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We had visited Portola Redwoods State Park 3 times before. Last year we had done a
shorter hike that contained part of this trail. Now we decided to do the entire
hike to and from Peters Creek Grove. We were mainly looking for a long hike as
part of training for backpacking in the summer. On length it delivered, but not much
else.
Not surprisingly, the park was mostly deserted on a Thursday in April. We were the
only car in the parking lot. Skyline Boulevard had been shrouded in fog on the drive
here, and it was still cold and overcast when we arrived around 10:30am.
We skipped the usual hat, sunscreen, and glasses and entered the forest.
Instead of doing the Old Tree Trail, we turned left immediately onto the Slate Creek
Trail. The trail starts climbing immediately. We followed the trail,
then turned right to continue on toward the Slate Creek camp (going straight would
have taken us to the park campground).
Banana slugs need to get a room
Millipede
Close-up of banana slug
After about a mile and a half, we reached another intersection. Continuing to the right
would have taken us onto the Summit Trail back toward the main park road. That is
what we had done last year. This time, instead, we took the left fork toward the
trail camp.
Of course we saw lots of banana slugs, though most of them were in the first couple
miles of the hike. The hike was basically completely shaded at this point. After
about 3 miles, we reached the trail camp. These are reservable sites for backpackers.
As expected, they were all empty. We settled on one of the picnic tables and
had lunch.
Redwoods at Slate Creek Trail Camp
Redwoods
Redwoods
After lunch, we continued up the Bear Creek trail, which starts as a wide dirt
road. A sign warns that a 7-mile hike to and from the Peters Creek Grove awaits,
and to leave enough time to return by dusk. It was only about 1pm when we left
the camp, so I thought we'd be fine.
Sign warning hikers to allow time to return by dusk
Bear Creek Trail
The trail from here on out had a few places where trees had fallen across the trail
and we had to make small detours or pick our way carefully over or through the
fallen trees. There are also places where poison oak is on either side of the
trail. It starts out wide, but the trail eventually narrows to single track.
Along the way, we saw the remains of an abandoned old car in a ditch. Looks like
it's been there since at least the 1950's or earlier. Shortly after the car, we reached
the top of the climb.
Continuing on the single track portion of the Bear Creek Trail
Broken down old car next to the trail
We now descended about 800 feet, sometimes steeply. On the left we could sometimes
see through the trees down to the forest we had hiked through earlier. We reached
the bottom (Bear Creek). While we had a short rest break, I was startled by another
hiker. I hadn't expected to see anyone else on the trail today, but there he was.
He was probably as surprised as we were to find someone else on the trail.
Redwoods
Trail leading down to Bear Creek
Bear Creek
Bear Creek
Redwood sorrel
After a break, we crossed over Bear Creek and hiked to the start of the loop.
Only we were a bit confused since it didn't say loop, and I had thought that the
loop might have started when we crossed Bear Creek (it hadn't). So after we took
the right fork and walked for a few minutes to the creek, we turned around and took the
left fork instead. That put us on the loop trail, eventually coming back along
the path we had just backtracked on (the loop is about a mile in distance).
Redwoods in Peters Creek Grove
Peters Creek
New life begins on a downed tree
After the loop, we returned the way we had come. We left the loop at around 3:30pm.
After a lengthy climb back up those 800 feet we had earlier we descended, we reached
the high point of the hike at around 4:15pm, then descended to the trail camp, which
we reached around 5pm.
After leaving the trail camp at 5:13pm, we took about 68 minutes to reach the parking
lot.
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