Land of Medicine Buddha, Forest of Nisene Marks 2015-07-05

We celebrated America's 239th Independence Day with a retreat to the Land of Medicine Buddha in Soquel, next to Santa Cruz. The 100 acre property borders the huge Forest of Nisene Marks State Park and provides several hiking opportunities, in addition to being a place of spiritual retreat. LMB is located at 5800 Prescott Rd, Soquel, CA and is not hard to reach if you follow the navigation directions. There is plenty of parking for overnight guests inside the campus and enough parking for day guests outside. You can pick up a map of the property and trails from the reception.

Walking inside the hilly campus will provide a nice workout as you explore the various places of interest there. Up a hill from the parking lot area is the Ksitigarbha Garden. Further ahead is the Wish-fulfillment Temple. On July 4th, we did the 1.2 mile Eight Verses Trail together as a family, with the promise of a special dog blessing. The trail head for the Eight Verses Trail is located between the Ksitigarbha Garden and the Temple and clearly marked. It is best completed as a clockwise loop.

8 verses trail

We also hiked the 2 mile loop walking counter-clockwise, and a part of it is shared with the Eight Verses Trail. To complete this loop, you will leave the LMB property and enter the enchanted forests belonging to the Forests of Nisene Marks State Park.

2 mile loop

The first portion of the hike is through tall redwood trees and is absolutely breathtaking. It was afternoon and sunny when when we started the hike. Inside the forest, there were several stretches with thick shade to keep the sun and heat at bay.

More than a mile into the walk, you will come to the "prayer flags" location. Turn left here to head back to LMB property; the 2 mile loop ends just by the stupa that is currently under construction.

There is also a beautiful 6+ mile loop with much of the trail inside the Forest of Nisene Marks. I didn't want to miss the opportunity to hike that with Apollo. On the 5th, the two of us hit the trail bright and early at 6 am. We did the 6 mile loop in a counter-clockwise direction, a portion of which was a repeat from the 2 mile loop. 

Prayer Flag

Instead of turning left at the "prayer flags," we turned right and headed deeper into the forest. The dirt trail is well-maintained, although there are no markers or signs. If you study the map carefully and heed its cautionary notes, you cannot go wrong.

Forest of Nisene Marks

I must admit hiking this trail for two hours in the morning with the sun barely out was a surreal experience. One of those rare moments when I could actually listen to the sound of silence! The wide dirt trail will become a narrow, single-track trail through the forests, predominantly through redwood trees. More than 3 miles into the hike, you will find a T-junction. Do not take the trail to the right - it leads you to Aptos. Go straight - there are some LMB flags and directions to the campus attached to the redwood tree here. 

Bates Creek crossing

From this point, the trail gently gives up the ~700 feet you'd have gained until now. The trail then zig-zags its way through the forests until it crosses the Bates Creek. With barely a trickle of water in it, it wasn't a problem getting across, although I suspect that crossing the creek after rains would result in wet feet. 

After this crossing, the trail pretty much runs parallel to the creek on your right. At multiple places, I found huge trees fallen down across the trail requiring you to either jump over or crawl beneath to get across. There are also several opportunities to get closer to the creek in this stretch, should you feel adventurous enough to do it.

The trail ends at Prescott Rd, just by the LMB campus, before the bridge that runs across the creek. There is a short stretch that can be slightly tricky, when the narrow trail runs by the slope with tight footing just before the trail ends. Surprisingly, it started raining lightly and for a while, I wasn't even sure if it was rain or just heavy mist and early morning dew that we experienced all along the hike.

More pictures from the hikes.
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