Today, we decided to hike the beautiful Big Basin Redwoods State Park near Santa Cruz, CA.
We have not hiked there for over 15 years and wanted to know what, if anything, has changed.
The drive to Big Basin Redwoods from San Jose was uneventful. I drove on Highway 85 west, followed by Highway 9, south to 236. The narrow, twisty road was not as difficult as I remembered. However, I hit a severe traffic jam when approaching the Big Basin. It took me 20+ minutes to get into the park. Once there, I was told by the ranger that there was no parking! However, we got lucky as more spots opened up in a few minutes. Coming on Labor Day is not always a good idea.
As it was late in the day, we decided to do a short hike that reached the closest waterfall. The ranger suggested we take Sequoia Trail from the Big Basin Headquarters and follow it until we reach Sempervirens Falls. From there, we could continue on the Shadowbrook Trail in a clockwise loop. The entire round-trip was approximately 5 miles or about 2 hours.
We have not hiked there for over 15 years and wanted to know what, if anything, has changed.
The drive to Big Basin Redwoods from San Jose was uneventful. I drove on Highway 85 west, followed by Highway 9, south to 236. The narrow, twisty road was not as difficult as I remembered. However, I hit a severe traffic jam when approaching the Big Basin. It took me 20+ minutes to get into the park. Once there, I was told by the ranger that there was no parking! However, we got lucky as more spots opened up in a few minutes. Coming on Labor Day is not always a good idea.
As it was late in the day, we decided to do a short hike that reached the closest waterfall. The ranger suggested we take Sequoia Trail from the Big Basin Headquarters and follow it until we reach Sempervirens Falls. From there, we could continue on the Shadowbrook Trail in a clockwise loop. The entire round-trip was approximately 5 miles or about 2 hours.
Along the trail were many groves of tall redwoods and plenty of shade on a sizzling day.
The actual Sempervirens Falls are not very impressive (compared to others I have seen).
Since Inna did not have breakfast, she purchased a "Tree Hugger Wrap" at the Big Basin Cafe. She decided to eat it at Sempervirens Falls. The wrap was quite good; she shared half of it with me.
The hike back from Sempervirens Falls was quite pleasant, and I enjoyed walking beneath heavy tree cover on a warm summer day. Along the way, we ran into a stray dog that followed us for 20 minutes, but it eventually found other people to follow.
We finished the hike at 5:20 p.m. and returned to Los Gatos (as Saratoga did not have any exciting restaurants to try). The hike was initially supposed to take us 2 hours for 5 miles, but it ended up being closer to 2.5 hours and 5.6 miles.
Inna found a well-rated new restaurant in Los Gatos - Oak & Rye - and we decided to try it. We ordered "Heirloom Tomatoes" and a "Homemade Pretzel" for an appetizer. The tomatoes were tremendous, but the pretzel was a bit too small.
We ordered the famous "Scotty 2 Hottie" pizza for our main entree. It was a bit spicy but quite well prepared. It will give Pizza My Heart some competition!
We enjoyed our time there and will be back!
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