If you live in Northern California, the Skyline to the Sea hike is something that's on top of every hiker's list. The route starts at Skyline boulevard, a ridge line between the Silicon Valley and the Santa Cruz mountain, snakes through several state parks covered by redwoods, and ends at the Santa Cruz beach 32 miles later.
Earlier when the kids were still into camping, I always wanted to take them backpacking through the wilderness, but we never had a chance. After Brandon did 12-day canoeing and another 12-day backpacking trip, I figure at least I can try to convince Brandon to go with me. So the last week of summer before his senior year in high school, he agreed.
Early Wednesday morning we started driving two cars to Santa Cruz, left one car there so we have a way to get back home after the hike. The weather was warm and dry with no cloud in the sky when we left home, but as we approach Santa Cruz, we could see a thick layer of fog coming in, and when we approached the beach it rained quite hard for about 5 minutes. Brandon was sleeping as soon as we left the house and he missed all this. I wonder how much can this kid sleep.
Like most parks, as soon as you get a few miles away from the parking lot, you have the whole park to yourselves. Ten miles later, we arrived at our campsite, and we were not surprised when we did not find anyone else there either. The site can accommodate up to 24 people but we were the only two there. We quickly set up camp, heat up water and hydrate our freeze dried dinner, which consists of Chilly Mac with beef and sweet and source pork with rice. After cold breakfast and lunch, a hot dinner with hot cocoa is so heavenly.
Earlier when the kids were still into camping, I always wanted to take them backpacking through the wilderness, but we never had a chance. After Brandon did 12-day canoeing and another 12-day backpacking trip, I figure at least I can try to convince Brandon to go with me. So the last week of summer before his senior year in high school, he agreed.
Reservations for this trip is understandably in high demand, I have tried so many times to get a permit but always came up short. This time I decided to take 3 days off and start the trip on a Wednesday, amazingly, I got no problem obtaining a permit. Michelle had an important meeting on Thursday so she decided to join on Thursday night and hike with us the rest of Friday.
Early Wednesday morning we started driving two cars to Santa Cruz, left one car there so we have a way to get back home after the hike. The weather was warm and dry with no cloud in the sky when we left home, but as we approach Santa Cruz, we could see a thick layer of fog coming in, and when we approached the beach it rained quite hard for about 5 minutes. Brandon was sleeping as soon as we left the house and he missed all this. I wonder how much can this kid sleep.
It took us an hour and a half to get to Rancho Del Oso parking lot in Santa Cruz, and we were on our way again after dropping off. The road back to Skyline was windy through the mountain and it took us another hour and a half to get to the trail head. Brandon finally woke up after a few gentle prods. Man, the kid can sleep.
Brandon and I said goodbye to Michelle and started hiking. We had packed everything we needed into our backpack including tent, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, food and cooking gear. The plan is to go 10 miles to the Waterman Gap camp where we would sleep overnight. After half an hour of hiking we were rewarded with this gorgeous view of the Santa Cruz mountain to ourselves. There are a lot of big boulders in the park, very popular with the climbing community, and we did see a few of the older kids trying to squeeze in a few more climbs before heading to college.
The next morning we woke up at about 6:30 and had peanut butter and nutella for breakfast. We are going to hike another 10 miles today to Big Basin State Park, where ice cream and a hot shower await us. The route today runs along highway 9 most of the way and we had to cross it a few times. We willed ourselves from not catching a ride to Big Basin, although Brandon surely tried.
We got to the park at around 3:00 pm and hung around the gift shop drinking a cold bottle of coke. The place was full of families with little kids running around, we spent a lot of time in this park when the kids were younger, we felt right at home. At about 6 pm Michelle came up with hot food, fresh fruits, we devoured everything she brought up, and then started walking around the familiar park.
The Sequoia redwood trees are the largest and tallest trees in the world, some trees in the park are more than 2500 years old. They are a resilient species that can survive significant fire damages. We saw some trees that are hollowed out by burns but are still living.
The last day of hiking is another 10 miles to the sea. At this point our backpacks become significantly lighter, we had put everything in the trunk of the car and just brought with us a day pack with some water and lunch for 3. We decided to take a side trip to Berry Creek Falls to see the waterfalls and that would add 2 miles to the hike. Despite a healthy dose of rain and snow late last year, the waterfalls and creeks barely have any water in them, but the scenery was nice and we had a chance to sit down and ate lunch on a bench with a great view of the fall and redwood canopy overhead.
After lunch, with a full stomach and some rest we plowed ahead and made good time. The trail is now around 10 feet wide and runs along the Waddell creek all the way to the ocean. We followed the trail for about 6 miles and after a sharp turn we could see the ocean ahead of us. After another mile of descending we found ourselves at the parking lot, we crossed highway 1 and took perfunctory pictures marking the end of the trip.
I feel so lucky to have a chance to do this with Brandon before he leaves for college. Sam, let me know when you want to do this trip and I will be there any time. I am going to miss this opportunity, but may be this is something Michelle and I will look forward to doing when we become empty-nesters.
Chris
August, 2016
The Sequoia redwood trees are the largest and tallest trees in the world, some trees in the park are more than 2500 years old. They are a resilient species that can survive significant fire damages. We saw some trees that are hollowed out by burns but are still living.
The last day of hiking is another 10 miles to the sea. At this point our backpacks become significantly lighter, we had put everything in the trunk of the car and just brought with us a day pack with some water and lunch for 3. We decided to take a side trip to Berry Creek Falls to see the waterfalls and that would add 2 miles to the hike. Despite a healthy dose of rain and snow late last year, the waterfalls and creeks barely have any water in them, but the scenery was nice and we had a chance to sit down and ate lunch on a bench with a great view of the fall and redwood canopy overhead.
After lunch, with a full stomach and some rest we plowed ahead and made good time. The trail is now around 10 feet wide and runs along the Waddell creek all the way to the ocean. We followed the trail for about 6 miles and after a sharp turn we could see the ocean ahead of us. After another mile of descending we found ourselves at the parking lot, we crossed highway 1 and took perfunctory pictures marking the end of the trip.
I feel so lucky to have a chance to do this with Brandon before he leaves for college. Sam, let me know when you want to do this trip and I will be there any time. I am going to miss this opportunity, but may be this is something Michelle and I will look forward to doing when we become empty-nesters.
Chris
August, 2016
