45 |
OLD LANDING |
DISTANCE: 2.5 miles round-trip
HIKING TIME: 1.5 hours
SEASON: year-round
DIFFICULTY: easy
Old Landing Cove Trail provides views of a seal rookery and spectacular beaches, and a trip to a hidden fern cave. Start from the trail sign near the restrooms. The path travels along the coastal blufftops, skirting the park’s agricultural preserve of brussels sprouts fields. Soon you come out to open views of the wide Pacific. The first beach in sight, Wilder Beach, is a fenced-off preserve for the endangered snowy plover. In another 0.2 mile you’ll see the old landing cove, a narrow inlet where schooners loaded lumber in the late 1800s. Just offshore is a flat rock where harbor seals sunbathe. Your best view of the seals comes on your return trip.
Aside from the dramatic coastline, a highlight of this trail is Wilder Ranch’s fern cave, where ferns hang from the ceiling low enough to tickle your head. The cave is hidden at the back of a U-shaped cove; watch for post number 8 and take the short trail just beyond it that descends to the beach.
Back on the Old Landing Cove Trail, walk 0.25 mile north, heading to the next cove, Sand Plant Beach. Follow a spur trail to the beach, which could be just the place to have a picnic. Retrace your steps when you’re ready.
From Santa Cruz, drive north on Hwy. 1 for 4.0 miles. Turn left into Wilder Ranch State Park, then follow the park road to its end and park. Pick up the trail from the southwest edge of the parking lot.
