Prairie Creek Visitor Center is an excellent starting point for your adventures in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. The center is staffed by knowledgeable rangers and is a great source of information about the parks’ history, environment and wildlife. Prairie Creek Visitor Center also serves as the trailhead for short and long walks amid soaring redwood groves.
Interpretive boards inside the center provide information about the park's fauna, flora and the Yurok tribespeople. See the relics of animals and a stuffed bear. Ask about ranger-led activities, such as guided walks and campfires, which take place during the summer months. Purchase books and maps and pick up a children’s activity booklet.
You can choose to relax or be active when visiting the center. Sit at the picnic tables and have lunch accompanied by views of lush green redwood forests. Several trails start and finish at the center. Among them is the Cathedral Trees Trail and the Prairie Creek Trail. Both connect with a path that leads to the 304-feet (92.6-meter) tall Big Tree Wayside.
Engage your senses on the Revelation Trail, a walk geared toward visually impaired visitors. Compare the texture of the coarse bark of a redwood to the moss that drapes firs and spruces. For something more adventurous, the 4.2-mile (6.8-kilometer) long James Irvine Trail passes old-growth trees to Fern Canyon, used as a filming location for Jurassic Park II. Stroll along a creek while gazing up at sheer walls covered in ferns.
Find the visitor center located toward the southern end of Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway. There’s ample parking outside the entrance. Campers can stay overnight at Elk Prairie Campground, located 0.5 miles (0.8 kilometers) away. Elk and deer can be seen grazing in the campground’s surrounding prairie land.
Prairie Creek Visitor Center is open year round. It closes on New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day only. Permits for Flint Ridge, Gold Bluffs Beach and Tall Trees are available at the center. A list of upcoming activities is accessible on the official website of the National Park Service.
