Weekly Walker: Discover One of The Most Beautiful Old-Growth Redwood Groves at Peters Creek Loop Trail

Directions: Take Highway 92 to Skyline Boulevard (Highway 35). Continue south about 15 miles to Alpine Road. Go west 3.4 miles and turn left on State Park Road another 3.3 miles to park headquarters.

Trail Map: www.parks.ca.gov/ and go to Portola Redwoods State Park

Grade: Strenuous

Distance: 13 miles

Special Conditions: Day use fees apply. Dogs not allowed on trail

As residents of the Bay Area, we see a lot of redwoods, and we think we know something about them. They grow in our parks and in our backyards. We know where to find the big ones, and we hear a lot about those lost to logging many years ago. But as common as they are, you may be interested in a few facts, courtesy of the Save-the-Redwoods League:

•    The coast redwood is the world's largest tree. The tallest is in Redwood National Park with a measured height of 367.8 feet. This is equivalent to a 36-story building.

•    It is one of the longest living trees and can live to be 2,000 years old.

•    Average mature trees stand from 200 to 240 feet high with diameters of 10 to 15 feet.

•    The cones are quite small, approximately 1 inch long, with 14 to 24 scales.

•    It would take about 123,000 redwood seeds to equal 1 pound.

•    The tree has very few natural enemies. Tannin in the thick bark is resistant to fungus diseases, insects, and fire.

•    John Steinbeck once referred to coast redwoods as “ambassadors from another time.”

Now that you know a little more about this magnificent tree, let me tell you where to find one of the most beautiful old-growth redwood groves in the area. It is truly a world apart, but only an hour’s drive away—plus a rather strenuous 13-mile round-trip hike. The place is Peters Creek Grove located in Portola State Park.

From the visitor center/park office, continue toward the campground. Cross the bridge over Peters Creek, and take the next right where signs direct you to group camps and the campfire center. Park in one of the marked spaces along the road.

You have two trail choices. You can take the Old Tree Trail, located next to the Ramada Group Day Use Area or continue up the service road for about one-half mile to Summit Trail. We took the Old Tree Trail up and returned on Summit Trail.

After a short distance, the Old Tree Trail splits. Take the left fork to the Slate Creek Trail junction and turn right. For the next mile, the Slate Creek Trail moves in and out of ravines as it gains 500 feet in elevation through the redwood forest. This is a pleasant, well-graded hike on a narrow track that levels out on a ridgeline and intersects with the Summit Trail. At the junction, you can return on Summit Trail and wind down through a sunny hillside with characteristic hardwoods and shrubs.

The trail to Peters Creek continues along the Slate Creek Trail, which for the next mile is almost level as it alternates along the ridgeline at the 1,000-foot elevation. Soon you will arrive at the Slate Creek Trail Camp. This camp, with designated sites is available to backpackers through the park's reservation system. From here, go north on the Bear Creek Trail.

After a few steps you will see the warning sign, “Caution—Strenuous 7-mile round trip hike from this point. Allow enough time to return before dusk.” The sign should be heeded, but not feared. For the next 1.5 miles you will climb 400 feet and then drop 800 feet over the following three-quarter mile. If you comfortably hiked to this point, you shouldn’t have trouble getting to Peters Creek and back, but make sure to allow enough time. We took three and a half hours for the round trip from the trail camp and had plenty of time for a lunch stop and a leisurely walk around the Peters Creek Loop.

The Bear Creek Trail starts as a wide trail that was probably an old service road or rail line to transport logs during the early 1900s when the forest was heavily harvested. Continue gradually uphill, cross over a ridge. Soon the trees and shrubs remind you that this is the sunny side of the slope. As the trail narrows to a single track, look for a small field of periwinkle, a plant native to Europe that blooms profusely from March to July.

Shortly before you get there, you may see on the down slope an old wrecked car of the late ‘40s to early ‘50s vintage. Its location in this area suggests that the trail was passable, at least to this point, some 40 to 50 years ago. Continue past the periwinkle and watch for poison oak as the trail narrows and heads for the ridge top. Passing through the dry woodlands terrain, the trail steadily descends past an old wood shack that has fallen under its own weight, then down a ridgeline to a short level stretch before plunging down to the redwood forest below. Cross Bear Creek, turn left, and left again at the first junction. This will take you on the loop trail, which will cross Peters Creek twice.

The Peters Creek Loop Trail seems to us to be one of the Bay Area's best examples of a truly unspoiled area. This land has never been logged, and some of the redwoods are true giants. Fallen trees are where nature, not man, placed them. High water has scoured the creek beds and piled up fallen wood to create small dams and holding ponds. Fields of redwood sorrel (clover-like leaves with white to pink flowers) cover portions of the ground like a thick carpet. This is a place to meditate—and to listen and to look at creation as God intended it.

Don't overstay—remember that you have a steep climb out and that the return trip to headquarters will take at least two and one-half to three hours. And remember that this pristine area is yours to visit whenever you choose.

By the Way. . .

Portola Redwoods State Park has an interesting history. The first known settler was Christian Iverson, a Pony Express rider who purchased land along Pescadero Creek in the 1860s and built a cabin of hard-split redwood. The cabin lasted until the Loma Prieta Earthquake in 1989. During the 1900s, the Islam Temple Shrine of San Francisco purchased approximately 1,600 acres as a summer playground for its members.

In 1945, the State of California purchased the acreage from the Shriners, and the Save-the-Redwoods League raised money to increase park acreage to more than 2,800 acres. The Shriners’ social hall, with its large stone fireplace, is now the park’s visitor center and museum. Above the fireplace mantle, the Shriners’ had carved this inscription: “Warmer fellows from association about this hearth; taller men from walking with the trees.”