Purisima Creek Trail

Tuesday morning we had appointments to get our hair cut, and then afterwards, planned to go hiking on a trail that we had recently read about. It's located just south of Half Moon Bay, in the Purisima Creek Redwoods. The redwoods there are about 100 years old, and are the oldest stand of redwoods on the peninsula. They are considered a second-growth forest, as the original redwoods were harvested in the 1800's. These trails are WAY off the beaten path - you have to know they are there - the odds of stumbling upon them are very slim.

When we finally found the trail head, there were other cars in the parking lot, which was a good sign. We hiked about 4 miles, round trip, with a fair amount of up and down. The redwoods were beautiful - lots of towering trees, moss, ferns, etc. It felt very Jurassic park! Lee got some great shots, too.

This was the "welcome" sign.... hmmm... mountain lions, ticks, poison oak - what could go wrong!?

Light shining on the trail through the redwoods. It was very peaceful and quiet. Also damp and chilly!
More sights along the trail

The ferns were growing everywhere! There were lots of stumps and fallen trees, and there was growth of some sort on all of them.

Mountainside filled with ferns.

The particular trail that we were on followed the creek. The sound of water followed us everywhere. Strangely enough, there were NO bird sounds and we didn't see any birds.

Some of the local fauna! As you might imagine, the banana slugs were plentiful! Banana slugs are also the official mascot of UC Santa Cruz. Valarie also had an "up close and personal" experience with a banana slug when she was in high school. Disgusting, slimy creatures, really!

There was also lots of redwood sorrel - member of the oxalis or clover family. We looked for a 4 leaf clover, but didn't find any.

The twisted branches, draped in moss, caught our eye.

The sun coming through the canopy of the redwood trees.

A friendly hiker.

Note the tree on the left - not a tree fern, but a fern tree! There were ferns growing up the length of the moss-covered tree.

The maple leaves were falling, too.

The pine trees are loaded with pine cones this year.

Sunlight on maple leaves.

It was a great walk, and we'll definitely go back to explore all of the trails. BTW, apparently either Carole or I got out dates mixed up, so we didn't get haircuts after all, but got them today, instead.