Pescadero 2011

Jamshid and Chuck and I hiked a loop in Pescadero Creek Park. We actually started in Sam McDonald Park from a little 5-car parking area at the Heritage Grove. There was only one other car there in the morning and two others in the afternoon, and the spots were shady all day, this may be a good parking area for future trips.

From the Heritage Grove Trailhead we wandered around the Heritage Grove first, then went up the hill past the Hikers' Hut. We missed the trail and followed the road instead, so we didn't actually see the hut. We continued clockwise around the Brook Trail Loop and back to the trailhead. As far as I can tell, it adds up to 6.5-7.0 miles.

The trail was open and hot at the top near the Hikers' Hut, but the rest was shady and not too bad, considering that it was in the upper 90's in Santa Clara. Since Pescadero is near La Honda on the west side of the Santa Cruz mountains, it was probably 15-20 degrees cooler where we were.

We spotted 14 banana slugs.