Introduction:
What? :
County park that cover redwood forest as well as ridge open meadows at the ridge
top. The park offers few options for short/mid hiking loops.
Where?
: Located in San Mateo county approximately
3 miles west of La Honda on Pescadero Creek Road.
Google Map Link
When? :
Winter is the preferred season to visit this park.
Due
note: This park is connected to Pescadero Creek Park trails system at the upper
section of the ridge. As a result of 2020 summer fires Pescadero Creek Park is
closed to hiker’s access.
My thoughts:
I like this park because it offers few loops option that cover both nice
redwood forest and open meadows.
The
visit:
Sam
McDonald park is a unique and interesting county park that span on several
different landscapes, lush growth dense redwood forest in the north section; The
ridge slope of less dense forest near the Alpine creek and the grassy open meadows
at the ridge top.
Parking:
The main
park entrance is at Sam McDonald Park at Pescadero Creek Road, but if you are
coming from hwy 35 skyline ridge you can also use the very small off-road
parking lot at Alpine road at Heritage Grove Trail (on the left side of the
road).
There are
few loop hikes options at the park, and you can combine them into longer loop.
Short hike (3-miles):
The
last loop option is a short 3 miles hike covering only the north section of the
park underneath the large redwood trees.
From the
parking lot hike on Forest Trail, connect to Old Stage forest maintenance road
and go right (down). Hike Uncle Man Road and Youth Camp Trail back to the
parking lot.
The short loop (4 miles):
Starting
at main park parking lot.
Take the
1.7 miles Heritage Grove trail east parallel to Alpine Creek and the mountain
ridge. Once reaching Heritage Grove Trail turn right and climb to the ridge.
At the
top of the ridge you will reach the wide Towne Fire Road and the grassy meadows
section of the park.
Hike down
to Jack Brook Horse Camp, here you can have a rest and eat something.
From this
point you can go directly down by using the Towne Fire Road.
As of Feb.
2021, the Big Tree trail is close for access
Loop extension:
This loop
extension is going through the north part of the park and will take you into
the large redwood section of the park
From Jack
Brook Horse Camp keep walking on Ridge Fire road for 1.3 miles. Cross the road
and keep hiking on Old Stage forest maintenance road.
Here you
have few options:
1. Take
the first trail on your right, Forest trail and go back to the parking lot. This
will be additional 2 miles hike and total of 6-mile loop
2. Keep
walking down on Old Stage road and reach Modoc Youth Camp location in the
redwood. From there hike Uncle Man Road and Youth Camp Trail back to the
parking lot. Overall, this will be 6.8 miles hike.
www:
https://parks.smcgov.org/sam-mcdonald-park
Map:
https://parks.smcgov.org/sites/parks.smcgov.org/files/McDonald-Nov2017-map.pdf
Pictures:
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