Purisima Creek Redwoods
Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space (Woodside) · near Half Moon Bay / Woodside · SF Bay Area
Hiking · Trail Running
At a glance
- Difficulty
- moderate
- Route type
- loop
- Distance
- 6.5 miles
- Elevation gain
- 1,600 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- Year-round (lush after winter rains)
- Difficulty
- strenuous
- Distance
- 8 miles
- Best season
- Year-round · lush after winter rain, cool coastal air
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No permit or fee. A rare combination of redwood forest and coastal panorama in the Santa Cruz Mountains above Half Moon Bay.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 1 of 5
- How the permit works
- No permit. Midpeninsula Regional Open Space — free. Trailheads on Skyline Blvd (top) and Higgins Canyon (bottom, near Half Moon Bay).
What is here
- Features
- Redwoods + ocean views · Fern-lined creek canyon · Half Moon Bay panorama · Quiet Peninsula gem
- Features
- Second-growth coast redwoods on the Peninsula · Fern-lined creek singletrack · Big descend-then-climb loop · Ocean views from the upper ridges
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Not permitted
- Good for a first timer
- No
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- Start from the top (Skyline/Highway 35) and descend into the redwoods first, saving the climb for when you're fresh on the return — or start at the bottom near Half Moon Bay for a climb-first approach. The upper ridge trails have the ocean views; the canyon has the redwoods and creek. Go midweek for near-solitude.
Trail Running detail
- Surface
- singletrack
- Intl tip
- The Skyline (upper) trailhead makes for a descend-first loop; the Higgins Canyon (lower) trailhead near Half Moon Bay reverses it. Combine with a Half Moon Bay coast day. The wider Midpeninsula open-space network (Windy Hill, El Corte de Madera) offers endless connecting trails.
The guide
Purisima Creek Redwoods offers something unusual and wonderful: a hike that combines a hushed, fern-lined redwood canyon with s…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Purisima Creek Redwoods — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.421, -122.335