Santa Cruz Mountains Trails: San Mateo County Memorial Park Grand Tour

At 499 acres, San Mateo County Memorial Park is one of the smallest parks in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and barely large enough to encompass a field trip for my Foothill College class. Established in 1923, this was the first of the county parks in San Mateo County. It is well known for its old-growth redwoods. Our 4.6-mile loop route, however, revealed that in addition to redwoods, there are also areas of oak, Douglas fir, and chaparral, and some good ridgetop vistas.

We met at the Skywood Trading Post in Skylonda, at the intersection of Highway 84 & Skyline Boulevard, to carpool to our trail head on Wurr Road. The Wurr Road entrance is east of the main park entrance. The "Wurr Road" sign is hard to see, so look for the sign that says "Redwood Glen". It is just west of Camp Loma Mar. A short distance beyond the bridge over Pescadero Creek there is a parking lot on the left (east) side of the road. From here you can enter Pescadero Creek County Park or San Mateo County Memorial Park. By parking here you can avoid the $6.00 per vehicle entrance fee.

From the Wurr Road Parking lot we crossed the road to examine a large pear tree that was bursting with ripe fruit. We then paused to examined a poignant memorial to a young woman. Crossing the bridge over Pescadero Creek, we started the trail that enters Memorial Park. Our next stop was the Legion Flat Picnic Area, which was built in the 1930's by the W.P.A. There are some magnificent old-growth redwoods in the area, including a hollow log with a hole in the top for peeping out of and a small door. I used to play in that log when I was a kid.

Next, we stopped to view a sandy beach above Pescadero Creek. It seems out of place now that the park department no longer dams up the creek in the summer. I remember jumping into the small seasonal reservoir when I was little. The water was really cold, even on a warm day. Our next stop was the Largest Tree, which, at 13 feet in diameter, is supposed to be the largest redwood in the park. The trees here are not as large as the old-growth redwoods in Big Basin. Failing to see any crawdads in the creek, we headed on to the amphitheater, which has hosted countless campfire programs over the past 90 years.

Our loop then took us through the Bay Tree Flat Campground and on to the Homestead Trail. Past the trickle of water that passes for Pomponio Falls this time of year, we headed north and across Pescadero Road on the Pomponio Trail. On the other side of the road we observed the first of several banana slugs before charging uphill, above the redwoods for a lunch stop in a Douglas fir woodland. The trail then climbs into the chaparral, with great views of the Pescadero Creek watershed. We saw a woodrat nest next to the trail.

There were more views on the Mount Ellen Summit Trail as it descended the slope, crossed the road, and took us through the main park entrance. We paused at the Memorial Grove and then found an ancient redwood that has been hollowed out by fire. I call it the "Photo Op" Tree, because it is a great place to photograph people walking through the tree's natural tunnel. From there it was an easy walk back to our starting point. Some of us gathered pears by shaking the branches of the old pear tree. With my 20 pears I made delicious pear juice using my Jack LaL