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Randy
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The Saratoga toll road is now reopened. A large section had been closed due to a big slide that occurred near a seasonal water runoff. This was actually old time road connecting Saratoga with Pescadero, and providing access to the new Redwood State Park known today as Big Basin. It was replaced many moons ago and fallen back to a trail. It had been in bad shape for years, but was still used as a hiking trail until the slide. Much of the land in this area was recently acquired by Sempervirens Fund and has been earmarked to become part of Castle Rock State Park. A crew has gone in there and done a tremendous amount of work to do repairs and dig out a new trail including new wooden footbridges. Now the trail is even better than ever. I did a short loop hike using the newly reopened section on Saturday, and I am happy to report that it’s a great hike now. This trail is an interesting alternative when doing a hike out to the coast from Skyline. It’s further from the road than the regular Skyline to the Sea trail so you don’t get the noise pollution, and you can also use it to connect to other trails like Travertine Springs or Bekhus cutoff to form loops.
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Total Posts: 147 | Joined Sep. 2004 | Posted on: 3:53 pm on Sep. 9, 2007 | IP
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FastHiker
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I always preferred the Toll Road trail to the Skyline to the Sea Trail. You still have to listen to the gun shots from the range along Skyline but at least you don’t have to listen to all the cars along highway 9.
I hope they put in a few signs. As much as I love the Toll Road, it’s a great place to get lost. There are numerous intersections but unless both are official trails there won’t be a sign and it won’t appear on a map.
The other downside to the Toll Road is that it doesn’t go by the Waterman Gap trail camp. This is only a problem if you plan to camp. I wonder how far up the road you would have to hike to get from the intersection of Toll Road and highway 9 to the intersection of highway 9 and the trail that leads to the camp.
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Total Posts: 256 | Joined Nov. 2004 | Posted on: 7:41 am on Sep. 10, 2007 | IP
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Randy
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Yeah, that’s true. The toll road bypasses the trail camp at Waterman Gap. If you follow the toll road trail beyond where it crosses highway 9 you have to do some climbing up past some power lines, and you connect to the S to S trail about 1.3 or so miles past Waterman Gap. If you wanted to go to the trail camp you can still transition to S to S at the Behkus cutoff.
They have improved the signs somewhat. The rule is if it isn’t marked, it’s not really a trail. At least not any more. There are usually arrow markers and “trail” signs, but you could maybe miss those. I do remember some places where old road sections could be confusing. If you took the wrong turn, you would likely come to a dead end.
Don’t get me started on that crazy gun club. Sometimes you can hear the noise from that club all the way to Black Mountain. I’d love to pass a noise ordinance up there. Make them use mufflers.
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Total Posts: 147 | Joined Sep. 2004 | Posted on: 9:17 pm on Sep. 10, 2007 | IP
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Bay Area Hiker Discussion Board
Saratoga Toll Road
