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I hadn't done any hikes since July 4th weekend. After a couple weeks of
lots of rain, the skies cleared for the weekend and I decided this would
be a great time to hike to seasonal Brooks Falls. It would also be the
very first hike with my 3-month old son, Nathan.
As you turn onto Linda Mar Boulevard, you'll pass a shopping center, and then
go through a residential section before reaching the park. That, combined
with the sound of traffic for some of the hike, never gives you the feeling
that you're very far from civilization. That's part of the reason I only
give this hike a 5 rating.
We started off on the Brooks Falls Overlook trail around 2pm. The trail is
singletrack through forest, including the easily-recognizable eucalyptus.
Below you to the left is the apparently paved Old Trout Farm Trail, which
parallels the trail you're on for about 3/4 of a mile. Also to the left
you can hear the pleasant sounds of Brooks Creek.
We climbed up the muddy trail, which climbs gently. In case you're wondering,
Jean carried Nathan in a Baby Bjorn in front of her, while I carried
everything else (water, food, first aid, and my entire package of photography
gear). I figure once he's strong enough to go in the back, then I'll be
the one carrying him. That should be fun!
For those who aren't in physical shape to do more difficult hikes, this is
probably the perfect hike for at least one reason -- there seems to be a
bench every 10 minutes on this hike. We passed one bench just before
taking the right fork at a trail intersection. The left fork takes you
down to the Old Trout Farm Trail, so stay right.
Brooks Falls
After less than 45 minutes, we came to a bench in a clearing with views
of Brooks Falls to the left. The falls drop in 3 tiers, 175 feet. They
are nicely set against a backdrop of a comparatively huge mountain face.
It completely reminded me of the descent from Mackinnon Pass on the Milford
Track in New Zealand, though it seemed like a sorry imitation.
On the other hand, I was dry now. If you're a waterfall person, you might
like Brooks Falls. I'm not a big waterfall person, though...I prefer smaller
falls which you can get up close and personal to, and the closest you'll
get to Brooks Falls is about 1000 feet away.
After stopping for pictures (and feeding Nathan on the bench there), we
continued on up the trail. One suggestion: if you want to do this hike,
I suggest going in the morning. In the afternoon, the sun goes below
the mountains, and the falls are in shade. As we continued up the trail,
we climbed above the mountain shade and into the sunlight, but we could
no longer see the falls. We did have an unexpected treat, running into a
rabbit on the trail. It was one of the most unperturbed rabbits I've
ever encountered on a hike. Usually they're very skittish, but this one
didn't seem to mind us getting as close as about 10 feet before it ran
into the bushes.
Rabbit on the trail
After our rabbit encounter, we reached the Montara Mountain Trail. There's
a bench here with nice views of Pacifica and the ocean beyond it. The trail
heads up 2 miles to the top of Montara Mountain, which I did on a previous
hike from the opposite direction. On this hike, however, we headed down the
trail (to the right) to complete a loop hike.
View of Pacifica and the ocean
The trail now winds its way gently downhill, with views of the city to
the left, along with the distant sound of traffic. There's really not
much to this part of the hike (expect more benches), and you'll probably
find yourself zipping down the hill back to your car, which is what we did.
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