Russian Gulch has two completely different beautiful things in it and we’ll do both.
The Devil’s Punchbowl is a sea cave whose roof fell in, leaving a hole a hundred feet across that fills and drains with every swell, and on a big day at high tide you’ll hear it booming before you see it. It’s an easy three quarters of a mile out along the headland to get there, with the old highway bridge arching overhead most of the way.
Then we’ll turn inland and walk up Fern Canyon, which is exactly as good as it sounds: a creek bed running through walls of fern with redwood closing over the top, cool and green the whole way, ending at a waterfall about thirty-six feet high. Chris names plants as we go and you’ll be naming a few of them yourself by the halfway point.
Easy going, lovely for families, and back at camp by early afternoon.
