Hiking in the Bay Area: Berry Creek Falls loop, Big Basin CA 07/07/2015

Summary

Location: Big Basin redwoods state park, Santa Cruz California
Date & Time: 07/07/2015 12:30 PM
Distance: 11.2 miles
Duration: 3 hours 50 minutes
Difficulty (1-5): 2, Easy and beautiful trails mostly in shadow and small elevation changes
Official web page: http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=540

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Story

After i bought new hiking shoes, Merrell Moab at REI the other day i was really excited to head out quickly to try them on. We decided to go to Big Basin for a 10 mile hike and decided to do the Berry Creek falls loop that is a total of 11 miles, including walk to and from the parking lot. I have been to Big Basin before but have never tried this trail and we picked it due to the length of it and also that it is supposed to have some beautiful waterfalls in the middle section.

This trail starts of so wonderful under the impressive redwood trees that makes the forest magical, they provide great shade almost the entire loop which makes this trail great even in the middle of the summer since it doesn't gets that hot. The trail is a small path that slowly follows a creek, it is very well maintained and easy to follow. We started on the Skyline to the sea trail and then changed into the Berry creek falls trail. The third trail that took us back to the parking again was the sunset trail.

The waterfalls that will show up after about 4 miles hiking are amazing, and even though it was in the middle of the summer and with all talking about the ongoing drought i was surprised that there was actually a lot of water.

I just love to hike in these woods, the trees are so impressive and it is so quiet in here, I really recommend this park and the trail only downside is the parking that can be extremely difficult to find a spot on during the weekends, so be early to find your spot.