The Heritage Grove
Trail
Length 6.0 mi · Climbing 990 ft
The Hikers' Hut
This loop through Sam McDonald County Park has a nice variety of scenery. There's an invigorating hill climb to start, then panoramic views from a grassy ridgetop and finally cool, shady redwoods.
Overnight stays are possible at the Hikers' Hut. The also loop passes by a horse camp, and in summer horses (and horse manure) are common on many of the trails in the park.
Hike description
Park at Heritage Grove. Enter the grove on the footbridge and almost immediately turn left onto the trail to the Upper Grove. Past the Upper Grove, look for the pointing the way to the Hikers Hut and turn left. There's a long climb up a wooded hillside, and finally you come to a gate and emerge onto the grassy ridge, where the trail crosses a fire road.
To your left, a faint trail leads a short distance to the Hikers' Hut, a surprisingly nice prefabricated cabin where you can stay for $18 a person. The cabin has a kitchenette and running water but no showers. On summer weekends you'll likely be sharing the cabin with up to 13 other hikers.
To make the shortest possible loop, you can turn right on the fire road and walk toward the horse camp. However, you'll miss the best scenery of the hike if you go this way. Instead, turn left on the fire road and walk a half-mile to the scenic overlook, which is on a short spur road (the second dirt road to your left). This is actually the most enjoyable part of the loop, since there are some nice views from the fire road.
The impressive thing about the overlook is that almost all of the redwood-carpeted hills that you see are part of Pescadero Creek County Park.
After the scenic overlook, continue downhill on the fire road. After a few more scenic views, the road enters a very nice second-growth redwood forest and undulates up and down over two small rises. There's no sign marking the boundary, but soon after when you enter the forest you're entering Pescadero Creek County Park. The forest has an attractive lush-but-clean look that's unique to this park.
It's surprisingly peaceful here; there are no roads or houses around, and few hikers visit this part of the park. Only an occasional small plane overhead breaks the silence.
The Brook Trail Loop
When you come to a dirt road intersection, turn right and continue downhill. After only 100 yards or so, turn right onto the Brook Trail Loop. The trail passes through very pretty redwood forest, including a few large redwoods. After passing by a picnic bench, the scenery becomes less interesting. There's also some poison oak in this area.
The trail climbs gently, eventually reaching the trail to the Hiker's Hut. Continue along the trail (or the fire road alongside the trail) to the horse camp, which is in a large grassy meadow sheltered by hills.
Immediately after the horse camp, turn right onto the Towne Trail, which is actually a fire road. The road passes by a few large redwoods and then heads steeply downhill.
At a large water tark, turn right onto the Big Tree Loop. This trail is not all that interesting and the promised Big Tree never seems to appear.
Turn right onto the Heritage Grove Trail. The trail winds through redwood forest that gets less interesting as you progrress. However, when you get close to Heritage Grove you'll notice an improvement in the woodland scenery, with more tall, straight trees in the distance.
Finally, descend into the scenic redwoods of Heritage Grove.
The Jack Brook Horse Camp
© 2006 David Baselt
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