Point Lobos State Reserve is the Disneyland of California State Parks. The park is very developed with copious facilities and parking areas, along with throngs of visitors on weekends. Large families, group picnics, tour groups, you name it. If you want peace and quiet I suggest coming here on a weekday. Nonetheless, Point Lobos features…
Category: Trail Running
Andrew Molera State Park
On Sunday morning I did an 8.5 mile loop in Andrew Molera State Park at the north end of the Big Sur Valley. The loop featured views from a long ridge and great running atop a bluff above the pounding surf.
Garrapata State Park – Rocky Ridge and Soberanes Canyon
We spent a couple days enjoying the gorgeous mid-winter weather on the Big Sur coast. The following few posts will detail the parks we visited. The first stop on Saturday afternoon was a hike up Rocky Ridge and Soberanes Canyon in Garrapata State Park. Due to last summer’s massive fires, this is one of the…
Memorial County Park – Mount Ellen Loop
The main feature of Memorial Park is a campground and picnic area set amidst towering redwoods and lush Pescadero Creek. However, there is also an area of trails on the north side of Pescadero Creek Road that is worthy of a visit. We covered most of these trails on a loop from the Hoffman Creek…
Wilder Ranch State Park
Wilder Ranch State Park has a little bit of everything – views, redwoods, rugged coastline, meadows, and even a historical museum. The park’s close proximity to Santa Cruz means you will not be alone, especially on the weekends. In addition, the trails are open to mountain biking so the bikers far outnumber pedestrians and I…
Point Reyes National Seashore
I have heard great things about the scenery at Point Reyes National Seashore but very little about the quality of trail running so I decided to check it out for myself on New Year’s Day. I found excellent trail running and stunning views over varied terrain and ecosystems. The run was 22 miles with 4,000+…
Butano State Park and San Mateo Coast
I ran Butano State Park for the first time exactly 6 months ago. I thought it was awesome so I was overdue for a second visit. With nice weather, I brought a camera along to snap some photos and also check out a few of the coastal vistas on the San Mateo County coastline.
Mendocino Trip Recap
Mendocino is a gorgeous area of the northern California coast. We visited six parks with incredible variety from giant redwoods to lush fern canyons to rugged coastline. Here is a list of the series of blog postings from the trip: Hendy Woods State Park Van Damme State Park Mendocino Headlands State Park Russian Gulch State…
Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve
The sixth park we visited was Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve in the heart of the coast range. It’s located about one hour from Mendocino on windy roads, or alternatively, the reserve can be reached by the equally windy Orr Springs Road from Ukiah in 13 miles. We decied to see this reserve and then…
Russian Gulch State Park
The fourth park we visited was Russian Gulch State Park for a Saturday morning run. We took the Fern Canyon Trail and then the Waterfall Loop Trail to a beautiful 36 foot tall waterfall in a very lush setting. We then continued to the North Boundary Trail where we saw an area of famous pygmy…
Leor Pantilat's Adventures