WHEN

WHAT

Softcore hikers hike round-trip from Waddell Beach to Berry Falls and back (approximately six hours).

My webpage on Big Basin

My webpage on Bay Area hikes: Bay Area hikes (It has a map of the Bay so you can locate the park)

Hardcore Hikers who are doing the one-way hike

1. Christof (sure)
2. Ksenya (sure)
3. Mihai (sure)
4. piero (sure)
5. Shashikant (sure)

Softcore Hikers who are doing the round-trip hike

1. Aurelie (sure)
2. Sofia (sure)
3. Karen (sure)
4. Elaine (sure)
5. Oni (sure)

COMMUNICATING

CARS

• Hardcore hikers (five people) drive in Ksenya's car to Portola Redwoods Park
• Softcore hikers (five people) drive in two cars (Elaine's car and Shashikant's car, the two biggest cars we have) to Waddell Beach.
• In the evening we'll need to drive Ksenya back to Portola Redwoods Park to rescue her car, but i can do that once we get home.
• My guess is that it will take between one hour and two hours to get to Waddell Beach. It is about 100 km.
• Needless to say: DO NOT INVITE ANYONE ELSE or we won't fit in the cars.

WEATHER

AUrelie has mosquito repellent for everybody, if needed.

Directions for hardcore hikers

• Meet at my place at 5am or just sleep at my place or let's camp
• We start hiking just before sunrise.
• Trail: follow me
• Bring a flashlight and an emergency blanket, besides food and drinks and the usual stuff
• Description of the route: Click here

Directions for softcore hikers

• Meet at my place at 11am
• Waddell Beach and Rancho del Oso (same place, one across from the other) are located between Pescadero and Santa Cruz on Hwy 1. Directions in general: click here. Directions from my place (Redwood City):
• Drive south on 280 one exit
• Turn right into 84 west
• Drive all the way to the ocean (hwy 1)
• Turn left onto Hwy 1 south
• Keep driving south past Ano Nuevo for about 10'
• Slow down when you see San Mateo/Santa Cruz County bordersign and/or signs that you are entering Big Basin
• You should see a sign for Waddell Beach on your right and for Rancho del Oso on your left
• If you get to Davenport, you went too far: go back
• Waddell Beach has a huge parking lot
• Across the street there is room for 5-6 cars in front of the gate of Rancho del Oso
• The total distance from Redwood City to Waddell Beach is 80 km. According to Maponus, it should take 1h 35'.
• Walk through the gate
• The first 1 km is alphalt
• Then you get to Rancho del Oso with a ranger station (buy a map for $3 if you need one)
• Follow the trail "Skyline to the Sea" and ignore signs that ask hikers to use another trail. Just keep walking noth on Skyline to the Sea. (Ignore rangers too)
• If you want to get to Berry Falls, at some point there are signs. If hardcore hikers are still alive at that point, we'll be visiting the Berry Falls too, so that could be a nice place to meet. If you get to Berry Falls and want more, keep walking upstream on the Sunset trail. After a few minutes you will get to Silver Falls and to Golden Cascade. Again, we should be coming down that trail.
• Use walkie talkie channel 13 to communicate with hardcore hikers. Channel 13.
• If you don't make contact by 5pm, walk back to the beach
• Pictures of this hike click here
• I estimate hardcore hikers will enter Big Basin around 3pm, reach Berry Falls around 5pm and reach the beach around 7pm
• Please remember that we need room for 5 hardcore hikers in the cars (plural) that will be parked at Rancho del Oso. (This would not be the first time that friends show up to pick us up with only one car completely full of people...)
• Bring a volleyball. Some of us might still be alive to play.

POISON OAK

NEAREST ICE-CREAM PLACE

MOTTO