Big Basin Redwoods State Park is situated in the Santa Cruz Mountains and is California’s oldest state park. We decided to visit this Redwood forest in mid July because Alyssa wanted to see some big trees and we didn’t want to deal with the crowds of Muir Woods (Which is are other favorite park that has gorgeous redwoods). Big Basin Redwoods State Park did not require a reservation like Muir Woods does but if you do reserve parking before hand you can save $2. Reserving your spot online costs $8 and paying at the gate is $10.
Getting There
It took us about an hour and a half to get there from the East Bay. The last 40ish minutes of the drive was on Big Basin Hwy which was a very windy road heading toward the park headquarters. If you do plan on going make sure to have Google offline maps saved to Google Maps, as there is no reception at the park entrance. Once you arrive at the entrance there will be a booth you drive pass to get to the parking lot where you will either pay the $10 entrance fee or just provide your name if you made a reservation in advance.
We got there around 10:30am and the parking lot was still pretty empty. Even when we left around noon there were still a fair amount of spots left. Definitely not as crowded compared to Muir Woods.
Trails
There are bunch of trails ranging in all levels of difficulties however a few of the trails were closed because or repairs due to the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire. When we were going though some of the trails we could still see some of the burn scares from the fires.
We didn’t plan for any particular trails however there were some trails that led to water falls that looked super interesting, but these were also sadly closed. Luckily the park had handy suggestion chart of all the trails we could do. Many of the trails started from the parking lot and connected up with each other. This made it super convenient to choose a trail since all of them eventually connected back up to the parking log.
Sunset Trail/Dool Trail or was it Creeping Forest Loop?
We initial agreed to do the Creeping Forest Loop as it was one of the easier options and was about 1 and a half hours long so not too long but not super short. This loop was a combination of linking several tails together, Alyssa and I thought it would be fun to explore. We did very quickly find out that our navigation skills need a bit of work as we did end up getting lost and doing the loop wrong.
Whether we did the loop correctly or not, we did have a great time! There were redwoods all over the place and it was just very peaceful to be there. Like I mentioned earlier, there was very few people on the trail and in the park altogether, so it was just very quiet.
We started off on the Skyline to the Sea trail as this was the trail that started from the parking lot. We then connect with the Creeping Forest trail then with the Dool trail and eventually made it back to the parking lot.
We were surrounded by nature and tall trees. Every time we looked up we were toward over by massive redwoods. Along with tall trees and greenery, we also did see a lot of remnants of the fire the blazed through here back in 2020. We would see chard fallen trees on the trails every couple of feet along with all the destruction the fire has cause. Now 5 years later these burned trees are still here but surrounding the burned trees, we could see new life growing around it.
Final Thoughts
Big Basin Redwoods State Park is a hidden gem of the Santa Cruz Mountains. With scenery that rivals Muir Woods but without the crowds, I believe this little state park is one to visit when in the Santa Cruz area.