Notable Campgrounds
Tips for Snagging a Campsite Reservation
- All Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park campsites are reservable 6 months in advance online or by calling 1-800-444-7275.
- Make sure to reserve early if you’d like to camp on a week or during the summer season when campgrounds fill up.
- The Elk Prairie Campground has a hike-in/bike-in section for visitors arriving on foot or bicycle.
When to Go
Summer is Prairie Creek’s busy season, when highs in the 80s and lows in the 50s make for comfortable camping. Just be sure to bring rain gear and a jacket for the common summer morning fog. Winter is also a special season here, when the forest is lush with rainfall and crowds are smaller.
Know Before You Go
- Between May 15 and September 15, the park requires a day-use permit for the popular Gold Bluffs Beach and Fern Canyon areas. Permits are reservable 30 days in advance online through the Redwood Parks Conservancy, although permits are not required with a Gold Bluffs Beach camping reservation.
- The park’s old growth redwood population and its 280 redwood groves have earned it a World Heritage Site & International Biosphere Preserve designation.
- Don’t be surprised if you hear high-pitched screams or whistles between August and October—this is Roosevelt elk mating season, when male elk bugling battles are frequent occurrences.
- The other two state parks in the Redwoods National and State Park complex, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park and Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, lie further north of Prairie Creek near Crescent City.
Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park
Commune with old growth redwoods, lush ferns, and Roosevelt elk.
Centrally located along Highway 101 within the Redwoods National and State Parks complex, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park is, unsurprisingly, known for its towering coastal redwood trees that drink in the morning fog and cast a serene calm over the forest floor. The park’s extraordinary Fern Canyon hike runs along a one-mile section of Home Creek where a canopy of green ferns towers 50 to 80 feet overhead on either side. Less famously, the Prairie Creek also contains a large coastal section with sandy beaches and an inland section with meadows home to Roosevelt elk. Overall, the park contains 75 miles of trails with exceptional hiking, biking, and wildlife watching opportunities—plus gorgeous campsites accommodating tents, RVs, and cabin campers.
Centrally located along Highway 101 within the Redwoods National and State Parks complex, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park is, unsurprisingly, known for its towering coastal redwood trees that drink in the morning fog and cast a serene calm over the forest floor. The park’s extraordinary Fern Canyon hike runs along a one-mile section of Home Creek where a canopy of green ferns towers 50 to 80 feet overhead on either side. Less famously, the Prairie Creek also contains a large coastal section with sandy beaches and an inland section with meadows home to Roosevelt elk. Overall, the park contains 75 miles of trails with exceptional hiking, biking, and wildlife watching opportunities—plus gorgeous campsites accommodating tents, RVs, and cabin campers.
Activities in the park
3 campgrounds in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park
Elk Prairie Campground features 75 campsites nearby an open meadow in this expansive park. Most of the campsites are situated far beneath the redwoods. Campsites have access to showers, bathrooms, picnic tables, fire pits and food lockers. Campsites closest to the meadow give campers the best chance at getting an up-close-and-personal look at roam Read more...
Gold Bluffs Beach Campground is located next to the sand dunes, literally only a few hundred yards away from the beach. There are 25 campsites here, each with a fair amount of space and access to fire pits, picnic tables, showers and restrooms. If you’re not going to be right on the beach, this is about as good as it gets. A great spot for a sandy Read more...
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Notable Campgrounds
Notable Campgrounds
Tips for Snagging a Campsite Reservation
When to Go
Summer is Prairie Creek’s busy season, when highs in the 80s and lows in the 50s make for comfortable camping. Just be sure to bring rain gear and a jacket for the common summer morning fog. Winter is also a special season here, when the forest is lush with rainfall and crowds are smaller.
Know Before You Go
Public campgrounds (book externally) —