The West Ridge Trail

The other side of Big Basin

Length 9.4 miles one way · Climbing 2450 feet

California > San Francisco Bay Area > Big Basin Redwoods State Park

Rancho del Oso from the Clark Connection

The West Ridge Trail is one of the most challenging and scenic trails in Big Basin. This epic day hike begins in the pretty Rancho del Oso valley, climbing 1,000 feet to a ridgetop with several outstanding scenic vistas along the way. The trail then follows a redwood-covered ridge before breaking out into open chaparral and climbing Chalk Mountain, offering sweeping views over Big Basin and the coast. The West Ridge Trail is designated a "horse trail", which in Big Basin seems to mean "steep and gravelly". Finally, the route descends by the steep and wooded Whitehouse Ridge Trail.

A complete round-trip hike on this trail, returning on Highway One, would be 19 miles. A better option is to return by car shuttle or bicycle along Highway One, making a 9 mile hike if you park at the Whitehouse Ridge trailhead or 12 miles if you park on the highway. Highway One does have a wide shoulder but speeding trucks and RVs make riding a bicycle on it very hazardous.

Hiking the trail from south to north provides increasingly dramatic views as the trail climbs up Chalk Mountain. If you're returning by bicycle, you'll get a lot of help from the strong afternoon sea breezes that blow from north to south.

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Hike description

The hike begins in the Rancho del Oso section of Big Basin. Here, the Waddell Creek valley widens into a scenic coastal plain dotted with vegetable farms and sheltered on three sides by green mountains. In the winter, it's advisable to take the West Trail, which begins just north of the ranger station and climbs up to some excellent views before dropping back down to the valley. This route avoids a ford of Waddell Creek that can be hazardous in winter. In the summer it's possible to take the dirt road, which is faster and will save you a little climbing. However, the park advises against walking on the dirt road since it gets some local farm traffic. There's a tiny seasonal footbridge across Waddell Creek.

The Clark Connection climbs steeply up to the West Ridge, offering superb views of the Rancho del Oso valley. As it climbs, the trail becomes gravelly and the forest gives way to sunny chaparral. At the ridge, the trail meets the West Ridge Trail. Turn right; the trail is initially narrow and heads downhill but soon widens and turns steeply uphill, entering a wooded area and finally leveling off at an altitude of 1200 feet. Surprisingly, the trail then gently descends through second-growth redwoods, providing a nice rest after the initial climb. The long section of wooded trail is a bit dull but provides some welcome relief from the sun.

The West Ridge Trail on Chalk Mountain

When the redwoods end, so does the break. The trail plummets steeply and then climbs a series of knolls, finally ascending Chalk Mountain. This is the most scenic part of the hike, offering stunning vistas over the redwood-carpeted Waddell Creek valley. As the trail climbs Chalk Mountain you feel like you're on the roof of Big Basin, with the park spread out below you. These are some of the best views in all of Big Basin, rivaled only by the coastal views to come.

Chalk Mountain itself is a little anticlimatic, since the peak is broad and views are limited. Bizarrely, there's an outhouse perched near the top, at the edge of a dropoff - undoubtedly the most scenic outhouse in Big Basin. A wide dirt road leads west toward the Whitehouse Ridge Trail. Along the way, a spur road leads to a knoll with a radio antenna and the most sweeping views of the hike, looking over the farmland on Ano Nuevo Point.

The Whitehouse Ridge Trail

The Whitehouse Ridge Trail passes through chaparral with pretty views of the coastal hills to the north, then descends steeply through a lovely second-growth redwood forest. At the top, the forest is lush with redwood sorrel; at the bottom, it's not quite as nice. Two short spur trails lead to viewpoints. The upper viewpoint has a particularly nice view of the coastal Ano Nuevo plain, with the Pigeon Point lighthouse visible no the north. Both spur trails are usually overgrown with poison oak. At the upper viewpoint, which is near the ridge, a sign directs hikers away from a short unofficial trail that offers almost the same view as the official viewpoint, but with much less poison oak. It's little wonder the unofficial trail seems to be more used.

Whitehouse Creek Road descends an additional two and a half miles to the sea, at first through redwoods by a burbling creek, then over a bare coastal plain backed by redwood-covered hills. It's not a bad walk, although the road gets dusty in the summer and cars often pass by.