The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park

In order to take advantage of my day off, I decided to explore the Santa Cruz mountains a bit. The mountains are a mere 20-45 minutes from our apartment and are chock full of beautiful redwoods and waterfalls. On the docket today was the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park.


The Forest of Nisene Marks was at one point a massive untouched redwood forest, but in the 1880s, a logging and railroad company destroyed most of the trees. What is left today is a forest in recovery, although you wouldn't know it at first glance. The redwoods here are just as daunting as the virgin redwoods in the park's sister site, Big Basin Redwoods State Park (another favorite of ours), and all that remains of the railroad and logging company are a few historical markers and a raised pathway that has conveniently been transformed into a trail.


The loop I took was about 10 miles round trip with a pretty little waterfall at the end (or half-way point, I guess). While the trail had its steep grades at times, only a few were actually butt-kickers, and I made it out relatively unscathed!

This was the sign that greeted me at the beginning of the trail. I particularly like the "avoid hiking alone" bit (I was alone).

This raised grade is the only evidence that remains of the 1880's railroad.

Even though the forest is still recovering from the logging industry, the redwoods seemed pretty big to me.

Big chunks of the trail were along the sides of mountains, creating a somewhat treacherous trek. A picture doesn't really do it justice.

This little guy kept me company for a lot of my hike. The sound of the creek made up for the (somewhat unnerving) silence of the forest.

Grawp was playing Lincoln Logs.

This 30 foot waterfall was about a mile after the "formal trail" ended.

Pretty trees!

A grove of baby redwoods doing what they do best.