Got back on the trail yesterday at Big Basin Redwoods State Park (real life intervened last weekend so no dirt-trodding got done, alas). One place I hadn’t seen at Big Basin: the Meteor Trail, which is off the Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail a couples mile north of the park headquarters. Meteor’s only about a mile long, but it tracks up a deep canyon that undoubtedly creates excellent flowing-water action during the rainy season. This time of year it’s bone dry, but also forest quiet: I saw nobody on it. <\/p>\n
Meteor Trail ends at the Middle Ridge Fire Road, where you can either hang a left and head back toward the park HQ, or hang a right and head up to the Hollow Tree Trail. The closer to HQ, the more people, I figure, so I went the other way. Hollow Tree is a hidden gem: lots of hollowed out redwoods, as advertised, and lots of leaf-covered trail because hardly anybody uses it. Not quite as rich in ancient redwoods as other parts of the park, but I’d add it to the must-hike list (though certainly it’s best in the winter, too, as it also tracks a canyon creekbed). <\/p>\n
Hollow Tree goes about 1.3 miles back to the Skyline-to-the Sea Trail, where you can hang a right and head back to the park HQ for about a seven-miler. The walk back offers constant reminders that Skyline-to-the-Sea is one of the top trails in the Bay Area. Simply gorgeous pretty much the whole way. <\/p>\n