Awesome hike through a redwood canyon, chaparral filled ridges and views of jagged Big Sur coastline.

Location: Garrapata State Park

» RedwoodHikes Map of Garrapata: Awesome contoured map by Dave Baselt showing all the trails clearly

» Official Trail Map: Decent map showing all the trails. Mileage information is missing.

Route in Brief: Soberanes Canyon Trail (1.7 miles) → Rocky Ridge Trail (0.9 + 2.2 miles).

Details: The hike is described in detail in a RedwoodHikes article. Soberanes Canyon Trail follows Soberanes Creek up a redwood filled canyon and crosses it seven times before meeting a side trail (called North Fork Trail on official trail map — no signs at junction). It then starts climbing up steeply along Rocky Ridge Trail, most of which is in chaparral filled hills offering panoramic valley views. Rocky Ridge Trail later starts descending offering great views of the jagged Monterey coastline. There are no signs at the junction of Rocky Ridge Trail and Peak Trail, so you would need to use your judgment.

Notes: Trail signs are generally absent. The only signs are near the traihead.

Location: along Highway 1, about 6.7 miles south of the shopping complex at Rio Rd and Highway 1 in Carmel, CA . No street address. Parking area is visible in Google Maps if you zoom in sufficiently.

Directions: Garrapata State Park has 19 entrances along Highway 1. Signs for the park are not prominent, so it is easy to miss these entrances when driving on Highway 1. Study the trail map and Google Maps carefully to locate these entrances, especially Entrance #7 which has a shaded roadside parking amid cypresses. Entrance #7 is shown in an inset map in the Official Trail Map.

Google Maps:

Parking Fees: None (last visited: May 2011)

Capacity: About 5 to 6 cars along the shoulder of Highway 1.

Latitude: 36.456429     Longitude: -121.924016