D. Rockefeller Jr., Archer M. Huntington, New York Zoological Society, Boone and Crockett Club, National Aududon Society, American Wildlife Foundation, Save-the-Redwoods League, California State Parks Commission. 1948"

Victor Bjelajac (right), district superintendent of the North Coast Redwoods District, California Dept. of Parks and Recreation, and Prof. Paul Spickard, Dept. of History at U.C. Santa Barbara, await the flatbed trailer that would haul the large stone monument away from Elk Prairie in Prairie Creek State Park on June 14. Spickard is one of the history scholars who attended a small plaque-removal ceremony on June 15, along with California State Parks and National Park Service leaders and representatives of the Yurok Tribe and Save the Redwoods League.

The large stone monument in memory of Madison Grant, after the plaque had been removed, awaited its move to a flatbed trailer on June 14. The plaque read: "Madison Grant Forest and Elk Refuge Dedicated to the Memory of Madison Grant, 1865-1957. Conservationist. Author. Anthropologist. A Founder of the Save-the-Redwoods League. This area of 1600 acres, habitat of the last surviving herd in California of Roosevelt Elk is established as a memorial by De Forest Grant, John D. Rockefeller Jr., Archer M. Huntington, New York Zoological Society, Boone and Crockett Club, National Aududon Society, American Wildlife Foundation, Save-the-Redwoods League, California State Parks Commission. 1948"

Victor Bjelajac (right), district superintendent of the North Coast Redwoods District, California Dept. of Parks and Recreation, and Prof. Paul Spickard, Dept. of History at U.C. Santa Barbara, await the flatbed trailer that would haul the large stone monument away from Elk Prairie in Prairie Creek State Park on June 14. Spickard is one of the history scholars who attended a small ceremony on June 15, along with California State Parks and National Park Service leaders and representatives of the Yurok Tribe and Save the Redwoods League.

Personnel from Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park used this large CAT hydraulic excavator to remove the large stone monument from Elk Prairie onto a waiting flatbed trailer on June 14. The boulder will be placed on the east side of the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway.

Late spring means rhododendrons blooming in the redwoods in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park (Hope Creek trail).