Wilder Ranch Coastal Bluffs
Wilder Ranch State Park (Santa Cruz) · near Santa Cruz · SF Bay Area
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- easy
- Route type
- loop
- Distance
- 5 miles
- Elevation gain
- 200 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- Year-round (spring wildflowers, winter whales)
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No permit; state park parking fee. A flat coastal-terrace loop along dramatic bluffs just north of Santa Cruz — also a favorite for mountain biking.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 1 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Marine-terrace bluff trail · Hidden pocket beaches & coves · Fern grotto sea cave · Wildflowers & whales
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Not permitted
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- Follow the bluff-edge trails out and loop back on the inland tracks. Don't miss the fern grotto sea cave, tucked just below the bluff on the western part of the loop. Spring brings wildflowers to the terrace; winter brings whales offshore. It's a shared-use trail popular with mountain bikers, so stay alert on the wider tracks.
The guide
Wilder Ranch protects a beautiful stretch of marine-terrace coastline just north of Santa Cruz, where a nearly flat bluff-top l…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Wilder Ranch Coastal Bluffs — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 36.961, -122.085