Stroll through canyon walls cloaked in ferns

Start at the Fern Canyon parking lot beside the dunes of Gold Bluffs Beach. Head up Home Creek to a cozy canyon walled with deer, chain, sword, lady, five-finger and other ferns. It's mostly a gentle stroll, but you do have to cross the creek several times and clamber over the occasional log. In spring and summer, you'll be sharing the forest with lots of other people, as well as the occasional dipper, frog, garter snake, or salamander — and squirming mounds of millipedes. To avoid crowds, visit early in the morning or late in the afternoon.

At the end of the canyon, head up steps that circle back to the parking lot through a Sitka spruce and Douglas-fir forest. Along the way, you'll pass a meadow that was once a small mining town. It's much drier on the upper part of the loop, and seasonally offers good flowers, birding, and berry sampling (for those who know edibles from poisonous species).

Difficulty: Easy, Trail Length: 0.7 miles, Elevation Change: level, Ave. Time: 1 hour