Headwaters Forest Reserve protects 7,472 acres of coastal redwood forest containing some of the last undisturbed old-growth redwood stands in the world. The Reserve lies within the ancestral homeland of the Wiyot people, who have lived, traded, and traveled along the waterways of the Humboldt Bay region for millennia. Our destination? Elk River Trail.
Unfortunately, Elk River Trail is closed 2.2 miles from the trailhead because of an active landslide. So, we hiked out and back to the closure. The trail follows an abandoned logging road to the site of the historic old-growth forest town of Falk. There isn’t anything left now, in fact, the vegetation is so thick you can’t even see where the town would have been!
Founded as a company mill town in 1884, Falk grew to 400 residents and thrived for 50 years. The town was founded by Noah Falk, one of the thousands who immigrated to California from the eastern United States, seeking a quick fortune in the gold fields. Falk left Ohio and arrived in San Francisco in 1854, but unlike the gold miners, he was lured to the “redwood gold” of the North Coast, where he worked 30 years in the lumber mills.
Our hike had a rainforest feel to it with a lot of mossy trees, ferns, and of course, redwoods. It rained the night before so everything was dripping and sections were muddy. The sound of the rushing Elk River serenades you the whole way.
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