Fern Falls is a 20-foot waterfall on a small creek in the Lakes Basin of Plumas National Forest, Plumas County, California, between Graeagle and Gold Lake. It is one of several tiers on the same creek, a short walk from the Gold Lake Highway.
The falls
Lidar suggests a single drop of about 20 feet; earlier surveys listed 35 feet. Fern Falls can be treated as four distinct tiers—upper, main, middle and lower—spaced along roughly 0.1 mile of creek. This listing marks the lowest of them.
Getting there
The trailhead is on the Gold Lake Highway about 6 miles from Highway 89, and the Fern Falls Trail runs 0.1 mile one way, starting 0.7 mile beyond Lakes Basin Campground. A dirt pullout on the west side of the road has a signpost and a footbridge over the creek. A Forest Service trail sheet marks that bridge closed, and 2024 federal funding went to its restoration; check with Plumas National Forest before going.
When to go
The Gold Lake Highway is often closed by snow until June; check road conditions first.
On site
The trail is short but rocky, with big granite steps, and hard to follow in places; keeping to the creek leads to the falls. Penstemons, mountain lilac and mariposa lilies grow in the rocky soil. There is no official trail down the creek, only use trails, and the lower tier sits in a steep, narrow section that requires leaving the creek and working back down to it.
Nearby
Halsey Falls is about 0.4 mile away, Frazier Falls about 1.3 miles and Little Jamieson Falls about 1.9 miles.
Distances are straight-line.