The Ten Taypo Trail

Loop hike with the Hope Creek Trail

Length 3.5 mi · Climbing 710 ft

California > Redwood National and State Parks > Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

The Ten Taypo Trail

Background

This loop begins in a dramatic redwood-lined canyon just off Drury Parkway and climbs to a ridge. Along the way, the forest progresses from impressive redwood lowlands to more ordinary uplands. The different environments make for an interesting hike.

The loop is described here in the counter-clockwise direction. Hiking the loop clockwise instead would mean a steeper, more difficult climb but would also result in the scenery getting better and better as the hike progressed.

Click map to resize; click again to show all trails and roads
Map excerpted from the Trail Map of Redwood National and State Parks (Redwood Hikes Press, 2009)

Hike description

Starting from Drury Parkway, the Hope Creek Trail immediately begins a steep ascent through a lush fern-carpeted canyon populated with big redwoods. At the first (and only) intersection, turn right onto the Ten Taypo Trail and cross a long, winding footbridge. The trail, which is cut into the side of a hill, ascends gently through an attractive lowland redwood environment with lots of big redwoods.

Soon the trail turns left, leaving the west-facing hillside for a south-facing hillside. At this point the forest changes rapidly and after a few turns of the trail it's not nearly as lush or open as before. The trees are smaller and more uniformly-colored, and the understory is clogged with huckleberry and rhododendron. However, there are still some nice redwood vistas as you approach the ridge.

The Ten Taypo Trail

At the ridge, the trail joins an old dirt road. There may be some traffic noise from highway 101 as the dirt road first ascends, then descends through good-sized redwoods. Interestingly, the forest is a lot more lush and scenic on the ridgetop than it was on the hillside. At one point this road was part of a network of hiking trails that explored the ridgetop. These trails were abandoned after the construction of Highway 101 and have now completely disappeared, which is unfortunate since the area is actually pretty attractive.

The road turns back into a singletrack trail that crests and then abruptly enters a fir grove. This grove, which can be somewhat dark and gloomy, is strikingly different from any other part of the hike and completely lacks the lushness that's so characteristic of Prairie Creek. There's a near-total absence of huckleberry and other understory that was so recently clogging the route. There are a few ferns dotting the ground, rather than the thick carpet of ferns found nearby. The area almost looks like it's been logged, but there aren't any stumps. Medium-sized redwoods are sprinkled through the grove.

The fir grove abruptly ends, giving way to normal redwood forest. There's a dense understory of huckleberry with lots of rhododendron. As the trail switchbacks down the hillside, the understory gets progressively less dense and the redwoods get larger.

The ridgetop dirt road