Quarry Park, Wicklow Open Space 2015-10-22

Quarry Park in El Granada is a small 40 acre neighborhood park. Surrounded by a 482 acre open space simply referred to as Wicklow, this park offers an outstanding hike in a scenic location. The small parking lot can be reached by taking Coronado St exit from Hwy 1 in El Granada and following the directions to the park (located at Santa Maria Ave & Columbus St). 

Wicklow was donated by a private donor to Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) in 2003 which in turn donated the land to San Mateo County in 2014. Once the trail systems in the expanded Quarry Park and Rancho Corral De Tierra are fully developed, this area will provide miles of hiking trails in the Santa Cruz mountains by the beautiful Pacific coast. 

Vista Point trail

The trail system in Quarry park itself is somewhat limited with the Vista Point trail providing the primary attraction. Apollo and I started our hike in that trail. The trail goes through a dense eucalyptus forest. At the first fork, we headed towards the quarry floor, subsequently following the trail until it hits Dolphine Fire Rd. 

Dolphine Fire Rd

Other than a small section in the Quarry park, trails identified in the map are not marked. I would recommend printing the map before heading to this place with your GPS and a spirit of adventure. Dolphine Fire Rd. is also a dirt trail, somewhat wide and surrounded by eucalyptus trees. The trail is also filled with foliage from the trees. 

South Ridge trail

We turned left onto Dolphine Fire Rd and did the 2 mile out & back by this road which goes all the way to a gate at El Granada Blvd. From the trail head, by the time we reached the gate at El Granada Blvd, we had climbed some 700 ft. We gave up some of the elevation on our way back. Instead of going back to the entrance, we continued straight on Dolphine Fire Rd until the South Ridge trail junction.

We turned left on South Ridge trail and headed up hill once again. About 1/2 a mile of climbing will reward you with fantastic views of the mountain range. South Ridge trail is dotted by eucalyptus as well as pine trees providing a nice change of scenery. This trail also ends without further access ahead, so we retraced our steps, making this stretch a one mile out & back hike. 

At the four way junction between South Ridge trail, Dolphine Fire Rd and Vista Point trail, we turned right on to Vista Point trail. A short walk will take you out of Wicklow and back into Quarry park. We made our way to the to the harbor view point, a vista point that should absolutely not be missed.  

You will be rewarded with panoramic views of the Pillar Point Harbor, HMB airport and more from this spot. We had hiked this area when we were out on Pillar Point Bluff back in August. After a short break, Apollo and I headed back to the main entrance following the Vista Point trail. 

If a walk by eucalyptus forest is what the doctor ordered, then Quarry park and Wicklow is the place to go to. Our 5+ mile hike today involved a climb of almost 1000 ft. through dense eucalyptus forests and couple of panoramic vista points.

More pictures from our hike.
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