Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve

"Today I have grown taller from walking with the trees." Karle Wilson

Directions: The trailhead is located 6.3 miles south of the Highway 35 (Skyline Boulevard) and Highway 92 intersection on the west side of the road.

Grade: Level.

Distance: One-half mile round trip.

Time: As much or as little as you want.

Special Conditions: Be prepared for windy and foggy conditions on the ridge top. The trail is built for those who are physically limited, but anyone in any condition will enjoy it. Three picnic tables are available, plus a chemical toilet. No water. No poison oak, no dogs or bikes or horses.

Many readers of the Weekly Walker find the walks interesting and of some “future” value. When pressed, they usually admit to clipping the article and tucking it in a file or a convenient drawer for future retrieval. When pressed further, they suggest that a walk of five to 10 miles or more is a bit much and ask about shorter hikes. Two weeks ago, we described a 1.5-mile easy hike to Schilling Lake. This week we offer an even shorter hike—a one-half-mile round trip on the Redwood Trail.

The Redwood Trail offers a range of beauty and interest equal to many of the longer and more strenuous trails at the Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve. Also, the Redwood Trail offers a bonus--it is accessible to the physically limited and to families with small children in strollers. Designated handicapped parking spaces are reserved at the trailhead, and the trail features a bench and several picnic tables with distant views of the coast.

The pleasant walk along Redwood Trail will quickly focus your attention on "the queen of the forest," the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens). As you meander along the trail, the redwoods rise above you like pillars of a temple. Sunlight alternates with shadow as the sun searches for small openings to touch the red-brown bark, the ferns, the trillium, and the sorrel, which dominate this plant community. The trailside trees are second-growth redwoods, children of a mighty parent that fell to the woodcutter’s ax in the late 1800s. But if you look closely, you will see that many of the second-growth trees have sprouted from the roots of their parent, forming a ring (the family circle) around the stump and obtaining nourishment from the established root system. Redwoods are the tallest trees in the world, growing up to 360 feet (36 stories) with trunks up to 20 feet in diameter and 44 feet around. The average age of a mature redwood is 500 to 1,000 years old. The second growth trees along this trail are about 100 years old.

Coastal Indians who once inhabited this area made good use of the plant life nature gave them. They used the fibrous roots of the redwood tree as thread in baskets. The stems and leaves of the redwood sorrel can be eaten raw, and the pioneers used the sour stems in a pie similar to rhubarb. The Western wake robin (Trillium ovatum--one of the Lily-of-the-Valley family) has some medical use in the fleshy underground stems that cause vomiting when eaten. And Indians used the ferns for basket making.

The Redwood Trail continues along the ridge top for one-quarter mile, crossing the Purisima Creek Trail and ending at an area with two picnic tables and a toilet facility. Over its entire length, the trail is five feet wide or more, mostly level, hard-packed, and friendly to wheelchairs, walkers, canes, and strollers. This is a fine place to stretch you legs, get some fresh air, and experience the joy of our local redwood forests.

(Source for information on trees and plants:

Plants of Big Basin Redwoods State Park and the Coastal Mountains of Northern California by Mary Beth Cooney-Lazaneo and Kathleen Lyons. Mountain Press Publishing Co., Missoula, Mont., 1981)