Introduction:

Where? : Located in San Mateo County hills, east of Redwood City west of Highway 280

Google Map Link

What? : Large park that is good for families get together at picnic areas and also large redwood forest to explore.

When? : Year round, picnic get together and exploring the woods.

Due note 1: Must have exact 6$ in cache for car entrance payment (pay with an envelope so no change…).

Due note 2: The park is NOT bike friendly.

My thoughts: Large redwood park in the mountains east of Redwood City, long trails climbing the mountains.

The visit:

The large park is nested at the mountains slopes, the lower park section near the entrance is great for picnic and get together, the higher section of the park is large redwood forest covering the slops all the way to the mountain ridge and hwy 35. There is also overnight campground option.

Near the picnic area there are large open grass and volleyball nets as also Picnic shelter for rainy days (need reservation).

The hikes:

There are many different hiking options in the woods near the picnic areas. You can go down to Richards Road Trail and climb up using many trails.

There are also few options to have longer hikes up the mountains.

One of them is long 6.4 miles (+1400f gain) hiking loop going all the way up to the ridgetop (Orange in the map above).

Start on Dean Trail located at the south side of the park (near Werder or Madrone Picnic Area). After going up for about 1 mile connect to the Chinquapin trail and keep climbing up (another option is to go all the way up using the Archery Fire Road).

A short section of the Skyline trail, parallel to hwy 35, will take you to Summit Spring Trail. Here you will take this trail all the way down back to the lower park section and the picnic area. You can also hike this loop on the opposite direction. And option to shorten the loop and the climb is to use Dean Trail connector (connecting post points 41 and 27).