Purisima Creek Redwoods
- Food
- Pack it
- Sports
- High-school sports in Half Moon Bay
Crowd level: Quiet. Room to linger
Best season Weekday mornings, and any time after rain when you do not mind mud. Summer weekends fill the small lots. Winter weekdays are excellent.
Drive 45 min
From downtown San Francisco to the Higgins Canyon trailhead, about 45 minutes via Half Moon Bay. Highway 1 traffic on sunny weekends adds time.
Parking. Small trailhead lots. No services, no bathrooms you should count on. Weekend mornings fill them. There is no secret overflow.
Purisima Creek is a redwood canyon in the Midpeninsula preserves, logged and then protected. The trails drop into a creek or stay high on the ridge. There is no visitor center putting on a show. That is the standard.
The short version
The canyon was logged, like most of the Santa Cruz Mountains, and later folded into the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. The big trees are recovery, not a never-touched grove. Walk it as a forest that was given back, which is a different kind of impressive.
Food nearby
Pack it
No services at the trailhead. Carry water and food. Half Moon Bay is the town if you need a plate afterward, and even there you should avoid the most theatrical chowder rooms on the main road.
A game nearby
High-school sports in Half Moon Bay
The coast side’s game is a high-school match. That is the affordable, second-tier afternoon. A big college stadium across the hills is not this day.
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