On Saturday, April 7 I lead my Foothill College class on a 4.8-mile ramble through Sam McDonald County Park, deep in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
We started at the main parking lot on Pescadero Road. After crossing the road we charged uphill on the Town Trail, with a slight diversion on the lower part of the Big Trees Loop to see a magnificent ancient redwood with reiterations sprouting from its massive trunk. We then entered a sunny, grassy meadow and passed the horse camp and then paused at the Sierra Club hikers hut. This would have been a great place for lunch if we had arrived about half an hour later. So we descended on the Heritage Grove Trail to the beautiful old-growth redwood grove along Alpine Creek known as the Heritage Grove. This small grove of ancient redwoods was saved from being cut by conservationists in the 1970's. You can still see blue paint on some of the trees that marks them to be cut.
We were unable to reach the place I had in mind for lunch because the bridge over Alpine Creek was closed with a sign saying that it is too dangerous to use. As a result we made due with another beautiful part of the grove. After lunch we headed west on the Heritage Grove and Big Trees trails back to our starting point.
TO GET THERE... from Skyline Boulevard, take La Honda Road west, past the town of La Honda, and turn left (south) on Pescadero Road. Continue on Pescadero Road a couple of miles to the Sam McDonald County Park parking lot.
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