Pogonip 2016-02-03

Apollo at the Clubhouse

Pogonip is a scenic park with 8 miles of trails tucked away in Santa Cruz. Dogs are allowed in designated trails which actually includes bulk of the trail system in this park. Parking is somewhat of a challenge. The best place to park is on Golf Course Drive between River St. & the railroad. You may be lucky to find one of the handful parking spots right by the trail heads at the end of Golf Course Dr. 

Emma McCrary trail

We started our hike by Emma McCrary trail. This multi-use trail was opened couple of years ago and is very popular with mountain bikers. The dirt trail is fairly narrow and single track much of the way as it gradually climbs from the Golf Course Dr trail head to Rincon trail junction, gaining about 400 ft.

Emma McCrary rail runs parallel to a rail road on the right, pretty much all the way. Dotted by coastal oaks, redwoods, douglas firs and more, the trail is completely shaded. You will get the first of many opportunities to see the expansive meadows Pogonip has to offer about 1/2 mile into the hike on the left.

At the top, the trail comes to a junction with multiple trails. Rincon trail is the immediate left, a wider fire road that will lead you to yet another junction of multiple trails and another meadow. It was interesting to see ground fog rise from these meadows, perhaps a reason behind the name Pogonip: icy fog in Native American. 

Fern trail

We turned left here by Fern trail which starts off by going around the meadow before turning south and running parallel to Emma McCrary trail for a while. Fern trail descends gradually for a while, crosses Redwood creek before coming to Ohlone trail intersection. 

Spring trail

We turned right by Ohlone trail which has somewhat of a steep climb before leveling off and coming out of the woods. Turning right again at the next intersection, we took Spring trail and made our way back to the meadow in the north to Fern trail. That short stretch by Spring trail, a wide fire road completed a clockwise loop of about 1.5 miles.

Lime Kiln

From here, we were back on Rincon trail heading south. You have the option of covering this stretch by taking Lime Kiln trail running almost parallel to it. There are remnants of a lime kiln that you will get to see here, including the opportunity to learn about the history of lime business in mid-nineteenth century in California.

Fallen Eucalyptus

Past the kilns, we turned left by Spring Box trail to reach Brayshaw trail. The short stretch had a fallen eucalyptus tree blocking the trail, although it is possible to go around it. 

Brayshaw trail

Brayshaw, a wide gravel trail flanked by more eucalyptus trees will lead you to the ranger house first and the clubhouse next. To the right of Brayshaw trail is the prairie meadow. We took the opportunity to walk through the meadow by the Prairie trail, a short detour before reaching the clubhouse. 

Prairie trail

While most of the trails we walked today were wet and damp, typical of a winter hike after rains, the walk by Prairie trail took me back to my childhood when I had walked by the wet and damp rice fields in south India.

Lower Meadow trail

From the clubhouse, we wrapped up our hike by taking Lower Meadow trail. As the name implies, this trail also goes through an expansive meadow with impressive views of the mountains and the ocean in the distance. 

Our hike was a nice large outer loop in counter clockwise direction and a smaller loop in the clockwise direction. The outer loop started at the trail head by Emma McCrary trail, connecting to Rincon trail, Spring Box trail, Brayshaw trail, Prairie trail and Lower Meadow trail, highlighted yellow in the map. The inner loop comprised of Fern trail, Ohlone trail and Spring trail, highlighted turquoise in the map.

Involving about 700 feet climbing, this ~6.5 mile hike will be a perfect hike for those seeking a moderately challenging hike in a forest setting. If you park before the rail road crossing, you will do another 1/2 a mile to your hike.


More photos from our hike.
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