The Peters Creek Loop

Length 11.5 miles • CLimbing 1820 feet

California > San Francisco Bay Area > Portola and Pescadero parks

Second-growth forest along the Bear Creek Trail

The Peters Creek canyon is home to the third-largest old-growth redwood grove in the Santa Cruz Mountains, after Big Basin and Henry Cowell. The grove is attractive and surprisingly lush, with some good-sized trees. However, to get there you'll have to walk 5 miles each way through hilly and somewhat dull second-growth redwood uplands.

This is a good hike for strong hikers who enjoy old-growth redwoods and don't mind a 10-mile walk. The walk is pleasant and the old-growth grove makes a nice destination. You'll also see some isolated large redwoods on your way to the old growth.

The main drawback of this hike is the lack of variety. Most of the hike passes through homogenous second-growth forest clogged with a dense tanoak understory. This hike can also be more exhausting than the elevation profile suggests: the steep climb at the beginning combined with a second steep climb halfway through has a way of sapping your energy.

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Hike description

Starting from one of the parking lots near Park Headquarters, walk south along the paved service road. Walk past the Old Tree Trail and over a few small rises, then turn left at the Summit Trail. This trail starts as a dirt road but soon turns into singletrack. The trail climbs insistently past mid-sized redwoods, then reaches a summit and descends to an intersection with the Slate Creek Trail.

Turn right onto the Slate Creek Trail. If you stop and listen carefully in this area you may hear the sounds of gunfire from the Los Gatos Rod and Gun Club, about 5 miles away near Castle Rock State Park.

The trail passes through a saddle. Here you enter a logged forest, with lots of mid-sized redwood stumps. Fortunately the forest seems to be regenerating nicely, with none of the gloomy or dismal look that second-growth forests often have.

When you reach the 5-way intersection at Slate Creek Trail Camp, turn left onto a dirt road that climbs gently. This is one of the more intensively-logged sections of forest, but in the late afternoon the sunlight slants through the trees and makes the area really attractive.

Bear Creek

The road, now cut into a hillside above a canyon, soon narrows to a trail. The stumps end at this point and you pass several big old-growth redwoods alongside the trail and some even larger redwoods in the canyon below, growing in groups of two or three. The landscape isn't all that lush and you have to peer through the dense screen of tanoak to see some of the redwoods.

The trail exits the redwoods and briefly climbs through thick brush before entering an attractive wood near the highest point of the hike. On occasion this part of the trail has become completely overgrown with poison oak, but thanks to some impressive maintenance work by the trail crew it's usually clear.

Finally, you begin a steep descent into the Peters Creek canyon. The trail can be faint in this area. Soon after the descent begins, you get a brief and very limited southwest view through a small break in the trees. The high ridge in the distance is Butano Ridge; the highest point on that ridge is where the Basin Trail meets Pescadero Creek County Park's Butano Ridge Loop Trail. Below that is a prominent knob; the first half-mile of the Slate Creek Trail that you just hiked is cut into the left-hand side of that knob.

As the trail approaches the bottom of the canyon, the woods get noticably more lush. The trail rounds a bend and passes through a small band of redwoods, then descends a little more and enters a darker, lusher redwood grove. The change in the landscape is abrupt and dramatic. A creek burbles below and the steep hillside is covered with an impressive carpet of redwood sorrel.

Peters Creek Trail

The trail into a cool and shady canyon, the lushest and most impressive part of the old-growth grove. The point at which the trail crosses Bear Creek is the scenic high point of the trip. After crossing Bear Creek, the trail runs along the hillside above the creek to reach the loop trail intersection. Turn right to follow Peters Creek through some nice old growth. Just before the trail crosses the creek, look for a particularly large redwood, possibly the biggest tree of the hike, to your left.

The creek crossing doesn't have a bridge and can be difficult in the winter. If that's the case, don't bother; the scenery isn't as good on the other side. The trail climbs to an old dirt road and runs high above the creek, along the edge of the old growth. This part of the grove, the southern half, isn't as lush as the northern half or the Bear Creek portion.

At the next intersection, turn right to rejoin the Bear Creek Trail. From this point, you can return the way you came, starting with the difficult climb out of the canyon.

If you have extra time and energy, on the way back turn left at the 5-way intersection near Slate Creek Camp and take a two-mile out-and-back side trip along the Slate Creek Trail. The trail begins as a dirt road that descends into a dark, redwood-lined ravine. The best scenery is past the Page Mill site, where the trail becomes singletrack. Although there's a certain darkness here that makes me think of second-growth forests, with its lush groundcover and good-sized trees, the area is nonetheless almost as nice as the Peters Creek loop. It makes an interesting and scenic walk.

To add a little variety, finish the hike by taking the Slate Creek Trail instead of the Summit Trail for the last mile. The Slate Creek Trail route is a little longer but less steep, and passes a nice redwood-filled ravine.

Peters Creek