Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park (N. Cal)

[jstubbert]

Has anyone visited the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in Northern California? If you have visited the park please let me know what you thought. I am considering spending a few days there in mid summer. Any comments are welcome...

[fishinful]

Prairie Creek SP is a 14000 acre park off Highway 101 just north of Orick Ca.Elk Prairie has Around 75 sites that are all pretty flat.Sites 1-15 or kind of on a loop and most face the meadow out front.The loop in the middle is grassy and flatbut I noticed some people taking headers out there due to various animal holes in the ground.It is as the name says prairie like at these spots.

21-75 are lower and much more verdant.There are little stream srunning through the sites and a small creek behind 32-60.There's really not a bad spot here.

Gold Bluff beach is a tent only area that can be reached of Davison rd.It's pretty rugged and no trailers are allowed.Fern canyon is there too and I heard that some of Jurrasic Park was filmed there.Visitor centers are at Prairie, Redwood creek and Stone lagoon,where there is also first come camping.

Inside the campground-This park has some gigantic trees and their presence is felt throughout the campground. IT is a world class park and I heard six different languages spoken one night. The campfire program at night is the best I've ever seen. Set on a slope, it is complete with a big viewing screen and speakers.The comfortable seats are carved from chunks of redwood. The Rangers gave informative and funny speeches.Lots of trails for all levels.Tons of wildlife incl.Roosevelt Elk,Black Bear and the usual gang of suspects.
The kids really loved the big Banana slugs. Although harmless they emit buckets of snot that is empervious to most cleaners. I suggest gasoline and a match.They even have Banana Slug races at the junior ranger program.

Outside the campground-
 Tons to do here.One thing that was out for us was ocean watersports.Im sure others do but it seemed kinda gnarly with steep drop-offs and such.We did manage to launch the canoe and get some good shorefishing in at the north end of Stone Lagoon.Trees come right to the waters edge on one side and a sand spit runs along the other.It's very senic.We saw posted zero take on the fish in the lagoon and conditions seem to change by the minute.We saw a seal come out of the surf and enter the lagoon to munch on fish.I guess he can't read.We all had a good time putting around and seeing all we could.

The beach in front of Stone lagoon.This was the first chance I got to talk to our No.Cal. brothers about catching Day Smelt.Kinda like our grunion.Using hand held nets these guys walk right into the surf and scoop em up.I talked to a local who fishes commercially and was told that on a good day he could get better than a ton.Seems like a lot of work but at .40 a pound its probably a nice way to earn a little extra.I showed him some knots he hadn't seen before and he gave me some smelt.I then used them to catch some of the biggest Red Tails I've ever seen.We all spent some time here watching the sun go down and wished the days would never end.

The town of Orick is also a place to see,especially the hardware store. This Logging town is a shell of it's former self and the only thing left is tourism.We found everyone we spoke with to be friendly and helpful.Maybe because in spite of the financial hardships they all spoke of ,they live in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

I saw and did some things here that I can relate to you that might give you a heads-up.
1)Newton B. Drury road which runs in front of the park could probably handle me at about 300mph.The speed limit there is much lower.I saw a patrolman hand out his Quota every day.
2)Never mention logging restrictions to a local.
3)Due to logging restrictions,Orick aint what it used to be.They'll keep something on the shelf until it sells.Check out the hardware store.
4)Never eat a burrito from the burger stand next to the hardware store.NEVER.
5)The grocery store had decent produce and cuts of meat.We were out about a week and a half when we pulled into town so we had to resupply a little.The owner seemed eager to answer questions without loosing interest and his replies were right on target.
6)One of the favorite pastimes in town is to pull out into oncoming traffic.At first I thought it was me but by the end of our stay I sat in front of the post office just to watch this happen

This is one of the top 5 SP in CA IMHO