Weekly Walker: A Fine Place to Study the Redwood Tree

By Tom Davids

Pescadero Creek County Park

Directions: From Skyline Boulevard (Highway 35), turn west on La Honda Road (Highway 84). Continue a short distance past the town of La Honda, and watch for a junction on your left with Pescadero Road. Turn left on Pescadero Road, and continue about one mile to the junction with Alpine Road. Turn right, and continue about 3.5 miles to Wurr Road. Turn left on Wurr Road for a short distance to the Hoffman Creek trailhead.

Trail Map: www.co.sanmateo.ca.us and search for Pescadero Creek County Park

Grade: Easy. Elevation gain of 200 feet.

Distance: 3.5 miles

Time: Two hours

Special Conditions: Much of this loop is closed to equestrians during winter months.

A boulder/log crossing of Pescadero Creek is required one mile into the hike. Dress for cool, damp weather during the winter months. Dogs and bikes are not allowed on trails. No restroom or water. The park is managed by San Mateo County.

This hike begins at the Hoffman Creek trailhead at Wurr Road. Walk across the wide bridge into a broad meadow. Continue along the Old Haul Road for about three-quarters of a mile. You will see a sign for Piney Creek on your right and the junction for Pomponio Trail to your left. Turn left and drop down to the sandy banks of Pescadero Creek.

You will cross over Pescadero Creek on rocks and logs left by other hikers. But after a heavy rain, this creek can become a roaring torrent. Look around, and you will see the Pescadero watershed. 

Feeder streams come from Skyline Ridge, winding their way through Portola Redwoods State Park. Other feeder streams originate from Butano Ridge to the south. It is easy to imagine the tremendous amount of water ending up in Pescadero Creek after a rainstorm of several inches. That said, if you find the usual rocks and logs washed away, be prepared to wade across.

Hike up the Pomponio Trail to Worley Flat, a large grassy meadow with a smattering of oak trees. At the far end of the flat, follow Pomponio Trail up a narrow trail through an oak woodland. 

Cross over the old Jones Gulch Trail, and walk around a horse gate. (Many of these trails are closed to horses during the wet winter months.) Continue a downhill traverse until you reach the Jones Gulch Trail sign. Turn left and begin your short trek into Jones Gulch.

The trip into and out of Jones Gulch is only a mile, but it is filled with the beauty of deep, dark, damp redwood forest. Jones Creek runs through the gulch—mostly dry in the summer, but swift-flowing after heavy rain.

At the end of Jones Gulch is a large log bridge over the gulch. You can cross over and return on a patrol road or go back the same way you came. If you take the road, follow signs back to the Pomponio Trail.

This short hike can easily be handled by young children in search of adventure.

By the Way. . .

This is a fine place to study the redwood tree. The coast redwood (Sequoia Sempervirens) is almost entirely confined to Northern California, along a corridor five to 25 miles wide, stretching from the Big Sur area to just across the Oregon border. 

Redwood forest is generally found below 2,500 feet. Since the redwood is sensitive to salty ocean breezes, you will usually find it in protected canyons, away from the ocean. 

During the last 150 years, the acreage of redwood forest has not declined much, although the ancient or old-growth trees now represent less than 5 percent of the total. Most of the redwoods are now located in second-growth, managed forests.

Although the redwood will propagate from cones, the more common method is for second-growth trees to rise from the root structure of the mother tree. Often a ring of trees grows around the parent, forming a ring (known as a fairy ring or sprouting ring) around the stump. 

After a tree is logged, hundreds of shoots may sprout from the root system. These are gradually thinned out in their quest for light, nutrients, and space; only a few large trees will survive in the ring.

Considering the size of a redwood, you might expect a deep root system. Not so. The redwood does not have a taproot, but it sends out shallow lateral roots that typically go no deeper than 12 feet. However, the roots will extend laterally to more than 50 feet in every direction, holding hands with the roots of other trees as they grow tall together.

The ground under redwood trees is usually soft and damp with a mixture of decaying vegetation deposited over time. A common ground cover plant is the redwood sorrel, which has clover-like leaves with white to pink flowers. This plant is very sensitive to direct sunlight; it will fold down like an umbrella if the plant gets overexposed. The undergrowth also supports several varieties of ferns. 

They thrive in the damp bark of fallen trees and on exposed rocks at creek side. (See photos.)

[Editor's note: Local trekker, and San Carlos man-about town, Tom Davids, suggests weekly hikes on some of the Bay Area's most scenic trails.]