Rancho Del Oro Hillside Trail: Big Basin State Park

From The Funemployment Blog

This post got held back for several weeks because Beylah stole my camera with all the photos in it.

Unfortunately in the inner bay area it was a sweltering 95 degrees so I elected to postpone my return from my interview with the Sausalito Planning Department and head over to the coast. I took Highway 82 from San Andreas Lake to Half Moon Bay, the fog was just lifting along the coast as I pulled on to highway 1 to drive down to see a friend in Santa Cruz. Along the drive I ran into Wadell Creek, or Rancho Del Oso the western extent of Big Basin State Park (California's oldest state park). In about a half a second I swerved the car off the road and into the dirt parking lot. I hopped out of my car and ducked into the nearest bathroom and swapped out my suit and tie for some sorts and hiking boots and hit the trail.

After a quarter mile of concrete road it eventually turns to dirt at a ranger station. You then have a choice, follow the hikers trail, or the equestrian trail. I honestly don't know which one I recommend. The Hikers trail has better views and is all around a nicer trail, but you really have to watch out for ticks. I saw several hanging off tall grass which was hanging over the trail waiting to jump on to the next hiker. The equestrian trail however is fairly dusty and weaves between agricultural fields, the buzz of farm equipment and loud people ruins the atmosphere, but you won't get Lyme disease....

I choose to begin on the hikers trail and legged it up for about 2 miles before turning around where the hiker and equestrian trails meet at twin redwoods backpack camp. I inspected to camp and was pleasantly surprised at the nice shady, and quiet campsite quite close to the creek. In contrast to the Alder backpacking campground about a 1/4th of a mile back towards the water which had far more evidence of human impact, also I saw a snake which persuaded me never to camp there.

Around the twin redwoods campground I ran into a team of firefighters who I talked to for a couple minutes. They were practicing laying line throughout the forest I believe as part of a large scale exercise. I would later see a fire helicopter doing training exercises driving over Highway 17 back towards San Jose from Santa Cruz.

After visiting the twin redwoods though I felt it was time to head home, it was already around 2:00 and I had not had anything to eat yet so I took the dusty and tick-free equestrian trail back to my car. Then on to Santa Cruz for lunch, and then home for some Z's.

After arriving home though I ended up needed to upgrade my Macbook Pro to OS X Leopard which would set me back about $120. Fortunately upon arrival I ran into an old co-worker from my retail days selling books at Borders who gave installed it for free.

By the end of the day I had interviewed for a job in Marin, hiked in the mountains, had lunch in Santa Cruz, fixed my computer in San Jose and fell asleep at 8:00pm.

I'll have another job interview with the Mid-Peninsula Open Space District this friday which would be an absolute dream job, I grew up stomping around in their parks and would love to work for them for awhile.

From The Funemployment Blog