Day Two

Carson Mansion
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The sky was gloomy and there was a light drizzle when we set out on our second day. Eureka is quieter than I expected. There were rarely any people in the streets, no vehicles on the roads. Though the biggest city in Humboldt County, Eureka has a population of just 28,000. US-101N becomes the 5th Street and 101S, the 4th Street in downtown Eureka. Drive on those two streets, you'd cover the downtown. Drive also on the 2nd Street, you'd cover the Old Town Eureka.

Elks, resting
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Carson Mansion

We were awe-struck

If there is only one thing you want to see in Eureka, that is Carson Mansion - a Victorian style house built in 1885. This is the most photographed Victorian buildings in California, as they say.

Through the vacant old town streets, we cruised to the Carson Mansion. We were there by 10 AM and found that we were alone. I parked the car opposite the mansion.

Fern Canyon
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Carson Mansion is hardly a mansion - size wise. None the less it has an interesting architecture. The mansion is privately owned - currently home of a local club, and tourists are not allowed inside. So we walked around the mansion looking at it from different angles. There are also some other Victorian era buildings near the Carson Mansion. We clicked some snaps and started from there, just when more tourists started arriving.

Driving over the near by Samoa Bridge, we entered Woodley Island Marina and stopped at Cafe Marina for brunch. This cafe offers a great view of the marina, besides tasty food.

Victorian Building, Eureka
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Hello Elks

Next destination per our plan is the Fern Canyon Trail. This trail is a few miles north of Orick, which is 42 miles from Eureka. These 40 plus miles north of Eureka are perhaps the most scenic portion of US-101 - at least that I've driven. As we were approaching Trinidad, it appeared as though we are in the actual Caribbean. The dense fog that covered the jungle made the vistas look like one of the Skull Island scenes from King Kong.

Driving past Trinidad, we saw a fenced area on our right with some Elks relaxing in there. So we pulled over and parked. There were already some tourists busily clicking snaps away. There are over a dozen Elks, most of them resting. One of them was close to the fence, eating grass and posing for photoes.

Fern Canyon Trail

After a short break at a gift shop near by, we proceded towards Orick. Two miles after Orick, taking a left turn at Davison Road, we continued on the dirt road for 6 miles. The drive was very bumpy and it took about 20 minutes for those six miles. Finally we reached the Gold Bluff Beach. Entry fee is $5. There's another 3 miles drive on the dirt road, fording through three small streams, to the trail head. When we reached there, almost all parking lots were taken. We were lucky to find a spot without any waiting.

Fern Canyon is about a quarter mile from the trail head. It's a narrow canyon whose walls are covered with ferns and are dripping with moisture. As we entered the canyon, we were awe-struck by its beauty. No wonder Steven Speilberg chose this place as one of the locations for Jurrasic Park II.

The trail is around 4.6 miles long (round-trip). We walked for a mile or so and  decided to turn back, as we didn't come prepared for a five mile hike. We spotted a couple of elks on our way back to the parking lot.

It was 4:30 P.M. when we reached Trinidad in our return journey. The plan was to see the sun set in Trinidad, but there was no trace of Mr. Sun. It was very cloudy, so we decided not to wait for sun set. Instead, we had early dinner at a local restaurant and drove back to Eureka for the night. Before that we spent some time at the view-point at the Memorial Lighthouse, overlooking Trinidad harbor. It would have been a great view, had the Sun been there.