A Bay Area ferry was named for the man born in this Mendocino mill town, and the fern canyon he left behind is a mostly flat 5-mile walk
Little River is easy to miss from Highway 1, and that’s a real shame. Just behind the tiny beach at the river mouth, a canyon opens up so thick with ferns it looks like someone cranked the saturation all the way up.
The man who turned it into public land was born right here in 1881, back when Little River was a working lumber town. He went on to put his name on a San Francisco Bay car ferry, and the forest he left behind became Van Damme State Park.
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A mill-town kid with a ferry named after him
Little River was built as a mill town in 1864, and its wharf was sometimes the only harbor ships on this stretch of coast could use for weeks at a time. John Van Damme, an immigrant from Ostend, Belgium, worked at that mill, and his son Charles was born in town in 1881.
The mill shut down in 1893 once the nearby timber ran out, and the port faded fast after that. Charles ended up in San Francisco, where in 1914 he invested in a new car ferry line, the Richmond-San Rafael Ferry & Transportation Company.
Its first boat was a wooden side-wheeler named the Charles Van Damme. That ferry had a wilder afterlife than most: it later served as a restaurant and then a Sausalito nightclub called The Ark before it was finally demolished in 1983.
Charles used profits from the ferry business to buy a piece of the redwood coast where he was born. After his death, it became a state park in 1934, and Civilian Conservation Corps crews soon built the campground, a picnic area, and a recreation hall that’s now the visitor center.
And no, it has nothing to do with Jean-Claude. Everyone makes the joke, so now you’ve made it too.
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The walk up Fern Canyon
The Fern Canyon Scenic Trail follows the Little River upstream, and for the first 2.5 miles or so it’s wide and mostly flat. Turn around there and you’ve got a roughly 5-mile out-and-back with very little climbing, which is about as relaxed as a long redwood walk gets.
You’ll cross a run of small bridges over the creek, with ferns crowding both banks and redwoods closing in overhead. It’s quiet, green, and a little bit prehistoric. Good luck walking through here without stopping every few minutes.
Want more of a workout? Past that point, the trail climbs on narrower singletrack toward the Pygmy Forest, and the full loop runs roughly 8 miles or more depending on your route, with several hundred feet of climbing.
The fall and winter rains are what keep this canyon so lush, but they also mean mud. Recent hikers have reported muddy stretches and fallen trees, so wear shoes you don’t mind trashing and check current conditions with the park before you go.
My take: in November, the flat out-and-back is the move. You get the best of the canyon without slogging up a slick hill in the drizzle.
The tiny forest up on the ridge
The Pygmy Forest is the strange little bonus up top. Nutrient-poor soil keeps the cypress and pine here stunted, so you’re walking among grown trees that stay shockingly short.
Don’t feel like hiking up? You can drive to it off Airport Road, where a flat, 0.25-mile boardwalk loop is wheelchair accessible. We spent way longer than planned reading the interpretive signs out here, which is a nerdy way of saying it’s fascinating.
Before you go
Day use is $10 per vehicle. Dogs aren’t allowed on the Fern Canyon, Old Logging Road, or Pygmy Forest trails, though they’re welcome on the beach and at Spring Ranch.
Save a little time for the beach at the river mouth, where kayak tours head out to the nearby sea caves. On a gray coastal afternoon, it’s a moody, beautiful spot to end the day.
Our full Van Damme State Park guide covers the blowhole and the blufftop Spring Ranch trail too. Making a weekend of it? Here’s everything else worth doing in Mendocino, just a few miles up the road.
So which are you: a rainy-season fern canyon hiker, or strictly a sunny-day walker? Tell us how you’d do it!
Trip tips: grab a rental car to get out here, lock in your hotel before the good rooms are gone, or skip both and book a camper van instead.
Rules and fees change, so always confirm current requirements before you go.
