Hiking the Coast at Wilder Ranch State Park

Despite showers the previous night, the weather was ideal for a one-way hike of about 4.7 miles along the spectacular coastal bluffs between Four Mile Beach and the Cultural Preserve at Wilder Ranch State Park.

To avoid the $10.00 park entrance fee, my class met at the parking area along Highway 1 just south of the park entrance. We then organized car pools to take us about two miles north to our trail head at the access to Four Mile Beach. This parking lot is on the left (west) side of Highway 1 just past a green farmhouse (also on the west side of the highway).

From there we walked downhill to Four Mile Beach. There are two outhouses just before reaching the beach. We then ascended to the top of the coastal bluff and headed south on the Ohlone Bluff Trail. On the right are spectacular views of the the churning Pacific smashing into the rocky coast. Though the weather was calm, the ocean was quite agitated, probably because of a storm far out at sea. To the left we saw great fields of Brussels sprouts and artichokes. We took a steep shortcut across Three Mile Beach, where we found a broken surfboard, and then continued on to Strawberry Beach, where we had lunch.

After lunch we continued south, pausing to watch harbor seals bobbing in the waves. We then took another shortcut trail across Sand Plant Beach and on to Fern Grotto, which is one of the highlights of the hike. The Grotto is a sea cave that has been uplifted by tectonic forces and watered by a perpetually dripping spring that keeps a lush garden of hanging ferns looking fresh and green all year. One of our group went hundreds of feet back into the cave, where it is quite dark.

We enjoyed many more spectacular scenes of precipitous cliffs plunging into pounding surf  as we finished up the Ohlone Bluff Trail and then took the Old Cove Landing Trail to the Wilder Ranch buildings. I timed this hike to correspond with the annual Harvest Festival at the Cultural Preserve part of the park, which includes a cluster of historical building, including two nineteenth century ranch houses, an adobe built in 1839 by the first family to farm here, a horse barn, a cow barn, a workshop, and a garage that housed the first gasoline powered automobile in Santa Cruz County. My favorite exhibit is the workshop, with its many tools run by belts powered by Pelton Water Wheels. Only on special occasions like the Harvest Festival can you see this workshop come to life.

TO GET THERE... The main entrance is along Highway 1 about 2 miles northwest of Santa Cruz and 42 miles south of Half Moon Bay.