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| Coast Redwood, Sequoia sempervirens |
Date: August 30, 2025
Place: Samuel P. Taylor State Park, Lagunitas, California
Coordinates: 38.019396, -122.730133
Length: 4.1 miles
Level: moderate
On Labor Day weekend Pappa Quail and I went on a little three-days getaway by ourselves. Our destination was Point Reyes National Seashore but on our way there we stopped at Samuel P. Taylor State Park and did a nice little hike there. When we arrived at the park there were still a few available parking spaces in the main parking area so we stopped there, had a little picnic lunch, than got our cameras and some water and went on an exploration hike.
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| Our hike as captured by my GPS |
Samuel P. Taylor is a redwoods park. It was a fairly hot day so we welcomed the deep shade of the redwood forest. We started walking along the road towards a trailhead that was recommended by the entrance booth attendant.
We crossed Lagunitas Creek on the asphalt road bridge and paused there for a little bit to see if we could find any birds. We could hear a few in the trees but saw none in the open.
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| Lagunitas Creek |
Past the bridge we found the Pioneer Tree Trail and started uphill on that trail. Right away we were deep in the forest, where the temperature was at least ten degrees lower than out in the open.
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| Pioneer Tree Trail |
The soil was very dry. I didn't see any wildflowers blooming, but some of the bushes were bearing nice looking berries.
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| California Spikenard, Aralia californica |
The redwoods in this forest were young trees. Sadly, all old growth trees were logged more than 150 years ago. The young trees did tower at impressive heights already.
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| Coast Redwood, Sequoia Sempervirens |
There weren't many people hiking that trail at the time. Most people who were in the park stuck to the water ad the picnic area. for nearly all of the hike we had the trail to ourselves.
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| Pioneer Tee Trail |
There were places in which the trail was under maintenance work. At one of the trail curves there was a mound of green boughs that were cut and piled up together. Some of the boughs belonged to a conifer tree with leaves that looked very similar to redwood but seemed more delicate. The cones still hanging from the stems didn't look like any conifer cone I knew. This tree turned out to be a California nutmeg (no relations to actual nutmeg), which is a species endemic to California, and apparently has a 'species of concern' status.
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| California Nutmeg, Torreya californica, endemic |
The trail was leading us uphill along the contour of the hill. At first we ascended along a tributary creek's ravine and descended mildly on its opposite side, and then continued somewhat parallel to the Lagunitas Creek. All that time we were in the shade of the renewed redwood forest.
There were more berries-bearing bushes along the trail, including ripe red rosehips. I tasted one of them but its texture was too dry and unpleasant to the palate. Perhaps it would have been better as an herbal infusion.
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| Rose hips |
We reached another trail maintenance area. That part of the trail seemed to have sustained extensive erosion damage and the park authorities were now building a long boardwalk bridge over that place. We passed carefully along that newly built yet unfinished structure only to find on the other side a sign saying that the trail is closed and to please not walk on that bridge ... It was too late for us to obey that sign so we simply continued on.
Shortly after passing that bridge we started our descent back to Lagunitas Creek. Along the way we could see many of the sad stumps of the old growth redwood trees that were logged to build human structures.
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| Redwood stump |
The Sir Francis Drake Blvd road goes parallel to Lagunitas Creek and a long flat bridge crosses them both. At first we wanted to do a return loop on the south side of the creek but that trail, we quickly found out, was closed, so we went on he bridge to continue our hike on the north side.
The part of the bridge that was right over the creek had tall chicken wire fences on its railings. Salmon-shaped Xs were nailed on some of the bridge's posts. I guess that fishing from the bridge is prohibited, and the fences were meant for anglers who didn't get the memo.
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| No fishing from bridge |
The trail north of Lagunas Creek was parallel to the creek. It was the south-facing slope, which was considerably drier. We walked briskly along the trail when Pappa Quail stopped short and motioned me closer - he saw a snake in the vegetation.
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| Aquatic Garter Snake |
The snake slithered away quickly but I was able to get a few nice photos of the sleek and beautiful animal. It was a garter snake, a harmless (to humans) California native species.
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| Aquatic Garter Snake |
There were plenty of spider webs too and the sunshine, which was almost direct now, illuminated the web domes, making them look like artistic lace.
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| Spider Web |
There were considerably fewer redwoods on this part of the trail. Redwoods prefer the moister side of the hills. The taller trees were firs and pines and there were also more oaks on this side of the creek.
Acorn woodpeckers flew from one tree to anther and Pappa Quail captured one that was busy at her dead fir acorn granary.
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| Acorn Woodpecker |
We crossed a small tributary brook and I was surprised that it was running still. I looked for little animals in the water but found none, not even those water-walker bugs.
The trail turned into a dirt road that continued a bit higher above Lagunitas Creek. It had the funny name of Gravesite Road. I couldn't find information about that Grave site. Perhaps it was Taylor's own grave? I don't know.
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| Gravesite Road |
Near the trail junction I found the only plant that was flowering in any noticeable numbers: the Pennyroyal, an invasive species of mint.
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| Pennyroyal, Mentha pulegium |
It was a much drier area there and the conifers were replaced by an oak savanna we many open grassy areas. It was past midday, the day was hot, and both Pappa Quail and I were sweating in the heat.
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| Gravesite Road |
We walked fast to the next trail junction where we decided it was time to go back down to Lagunitas Creek and the shade of the forest. We headed downhill, passing a campground on our way and uing their tap to fill our drained water bottles. I also washed my face and soaked my hat, letting the col water drip down my neck.
The trail dead-ended at the road that stretched along Lagunitas Creek. We crossed the road intent on waking back along the asphalt but then we saw a narrow foot path between the road and the water so we climbed down a drainage chute to get to that trail. From that trail we could see some very nice-looking water holes where people were swimming or floating on tubes or small kayaks. The creek was definitely the place to be on a hot day at the end of summer.
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| Lagunitas Creek |
We continued along the narrow foot trail, relieved to be in the shade. In some places the vegetation closed abve us completely, creating a cool tunnel, forcing us to stoop every now and then.
We finished the walk along Lagunitas Creek with a nice, unobstructed view upon the water and the picnic area behind it.
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| Lagunitas Creek |
Just before reaching the main picnic area where we were parked we encountered a junco that stood out in the open, and held his place bravely as Pappa Quail took his photo.
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| Dark-eyed Junco |
This hike at Samuel P. Taylor State Park was a lovely start for our lng weekend outing. Sweaty and hot we got into the car and drove directly west to Point Reyes National Seashore where we planned to do a nice afternoon walk in the ocean breeze.
