Gilbert Redwood Excursions
A professionally guided hike is a wonderful way for your group to discover the rugged beauty and immense proportions of the California Coastal Redwoods in the mountains of California’s central coast. Get your group together, and we will help you plan your day-hike or back-pack excursion. You will be able to view these “red-gold” giants with heights approaching the length of a football field and chest-high diameters of up to eighteen feet. You may also choose to view physical evidence of early logging operations, dating back to the California Gold-Rush era, and evidence of the “rolling-thunder” at the epicenter area of the infamous 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, that devastated parts of the San Francisco Bay area.
We offer excursions for day-hiking groups of no more than twelve (12) adult individuals and for overnight back-pack hiking groups of no more than eight (8) adult individuals.
You may select from a our lists of excursions in the six major California Redwood State Parks in the Santa Cruz Mountains, near the San Francisco Bay area. We can also help design a special hike just for your group.
You will experience the natural beauty and ecology of these vast redwood forests, and you will see the many varieties of trees, ferns, ground covers, flora and fauna that populate them. You will also be able to take a look back at the forest’s geological and man-made history.
We will help you beforehand with what to wear; what to bring with you; what not to bring with you; the hiking rules, requirements and recommendations; detailed directions to your starting point; and the deposit and final payment requirements.
Through one of these forest excursions, we will share with you the awe-inspiring splendor of these massive creatures of nature, the great California Coastal Redwoods, a.k.a., Sequoia Sempervirens, and the flora and fauna that surround them. We will also convey to you the history and ecology of these giants who have been around more than 160-million years. They can live to be well in excess of 2,200 years of age, can grow to be taller than the length of a football field, or the Statue of Liberty, and can bulk up to chest-high diameters approaching 25 feet. Can you believe that? Come join us, and you will see for yourself.
We will also provide you with an invigorating, scenic and educational experience. At trail’s end, we are confident that you will go away with an experience you will long remember.
Mr. Gilbert, a forest naturalist and experienced hike leader, has been leading hikes in the Santa Cruz Mountains for the last thirteen years. He has organized and led hikes for more than 200 groups.
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| Group Sizes |
4 to 12 people
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| Durations |
1 to 6 days
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| Required Skill Level |
Open to All
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| Required Equipment |
Not Included
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| Targeted Activities |
Hiking |
| Our Certificatons |
Ed Gilbert, a forest naturalist and experienced hike leader, has been leading hikes in the Santa Cruz Mountains for the last thirteen years. He has organized and led hikes for more than 200 groups, including tourist, corporate, environmental and senior groups, avid hikers, boy scouts, state parks staff and school classes (all ages). He has trained new hike leaders, and he is WMI-NOLS trained and certified in Wilderness First-Aid. He has an engineering degree, has served more than 2,000 hours as a State Parks Docent (volunteer), has intimate knowledge of past logging and lumber practices, and has studied forest ecology, plant identification and nature interpretation through field study and numerous seminars. Ed is also a mountain hike leader for the Sierra Club, Ventana Chapter. |
Group Types |
Private |
Groups |
Kids/Youth |
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Elderly |
Workshops/Seminars |
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Additional: Corporate, tourist, experienced hikers and other groups
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Mountain Skills & Disciplines |
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Hiking |
Mountaineering |
Canyoneering |
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Backpacking |
High Altitude |
Caving |
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Camping |
Traversing |
Coasteering |
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Rock Climbing |
Aid Climbing |
Big Walling |
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Ice Climbing |
Free Climbing |
Ropes & Knots |
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Bouldering |
Solo Climbing |
Belaying |
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Indoor Climbing |
Lead Climbing |
Rappeling |
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Traditional Climbing |
Top Roping |
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Avalanche Awareness |
Outdoor Survival |
First Aid |
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Environmental Awareness |
Navigation |
Search & Rescue |
Additional: Forest ecology; plant and tree identification; nature interpretation
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OUR TWELVE (12) PREPLANNED DAY-HIKES:
DH-1a. A 1-1/2 mile hike through Marcel’s Forest in the 10,000-acre Forest of Nisene Marks. This loop hike features the largest stand of old-growth redwoods in the park; the “Advocate Tree” (14-1/2’ in diameter; 253’ tall) and the amazing “Twisted Grove”. The hike involves minimal elevation change. Moderate; 1 to 1-1/4 hours.
DH-1b. A 3-1/2-mile hike, same as #DH-1a, but adds the Terrace and upper Aptos Rancho Trails. This hike involves minimal elevation gain. Moderate; 2 to 2-1/2 hours.
DH-1c. A 5-mile hike, same as #DH-1b, but adds the lower Aptos Rancho Trail along Aptos Creek. This hike involves minimal elevation change. Moderate; 3 to 3-1/2 hours.
DH-2a. A 5-1/2 mile hike on the Historical Loop, in the 10,000-acre Forest of Nisene Marks. This loop hike features a second-growth redwood forest, physical evidence of 40 years of logging history that began in 1883. The hike traverses an elevation range of 800’ and returns through beautiful Bridge Creek canyon. Moderate; 3-1/2 to 4 hours.
DH-2b. A 6-1/2 mile hike, same as #DH-2a, but with a rugged, in-and-out side-trip to 40’ Maple Falls on Bridge Creek. Strenuous; 4-1/2 to 5 hours.
DH-3a. A 12-mile hike on the Big Loop, in the 10,000-acre Forest of Nisene Marks. This loop hike features a second-growth redwood forest and a spectacular panoramic view of the Monterey Bay area from 1,600’ high Sand Point over-look. You will also see physical evidence of the “1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake”, deep in Aptos Creek canyon. The hike traverses an elevation range of 1,400’. Strenuous; 6-1/2 to 7 hours.
DH-3b. A 14-mile hike, same as #DH-3a, but with an in-and-out side-trip to 25’ “Five-Finger Falls” on Aptos Creek. Strenuous; 7-1/2 to 8 hours.
DH-4. A 9-mile hike on the Big-Ben Loop, in the 2,400-acre Fall Creek Unit of Henry Cowell Redwoods. This loop hike features the “Big Ben Tree” at 1,900’, the 135-year old granite-block lime kilns, lime-stone quarry, powder magazine and barrel making machinery, of the “19th century IXL Lime Company”. The hike traverses an elevation range of 1,600’ and returns along beautiful Fall Creek. Strenuous; 5-1/2 to 6 hours.
DH-5. A 9-1/2 mile hike in the 1,800-acre Henry Cowell Redwoods. This loop hike follows many different trails over an elevation range of 600’. The hike’s features a panoramic forest view from an observation tower, an old-growth redwood grove loop with its 17’ diameter tree that stands more than 300’ tall, a Nature Center and a railroad village at “Roaring Camp.” Easy-to-strenuous; 5-1/2 to 6 hours.
DH-6. A 10-mile hike in the 2,200-acre Butano Redwoods. This semi-loop hike travels up to an abandoned aircraft landing-field at 1,600’ in a high-and-dry, ridge-top, mixed-chaparral forest. The hike covers an elevation range of 1,200’. Strenuous; 5-1/2 to 6 hours.
DH-7. A 12-mile hike in the 19,000-acre Big Basin Redwoods. This loop hike will take you past the massive, over 18’ diameter, “Santa Clara Tree”, and the four majestic water falls; “Golden”, “Cascade”, “Silver” and 70’ high “Berry Creek Falls”. The hike traverses an up-and-down elevation range of 600’. Strenuous; 6-1/2 to 7 hours.
DH-8. A 13-mile hike in the 2,800-acre Portola Redwoods. This hike will first take you on a visit to the “Old Tree”; a 12’ diameter, 297’ tall redwood. The hike then procedes over the ridge at 1,400’ and down steeply into the canyon to the large, spectacular, old-growth “Peters Creek Grove”, with trees up to 17’ in diameter and some up to 300’ tall. The return trip involves a steep climb out of the canyon. The hike traverses an up-and-down elevation range of 800’. Strenuous; 7 to 7-1/2 hours.
FOR A LISTING, DETAILS AND PRICES OF OUR NINE (9) PREPLANNED TWO, THREE AND SIX-DAY BACK-PACK HIKES, AND PRICES OF OUR DAY-HIKES, REFER TO OUR WEB-SITE.
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| Meals |
Not Applicable
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| Local Transport |
Not Included
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| Insurance |
Not Included
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| Additional |
Transportation to starting point and from ending point of six-day back-pack excursion.
State parks vehicle entrance fees for all back-pack excursions. Carpool transportation normally available for all hikes. |
| Nearby Attractions |
The Pacific Ocean; Monterey Bay; the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk; the world famous Monterey Aquarium; the world famous Big Basin Redwoods State Park, founded in 1902 by the Sempervirons Fund as the oldest state park in California; countless extraordinary golf courses including world famous Pebble Beach Golf Links; and many of the the world's largest (and tallest) living things, the world famous California Coastal Redwoods, a.k.a., the Sequia Sempervirens; all within fifty miles of Santa Cruz, CA.
Many extraordinary overnight resort facilities with majestic vistas of the Monterey Bay, the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Cruz Mountains, including the nearby:
1. Seascape Resort - Monterey Bay (1-800-929-7727)
2. The Chaminade (1-800-283-6569)
3. Best Western Seacliff Inn (1-800-367-2003)
4. Hilton Santa Cruz & Scotts Valley (1-831-440-1000)
5. Red Roof Inn (1-800-RED-ROOF or 1-831-740-4520)
6. Inns-by-the-Sea - Bed and Breakfast (1-800-866-1131)
For additional area information, contact:
Santa Cruz Conference and Vistor Council (www.santacruz.org)
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