Best Hiking Trails in Santa Cruz County, California

Santa Cruz County packs old-growth redwood forest, Pacific bluff trails, and Santa Cruz Mountain ridgelines into a stretch of coastline barely 15 miles across at its widest. It works as a hiking destination for Bay Area day-trippers and Central Coast road-trippers alike, though anyone planning around Big Basin Redwoods, the county’s best-known park, needs current information more than any other California county hub on this list, given how much of it is still recovering from a devastating 2020 fire.

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The rest of the county’s trail network largely escaped that damage, which makes Santa Cruz one of the more forgiving places to build a first hiking trip around once you know which specific park needs the extra planning. Exploring the diverse Hiking Trails in Santa Cruz offers an incredible mix of coastal and forest terrain.

Key takeaways

• Santa Cruz County has three hiking zones: the Santa Cruz Mountains (Big Basin, Castle Rock, Forest of Nisene Marks), coastal bluffs (Wilder Ranch, Año Nuevo, Natural Bridges), and redwood creek corridors (Henry Cowell, Fall Creek).
• Berry Creek Falls Trail remains closed following the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire, with state parks estimating 7–10 years for full restoration of that backcountry route, there’s no confirmed reopening date.
• Big Basin itself is open for limited day-use, with more than 20 miles of trails and fire roads restored since its partial 2022 reopening, including a newly accessible route to Sempervirens Falls.
• The Skyline-to-Sea Trail is open in sections, not end to end, the inland stretch between Castle Rock and Big Basin’s main day-use area is hikeable, but the southern segment toward the ocean remains closed.
• Año Nuevo’s elephant seals can be seen without a guided tour April through November, it’s only during the December 15–March 31 breeding season that a reserved guided walk is required.

Related:

• The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park Hiking Guide
• Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park Hiking Guide
• 5 Best Redwood Hiking Trails in Santa Cruz County
• 5 Best Coastal Hiking Trails in Santa Cruz
• 5 Best Hiking Trails in the Santa Cruz Mountains
• 5 Best Hiking Trails in Big Basin Redwoods State Park, Santa Cruz County
• 5 Best Hiking Trails Near Santa Cruz for Beginners

Why Santa Cruz County is a top California hiking destination

Few California counties let you walk through 1,000-year-old redwoods and stand on an ocean bluff in the same afternoon. Santa Cruz County’s compact geography, mountains, redwood canyons, and coastline all within a short drive of downtown makes it a genuine hub for both Bay Area hikers heading south and Central Coast travelers heading north.

Santa Cruz County’s three hiking zones

The Santa Cruz Mountains hold the county’s biggest inland destinations: Big Basin, Castle Rock, and the Forest of Nisene Marks. Coastal bluff trails run through Wilder Ranch, Año Nuevo, and Natural Bridges, each trading elevation for ocean views and wildlife. Redwood creek corridors at Henry Cowell and the Fall Creek Unit give you old-growth forest without Big Basin’s current access limitations, which makes this zone the easiest starting point for a first Santa Cruz hike.

Best hiking trails in Big Basin Redwoods State Park, Santa Cruz County

Big Basin is California’s oldest state park, established in 1902, and it’s still working through a long recovery from the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire, which burned more than 97% of its acreage and damaged nearly every trail and structure in the park, including all of its campgrounds.

It reopened for limited day-use in July 2022, and access has expanded steadily since, more than 20 miles of trails and 25-plus miles of fire roads are now open, though full restoration is still years away as the park works through a multi-year “Reimagining Big Basin” planning and reconstruction process.

The redwoods themselves have fared better than the infrastructure: most scorched trees have resprouted from their bases thanks to the thick, fire-resistant bark that’s kept coast redwoods alive through fires for centuries.

Berry Creek Falls Trail: currently closed, and likely to stay that way for years

This is the correction most worth knowing before you plan a Big Basin trip: the classic Berry Creek Falls loop, historically an 11.5-mile round trip past three waterfalls in sequence, remains closed, and California State Parks has estimated 7 to 10 years for full restoration of this backcountry route given the extent of bridge and trail damage. There’s no confirmed reopening date.

If a multi-waterfall hike was the whole reason for your visit, the honest answer right now is that it isn’t available, and it’s worth checking the park’s official page before you build a trip around it. The newly reopened Sequoia Trail, combined with a short stretch of the Skyline-to-Sea Trail, now reaches Sempervirens Falls, a smaller 20-foot waterfall, on a 4.3-mile loop, and it’s the closest thing to a waterfall hike currently open inside the park.

Redwood Loop Trail: Big Basin’s best short old-growth walk

At about 0.6 miles and completely flat, the Redwood Loop near the former park headquarters is open and remains the easiest way to see some of the park’s oldest trees, including the named Mother and Father of the Forest. Occasional guided walks are available by request, check at the temporary visitor center for current availability.

Day-use parking reservations are strongly recommended given limited spaces, and a free weekend shuttle bus (Santa Cruz Metro Route 35) offers a no-fee alternative if you don’t want to deal with parking at all.

Best hiking trails in Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, Santa Cruz

Henry Cowell doesn’t carry Big Basin’s post-fire complications, which makes it the more straightforward redwood recommendation for most visitors right now. At 4,650 acres near Felton, the park also offers Pipeline Road for mountain biking and hiking, a River Trail along the San Lorenzo River, and the Garden of Eden swimming hole for warmer months, plenty to fill a full day beyond the signature grove walk.

Redwood Grove Loop: Henry Cowell’s best easy old-growth trail

This 0.8-mile, completely flat loop near Felton, about 6 miles from downtown Santa Cruz, passes ancient coast redwoods, some over 1,800 years old, with interpretive signage along the way and no reservation required for day hiking. It’s the single easiest way in the county to put a family or a first-time hiker in front of genuinely old-growth trees without any of Big Basin’s current access planning.

Best coastal hiking trails in Santa Cruz County

Santa Cruz’s coastline offers something Big Basin currently can’t: reliably open, well-maintained trail access, with wildlife as the main draw rather than ancient trees.

Wilder Ranch coastal bluff trail: Santa Cruz’s best ocean view hike

Wilder Ranch’s bluff trail runs about 2.5 miles one-way above the Pacific, passing historic ranch buildings and offering regular sightings of California brown pelicans and offshore sea otters, with wildflowers at their best in spring.

Day-use runs $10 with no reservation required, across a 7,000-acre park with enough additional trail mileage, inland canyon routes as well as coastal ones, to extend the visit well past the coastal bluff section alone. The historic ranch complex near the entrance adds a genuine cultural-history stop to what’s otherwise a straightforward coastal walk, worth the extra twenty minutes even if hiking is your main reason for visiting.

Año Nuevo State Park: Santa Cruz County’s most unique wildlife hike

Año Nuevo protects the largest mainland elephant seal breeding colony in the world, and how you visit depends entirely on the season. From December 15 through March 31, peak breeding season, you can only enter the colony viewing area on a reserved, docent-led guided walk booked through ReserveCalifornia, covering about 3 to 4 miles round trip.

From April through November, viewing switches to self-guided: a free day-use permit from the entrance station (available 8:30 am–3:30 pm) is all you need to walk the same Año Point Trail on your own, with docents still stationed at the viewing areas to answer questions. Año Nuevo actually sits right at the Santa Cruz/San Mateo County line, and hikers who enjoy the elephant seal colony often continue north into the hiking trails in San Mateo County the same day.

Best mountain hiking trails in the Santa Cruz Mountains

Inland from the coast, the Santa Cruz Mountains offer a genuinely different hiking character, ridgelines, sandstone formations, and forest that largely escaped the CZU fire’s damage.

Castle Rock Trail: the Santa Cruz Mountains’ best sandstone exploration hike

This 5.5-mile loop gains about 800 ft while winding past tafoni, the honeycomb-textured sandstone erosion pattern this park is named for, and one of the more visually distinctive rock formations you’ll find on a California trail, along with Castle Rock Falls and panoramic views from Goat Rock.

Day-use runs $10, and the trail connects directly into the Skyline-to-Sea Trail’s currently open northern segment for anyone wanting to extend the hike toward Big Basin. Rock climbers share this park with hikers regularly, so expect to see roped groups on the sandstone formations along parts of the route. Castle Rock State Park itself straddles the ridge shared with the hiking trails in Santa Clara County, and the sandstone formations continue on that side of the line too.

Skyline-to-Sea Trail: Santa Cruz County’s best long-distance route, with a caveat

The full Skyline-to-Sea Trail is a roughly 30-mile route connecting Castle Rock State Park’s mountain ridge to the Pacific at Waddell Beach, traditionally hiked as a 3–4 day backpacking trip. Right now, only part of that route is actually open: the inland segment between Castle Rock and Big Basin’s main day-use area is hikeable, but the southern stretch toward the ocean, the section that would take you past Berry Creek Falls, remains closed along with the rest of Big Basin’s backcountry.

A full through-hike isn’t currently possible; treat this as a section-hiking option on the open northern half until the rest of the trail network reopens.

Santa Cruz County rewards checking current conditions before you go more than almost anywhere else on this list, simply because Big Basin’s recovery is still very much in progress. Lean on Henry Cowell and Wilder Ranch for a reliable first visit, treat Big Basin as a park still finding its way back rather than the park it used to be, and time an Año Nuevo trip around whether you want the guided winter experience or the flexible self-guided one.

None of that diminishes what’s here, it just means a five-minute status check before you leave the house goes further in this county than in most others on this list.

Frequently asked questions about hiking trails in Santa Cruz County