Butano
State Park,California State Parks,
San Mateo County
In brief:
3 mile loop through redwoods.
Getting there:
From CA 1 in San Mateo County, turn east onto Pescadero Road. Drive about 2.5 miles, then turn right (south) onto Cloverdale Road. Drive about 4.5 miles, and turn left into the park. Park near the entry kiosk.
Trailhead details:
Parking for about 6 cars near the kiosk; more roadside parking throughout the park. $6 day use fee (self registration if kiosk is empty). Maps available if the kiosk is staffed (there's a map under glass at the information signboard). Pit toilets a bit further up the road. There is no direct public transportation to the park.
Gas, food, and lodging:
Gas, restaurants, and stores about 5 miles away in Pescadero. I recommend the famous green chile soup at Duarte's. Butano has drive-in and backcountry campgrounds.
Rules:
A few trails are multi-use, but many are designated hiking-only. Dogs are not permitted on the trails, but they are allowed on paved park roads.
Distance, category, and difficulty:
This 3 mile loop hike is moderately easy, with about 800 feet in elevation change. Trailhead elevation is about 225 feet. The highest trail elevation in the park is about 1734 feet.
The Official Story:
CSP's Butano page.
Park office 650-879-2040
Map Choices:
• Use AAA's San Francisco Bay Region map to get there.
• Official park brochure with map (pdf)
• Trail Map of the Santa Cruz Mountains (map 2), by the Sempervirens Fund (includes Big Basin, Butano, and Skyline-to-the Sea) is the best map available.
• Afoot and Afield: San Francisco Bay Area, by David Weintraub (order this book from Amazon.com) has a great map and descriptions of a Butano hike.
• 101 Great Hikes of the San Francisco Bay Area, by Ann Marie Brown (order this book from Amazon.com) has a simple map and featured hike.
• VirtualParks has a good map, and if you have an Apple or Windows operating system, you can view some Quicktime photos.
• Peninsula Trails, by Jean Rusmore, has a simple map and park descriptions (order this book from Amazon.com).
• Tom Taber's Santa Cruz Mountains Trail Book has a simple map and park descriptions (order this book from Amazon.com).
• View 47 photos from the featured hike.
Each passionate bay
area
hiker has a few favorite places to trek. To us these parks and preserves inspire
beatific smiles and excited stories about sublime trails and special experiences.
Unfortunately, Butano State Park is not on my top ten list. Hard to say why;
it's not crowded, ugly, boring, or dirty. Lots of people rave about the redwood
canyons and the hike-in campground. I think it's just a personality conflict,
like Maggie Simpson and that baby with one eyebrow. I don't dig Butano and Butano
doesn't dig me. It's a perfectly fine park, but to me, Butano doesn't rise above
other bay area preserves. If I want redwoods, I'll go to Portola
Redwoods State Park. Butano's creekside trails pale in comparison to Purisima
Creek Redwoods or Monte Bello. Maybe someday I'll
experience a Butano epiphany, but until then I'll keep visiting occasionally,
continuing to plod along the paths while I dream of other trails.Hikers who want to camp will want to check out Butano's Trail Camp,
5.5
miles from the entrance kiosk via the Jackson Flats and Canyon Trails. Reservations
are required. Day hikers looking for a challenge can string together Jackson
Flats Trail, Canyon Trail, Indian Trail, Doe Ridge Trail, Goat Hill Trail, and
Six Bridges Trail. This loop takes place solely on hiking-only paths (with the
exception of a short walk along the park road), and is more than 9 miles long.
Butano's most celebrated path is Año Nuevo Trail, a tricky narrow and
steep trail that ascends from the park's lowest elevation along a creek, through
Douglas fir, redwoods, hazelnut, creambush, and thimbleberry. Año Nuevo
Trail meets a rolling ridgeline fire road that allows a few loops; Goat Hill
or Doe Ridge Trail are fine choices. Unless you really object to walking on
pavement, the park road makes a decent easy circuit when combined with Creek
Trail.For the featured hike, park at the entry kiosk. Look for the signed Año Nuevo Trail on the southeast side of the park road, just past the nature center. Start hiking on the path,
open
to hikers only, through thick vegetation that feels like the walls of a maze
to me (if you're claustrophobic and feeling it already, this may not be a good
trail for you). Dogwood, elderberry, stinging nettle, nightshade, California
coffeeberry, and blackberry thrive in this moist habitat. The trail crosses
a creek (a ramp and log should help in the wet months), then reaches a signed
junction with Six Bridges Trail. Turn right and remain on Año Nuevo
Trail. Thimbleberry crowds the narrow path; in July keep an eye out for ripe berries that taste and look a bit like raspberry. Hazelnut, monkeyflower, and creambush are common. Año Nuevo Trail commands your attention, with fallen trees to duck under, poison oak along the path, uneven surfaces, and plenty of blind, tight curves. After a bit of level (albeit exciting) walking, the trail heads uphill via a long series of switchbacks. Even with switchbacks, the grade is tough. Douglas firs loom overhead as you climb. There are some steps, as well as fallen trees that make the hike a butt buster.
A
view to the north opens up near a rest bench (look for a short trail to the
right). As the trail climbs, trees thicken, and redwoods appear alongside Douglas
fir. Fog drip keeps the ground and plants damp, fostering ferns, baneberry,
coffeeberry, huckleberry, lots more thimbleberry, gooseberry, and twinberry,
accompanying tanoak and hazelnut, while the giant trees tower overhead. A second
rest bench appears off the right side of the trail as the path reaches a crest.
If not for the trees, there'd be a decent view south (I guess this is famous
Año Nuevo vista, but it's not much of a view to me). The trail meanders,
descending gently through the quiet woods. A few shrubs of toyon and pitcher
sage seem out of place in the shade. You may hear hawks calling from the treetops.
Año Nuevo Trail ends at a signed junction at about 1.3 miles. (You can
extend this hike by turning right and taking the fire road to Goat Hill Trail,
or extend it even more by hiking on Olmo Fire Road to Doe Ridge Trail. The fire
road is annoying, with lots of ups and downs, but the two hiking only paths
are lovely.) Turn left on Olmo Fire Road.The dirt
multi-use
trail immediately heads downhill. Tree cover is a little thinner than Año
Nuevo Trail's romp through the woods, so sunlight filters down to creambush,
hazelnut, giant chain fern, honeysuckle, coffeeberry, and gooseberry along the
trail. Watch out for banana slugs! At about 1.8 miles, Goat Hill Trail sets
out on the right side of the road at a signed junction. Turn left and continue
downhill on the fire road, which after the junction becomes a robust road
(it's kind of a driveway, so do listen for cars). The fire road soon dips beneath
Douglas firs, some of them quite old and majestic. Gradually, as you descend,
redwoods take over, until they attain complete domination at the canyon floor.
Six Bridges Trail heads back to the trailhead at a signed junction on the left
side of the road. (Any normal hiker would prefer Six Bridges to walking back
on the park road, so exercise this option unless you're reluctant to climb some
more and then walk though the overgrown foliage along the creek.) Continue
on the fire road, which ends a few steps further, at about 2.4 miles. Turn
left and walk on the narrow paved park road back to the trailhead. Total distance: about 3 miles
Last hiked: Monday, July 31, 2000
