This area encompasses most of the North Fork of Willow Creek, the largest creek or river on the Big Sur coast originating in lands unprotected as wilderness. From an elevation of 3200' along the Coast Ridge, the North Fork and its tributaries wind through steep canyons of dense old-growth forest on their way to the sea, some eight miles away. The Willow Creek watershed is notable for the largest forest of Douglas fir on California's central coast. Spruce Creek, a tributary of Willow Creek, contains the most extensive stands.
The canyons also distinguish themselves with groves of towering redwoods that follow the creeks up the hillsides where they merge with the grassy meadows found on the upper slopes.
A mosaic of vegetation types affords the area excellent wildlife habitat, and steelhead trout still spawn in the reaches of Willow Creek.
