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Big Basin Redwoods State Park
What
- Hiking
- Camping
- Coastal redwood trees (Sequoia Sempervirens)
- Sempervirens Falls
- Slippery Rock
More Info
- $10/car parking fee (cash only)
- Souvenir shop at the entrance
- Restrooms at several trails
On a
nice Sunday morning, a little over an hour’s drive from San Jose took us to the
oldest state park in California, Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Luckily, the
~20mile sinuous roads did not make our stomachs queasy.
We
were given a trail map at the park entrance after paying $10 parking fee. The
national park features 80 miles of trails and we took the ~4mile Sequoia trail and
0.5 mile Redwood Trail. The other popular trail is the ~12 mile Berry Creek
trail that takes you through the four other waterfalls in the Big Basin. Hiking
the Berry Creek Trail is certainly on our to-do list.
Sequoia Trail – North Escape Road
Length: ~4 miles; Elevation: 600 feet; Time: 3 hours; Difficulty:
Easy
The
Sequoia trail, which is one of the oldest trails in the park, begins at the
opposite side of the road (236). About a mile into trail is a little detour
with clear signposts that took us to the popular Sempervirens falls. We crossed
the road and walked down a short stairway to see the beautiful ~20 feet falls
amongst the lush forest.
Sempervirens Falls |
As we
continued our way back into the Sequoia trail, we came across the extraordinary
Slippery Rocks, running to about 200 yards long, 100 yards wide and tilted at a
thirty degree angle. It is probably here that the trail reaches its maximum
elevation. Though the rocks were not too
slippery, we were being prudent to not step our feet on the rocks where there
was a lot of water. After climbing up the Slippery Rocks, it was
spectacular sight to look back at the surrounding neck-straining coast redwood
trees.
I
later learned that the Slippery Rocks is an exposed slab of Miocene sandstone. Apparently,
the underwater springs seep through the ground and flow down the rocks making
it a little slippery, hence the name.
The
Slippery Rocks also has a deep historical significance. It is in this place
that the Sempervirens Club was formed with the objective of preserving the Big Basin as a public park.
Sequoia Trail |
As we
continued further into the tapering Sequoia Trail through an awning of the
giant redwood trees, we could not help but think about how similar it was to
the Muir Woods trail. We then reached a place where the trail forked into North
Escape Road and Skyline to the Sea Trail. We took the paved North Escape Road
to reach the park headquarters.
The trail
signs and the trail map were a tad confusing; and not receiving the cell phone
signal (maps are a heaven) made it hard on us to figure out where we were!
Redwood Trail
Length: 0.5 miles; Elevation: Flat; Time: 30 min; Difficulty: Easy
This popular, easy, half a mile Redwood Trail is home to some of
the tallest redwoods in the Big Basin. The trees with the widest circumference
are named as “Mother of the Forest” and “Father of the Forest”. The Chimney
tree, which was once recorded as being the tallest tree (~320 feet) smoldered
for 14months in a forest fire and now stands at ~290 feet in this trail.
It is interesting how several of these redwoods have a hollow
bark, one could stand inside the tree hole and look up at the sky through the
bark.
We spent
a few minutes in the souvenir shop, looking at the cute little things and
hunger would not let us stay any longer in the park. I wish we had brought some
food with us; we had snacks, but that did not help too much.
Useful Resources
Nearby Locations
- Castle Rock State Park
- Portola Redwoods State Park
- West Waddell Creek State Wilderness
as usual! informative and good pictures!
ReplyDeleteThank you Sowmini...
Deleteon our list for the weekend :) thanks Anu!
ReplyDeleteVery cool, have fun!
ReplyDelete