Hike Info:
Type:
Backpacking
Trail:
Skyline to the Sea Trail, Howard King Trail, Hihn Hammond Road,
McCrary Ridge Trail
Destination:
Waddell Beach
Start Time: 9:43
End Time: 4:47
Travel Time: 7:03 (1.30 mph)
Moving Time: 6:45 (1.36 mph)
Elevation Rise: 1,633 '
Descent: 2,518’
Maximum Elevation: 1,757'
1For
about the first quarter mile, the GPS could not find its satellites.
So I have added that to the mileage. Also I was walking a lot slower
than Sherri and Steven going up hill. So my time
is
longer than theirs.
Description:
 |
| Cold Morning Start |
I get a good long sleep last
night. Maybe because of being tired, or more likely, it is cold and
my sleeping bag feels so good. Even getting up at 7:30, it feels like
it is about freezing, or colder with the amount of moisture in the
air. But I do not see any ice on our water. I wait around, keeping
warm until the others get up. I do not think we will make our 8:00
start time we talked about, or even a 9:00 start. After our
breakfast, we get packed for our final day on the trail.
We exit Jay
Camp,
returning to the
park’s headquarters area.
Then cut through the Redwood loop to meet up with the STS. The first
of the STS today is up, and more up. Once again, both Sherri and
Steven are stronger at this than I am. I trudge up, but am left alone
with my thoughts-which I enjoy as well, or at times even more so,
than trail comradery. It is beautiful walking. Cold, but the exertion
warms the body. I am just winded more than I should be. As we
approach the top of the ridge, about a 400’ climb, the sunlight
peaks through more. Until we break out to the top. Should be almost
all downhill from here to the parking lot.
But wait! What is that sign?
It says the STS is closed because of hazardous conditions between
here and Berry
Creek Falls.
Now what? The recommendation is to go through Sunset
Camp.
But this will Add another 2.5 miles, plus an unknown amount of
climbing. Maybe it is time to call David and have him pick us up.
Steven and I came to the same
conclusion separately. I had been eyeballing another trail earlier
when it became apparent we were going to get a late start. But
rejected it because of the unknown factor. Steven had been examining
a map on a sign. We both saw that following the ridge we were on was
a road, at the end of the road was a trail which lead down to the STS
by Waddell
Creek.
That was our solution.
The road is call the Hihn
Hammond Road but there is a trail which weaves its way around this
road it is called the Howard King Trail. We will we start up the King
Trail. It circles around while not giving a very good view, it is
delightful in that it goes through a sheltered area and with a trees
hanging over and and giving a pleasant feel to the trail
By the time would we get close
to the end of the first segment of the King Trail, Sherri and Steven
have gone ahead and, even though this sounds odd, I am still behind.
This leads to an interesting situation. I am looking up the trail
and it looks like the trail goes straight. There is definitely is a
time when this was used as a road, as I see two tracks going up my
way. But I realize I do not see any recent tracks and the trail no
longer really looks like a trail. So I stop, yell and blow my whistle
with a single tweet-that says “I am here.” Steven hears it and
comes back away and yells out. I put away my stuff and Steven walks
up. We walked back to the trail-it now is obvious where I got off-the
trail bent and I went straight. Sherri is waiting for us at the
Hammond Road.
While I do not think of myself
as lost there, I definitely was not on the right trail. Stopping
where I was, was the right thing. Yelling and whistling was proper.
If there had been no response, I would have used my GPS to backtrack
to where I definitely could spot the trail I think this would have
gotten me the correct results.
 |
| Lunch Break-McAbee Overlook |
We look at the map and noticed
that the King Trail goes on the other side of the road. The trail
looks like it drops a couple hundred feet and then comes back up to
meet the road again. Even as interesting as the King Trail was so
far, we think we will skip this venture and go via the road.
In a little over a mile, we
come to the Mount
McAbee Overlooked,
complete with a log seat to rest on. Thank you Mr Wheat for putting
it there. We decide this is a good place to stop and have lunch, as
well as just enjoy the sights From here, we see where Waddell Beach
is and take heart on on it we know we are about to leave the road in
in a little while.
 |
| Waddell Beach from McAbee Overlook |
 |
| Sherri on the McCrary Ridge Trail |
When we branch off on the
McCrary
Ridge
Trail, we go along the side of the ridge for a little ways then the
trail drops down somewhat steeply on a trail of loose rock and dirt.
With our poles, it is not too much of a problem yet it is reason to
be cautious. This is a very exposed trail as well. Today, it is not
bad because the coolness but on a summer day you would get fried
walking this trail.
We stopped often to look at
the views. Across from us is Chalk
Mountain,
which looks like it on a map, there was once had a fire lookout; now,
there is a large antenna. Not all the time are there views to look
at; sometimes the trail dips into places of shade. This is a pleasant
contrast to the exposed areas. Instead of conifers, madrone abound.
This gives the sense of red when we look around.
 |
| Chalk Mountain |
There is a sense that this
trail keeps on going down and down and down-it is good we are not
going up it. We start to see evidence of the East
Waddell Creek
on our left side. So we know we are getting close to the junction
with the STS.
 |
| Sherri among the madrone |
 |
| Steven |
We find at the junction sign
saying that this was a horse trail going up and it is very steep. Our
thoughts are: “well duh, it is steep”. But we are glad we have
come down the trail. From this point on is just a straight shot to
the car about two and a half or three miles. By the time Sherri and I
have gotten to the junction Steven has gone ahead.
Since we left the STS, we have
not seen people but as we are on the STS. there we have started
running into hikers and a few bicyclists. Nothing major, just a bit
jarring. Since we are now in the valley created by Waddell Creek, It
is a lot darker, almost gloomy-both because of the deepness of the
canyon but also of the fading light of day.
 |
| East Waddell Creek |
There is a place where the
trail splits off: hikers cross Waddell Creek and go up and around
before dropping into the parking lot; bicycles and horses continue
down the road. But when we examined were the trails supposed to go,
it looks like a bridge has been washed out and there is one possible
place to cross without taking off our shoes. At this point in the day
we think, “why do we want to go to through this when we can just
walk down the road?” So that is what we do. Nobody seems to care
that we are just walking down the road and this does give us pretty
good time. The road is pretty level a bit rolling but nothing
dramatic. And then we see the side of the cars and we know that our
trip is done. Steven is waiting for us in the car.
We get all packed up and ready
to go. Steven drives us down to Santa Cruz where we have pizza at the
Upper
Crust Pizza..
Tastes really good today and we stuff ourselves enough so that we
think why do we really want to go to Marianne's? That is besides the
ice cream is really good and it is our tradition when we are in Santa
Cruz.. We inquire at the Upper Crust if they serve ice cream
Marianne's
Ice Cream.
They do but only vanilla. But they make a dessert of a vanilla with a
cookie and toppings and stuff. So we order that and are satisfied.
Steven drives as back to Fresno and we get in about 10. Tired, but
feeling good about ourselves.
Background
STS: Skyline to the Sea Trail
Howard
King Trail:
Howard King was a photographer and conservationist who helped found
the Sempervirens Fund. He was also a volunteer who helped to build
and maintain many hiking trails. Born in Otisco, N.Y., south of
Syracuse, in 1906 he died June 29, 2003 of natural causes at his home
in Boulder Creek. He helped write and illustrated the book,
Plants
of Big Basin Redwoods State Park.
Taken from
LocalWiki..
Also see the LA Times obituary.
Hihn
Hammond Road:
Named after the Hihn Hammond Lumber Company. Just as a point of
interest. About six months before we walked this road, a tree fell
and
a video
was caught of it falling.
McAbee
Mountain: As much as I looked for this mountain, I could not see it.
That is because it was right next to us. Instead of looking East or
South, I should have looked NorthWest about 200 yards. Sometimes
these things are right there staring at you.
As a note when I dropped off
the car Monday I paid a $10 parking fee for Monday night. I was not
sure if our permit covered that night. But we saw the law enforcement
person who is collecting the money and I asked him. He said that yes
a few for Monday night since the permit did not cover Monday but only
Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday nights. So it was a good thing I left
the money there Monday.
Breakfast
|
Lunch
|
Dinner
|
Snacks
|
Oatmeal
and add-ins, such as dried peaches, strawberries, nuts, granola.
Tang.
|
Ritz
Crackers, Peanut Butter, Nutella
|
|
Clif
Bar, GORP, Propel, CytoMax, Scrytch, Coffee Candy, Jelly Belly
|
 |
| Mr Wheat's Bench on McAbee Overlook |
 |
| Sherri at the McAbee Overlook |
 |
| Gary, Sherri, and Steven at McAbee Overlook |
 |
| The Chalks |
 |
| Waddell Beach from McAbee Overlook |
 |
| Where McCrary Ridge Trail starts |
 |
| McCrary Ridge Trail |
 |
| Sherri on McCrary Ridge Trail |
 |
| South of Waddell Creek |
Our total walking was 27.02 miles, Our "average day was 9.00 miles with an ascent of 6,585'.
Of course behind that average our days ranged from 8.12 to 9.43 miles and 1,119' to 2,194'. A note: it seems like many places reference this to be a 28.5 mile hike. Some of it is that we needed to take a different trail than the Skyline to the Sea proper because of unsafe conditions before Berry Creek Falls.
