For the past few years, we have made it a family tradition to go on a “Hard Things Hike” on July 24th, in honor of the Mormon Pioneers who trekked west on foot to settle Utah and continue the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This year, we were in the Redwoods and Fern Canyon was the most glorious hike.

Driving there was a journey in itself…it was about an hour from the Drive Thru Tree. We had to drive through a slow canyon and even crossed through a river! But every minute in the car was worth the time we got to spend in that canyon.

I would venture to say that Fern Canyon is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. It reminded me a bit of New Zealand, with its lush green colors and the feeling there. It was just so beautiful!

This was the first glance we got as we went into the canyon:

There were little board bridges to cross, but we ended up just walking through the stream most the time.

As we got farther into the canyon, it just got more beautiful! Different varieties of ferns covered the canyon walls from ground to top, making it feel like we were in a lush rainforest.

We took the loop all the way around through the “magical forest” as one lady we met put it, but we regretted our decision to not hike back out the way we came. Hiking through the stream in that canyon of ferns is not an opportunity we get every day.

The trail was pretty and cute little Evelyn loved picking ferns along the way.

But Brandon knew it would make my heart happy to go back through the canyon, so he hung out with Evelyn and Eli at the base while I took Oliver and Blake back through part way. I sure loved watching Blake help Oliver over the bridges and through the stream. Brotherly love…it’s a real thing between them.

Seriously, so beautiful. And that canyon!

After Fern Canyon, it was time to start the drive back to Utah. Our plan was to make it to Reno for the night, but when we were about 20 minutes away, the freeway was shut down due to a wild fire. We had to turn around, and take another loop 3 extra hours to get to Redding, where at 2 am we decided to stop for the night. There’s always got to be some sort of adventure, right? Good thing we had sweet dreams of Fern Canyon all night long.