Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail
Saratoga Gap to Waddell Beach, Santa Cruz Mtns · near Saratoga / Davenport · SF Bay Area
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- strenuous
- Route type
- point-to-point
- Distance
- 30 miles
- Elevation gain
- 2,600 ft
- Time needed
- multi-day
- Best season
- Spring (waterfalls, green) and fall · Avoid mid-winter storm windows
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- Yes
- How the permit works
- Free to hike, but overnight trail camps require advance California State Parks reservations. Post-CZU-fire the traditional Big Basin backcountry camps have limited/changed availability — confirm which are open before planning an overnight.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 3 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Castle Rock formations · Recovering redwood forest · Berry Creek Falls · Waddell Creek canyon · Ocean finish at Waddell Beach
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Not permitted
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- Hike it downhill east-to-west from Saratoga Gap to the coast, and arrange a car shuttle or use the seasonal Santa Cruz METRO bus — there's no easy transit back from Waddell Beach.
The guide
The Bay Area's premier point-to-point wilderness traverse, descending from the fir-clad Skyline ridge through redwood canyons a…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.2559, -122.1195