San Mateo County Memorial County Park Loop Hike

Today my College of San Mateo class enjoyed a 5 mile hiking tour of San Mateo County's oldest county park. San Mateo County Memorial Park was established in 1924 as a memorial to the citizens of this county who died in the First World War.

We carpooled from the Woodside Town Hall parking lot in Woodside  to the Hoffman Flat Trailhead on Wurr Road, which intersects Pescadero Road. If you park here there is no entrance fee to enter the county park. We then walked north on Wurr Road, crossing Pescadero Creek, and entering the park on the left side of Wurr Road. From there we entered an ancient old-growth redwood grove and visited an old picnic area with stone barbecues built by the WPA in the 1930's. Some of the students entered a hollow lot lying in a horizontal position with a hole just the right size for poking your head out.

After visiting the largest tree in the park we were surprised to come upon wedding decorations at the amphitheater. We were the only ones there at the time. We then walked through the Azalea Flat Campground and then took the Homestead Trail to where it intersects the Pomponio Trail, which crosses Pescadero Road to the northern part of the park.

The Pomponio Trail climbs uphill to make a big loop that affords the best views in the park. Along the way we saw big-leaf maples beginning to display their fall foliage, banana slugs, bright red honeysuckle berries, edible ripe gooseberries, white snowberries, hedge nettles in bloom, and brilliant red wild fuchsia flowers. Wild fuschias, which are pollinated by hummingbirds, are one of the few native wildflowers that bloom this time of year.  From the Pomponio Trail we turned left onto the Mt. Ellen Summit Trail and then downhill on the Mt. Ellen Nature Trail, crossing Pescadero Road again to the main entrance to the park.

After visiting the memorial grove some of our group visited the camp store for an ice-cream cone. We then posed for photos at a picturesque hollowed-out old-growth redwood that you can walk through. After returning to our cars on Wurr Road I used my hiking stick to knock about 20 pounds of heirloom pears from a huge old pear tree on the other side of the road.

TO GET THERE... From Skyline Boulevard, take Highway 84 (La Honda Road) west from the town of La Honda and turn left (south) onto Pescadero Road. The Wurr Road turnoff is just east of the main entrance to San Mateo County Memorial Park.