The Heritage Grove Trail

Length 6.0 mi · Climbing 990 ft

California > San Francisco Bay Area > Portola and Pescadero parks

The Hikers' Hut

This scenic loop through Sam McDonald County Park starts in Heritage Grove, climbs to a bald ridge with views over the green hills of the Pescadero Creek watershed, then descends through lush redwood forest. The constantly changing scenery and a few patches of old-growth redwoods makes this an interesting an enjoyable hike.

Overnight stays are possible at the Hikers' Hut. The also loop passes by a horse camp, and in summer horses (and horse manure) are common on many of the trails in the park.

Hike description

Click here to see the trailhead location in Google Maps or in Google Street View (Street View is missing some images in this area; this is the closest image to the trailhead).

Park at Heritage Grove. Enter the grove on the footbridge and almost immediately turn left onto the trail to the Upper Grove. Just after the Upper Grove, follow the sign pointing the way to the Hikers Hut. There's a long climb up a wooded hillside, and finally the trail comes to a gate and emerges onto the grassy ridge, where the trail crosses a fire road.

To the left, a faint trail winds uphill a short distance to the Hikers' Hut, a surprisingly nice prefabricated cabin where hikers can stay for $18 per person. The cabin is operated like an unstaffed hostel; up to 14 hikers share the single-room building. There's a kitchenette and running water but no showers.

Part of the Annotated Trail Map of Portola Redwoods State Park and Pescadero Creek County Park (Redwood Hikes Press, 2008)

To make the shortest possible loop, it's possible to turn right on the fire road and walk toward the horse camp. However, you'll miss some pretty good scenery if you go this way. Instead, turn left on the fire road and walk a half-mile to the scenic overlook, which is on a short spur road (the second dirt road to your left). This is actually the most enjoyable part of the loop, since there are some nice views from the fire road.

The impressive thing about the overlook is that almost all of the redwood-carpeted hills that are visible are part of Pescadero Creek County Park.

After the scenic overlook, continue downhill on the fire road. There are a few more scenic views, then the road enters a very nice second-growth redwood forest and undulates up and down over two small rises. The forest has an attractive lush-but-clean look that's unique to the Pescadero Creek area.

The Brook Trail Loop

It's surprisingly peaceful here; there are no roads or houses around, and few hikers visit this part of the park. Only an occasional small plane overhead breaks the silence.

At the next intersection of Towne Fire Road and Fire Road Bravo, turn right and continue downhill. After only 100 yards or so, turn right onto the Brook Trail Loop. The trail passes through a very attractive redwood forest that includes a patch of old growth. After passing by a picnic bench, the scenery becomes less interesting. There's also some poison oak in this area.

The trail climbs gently, eventually running right next to Towne Fire Road. Continue along the trail (or the fire road alongside the trail) to the horse camp, which is in a large grassy meadow sheltered by hills.

The Jack Brook Horse Camp

Immediately after the horse camp, turn right onto the Towne Trail, which is actually a fire road. The road passes a cluster of large (probably old-growth) redwoods and then heads steeply downhill into increasingly lush woodland. At a large water tark, turn right onto the Big Tree Loop, which descends through a heavily-logged redwood grove. This trail isn't all that interesting and the promised Big Tree never seems to appear.

Turn right onto the Heritage Grove Trail. The trail winds through redwood forest that's quite scenic at first but then gets less interesting as redwoods give way to ordinary tanoak woods. However, as the trail approaches Heritage Grove there's an improvement in the woodland scenery, as tall, straight redwoods become visible in the distance.

Finally, descend into the scenic redwoods of Heritage Grove.

The Heritage Grove Trail