It was a super-hot Sunday morning. We had decided to go to Big Basin Redwoods State Park which is about 10 miles west of where we live (but still considered Boulder Creek). We got to the park before 10 AM in order to beat the hikers and picnickers to the parking spots. Not a lot of space for a rig with a horse trailer. The horse trails are all unpaved roads; no horses allowed on the single-track hiking trails. This park also has lots of yellow jackets and other kinds of bees. Bella was well covered with bug repellent except for her head, and I won't make that mistake again, poor baby.

Gazos Creek Road - park headquarters is 1000 ft in elevation. This area gets about 40-60 inches of rain between October and April (rain season).

There's some nice size redwoods along this road

Gazos Creek Road

Going up the hillside to the ridge on Gazos Creek Road

Took a left and started riding south on Middle Ridge Road

Middle Ridge Road

This road merged with Hihn Hammond Road and we arrived at the Mt. McAbee overlook, elevation 1730 ft. That's the Pacific Ocean in the distance; even tho it's about 90 degrees here, there's coastal fog, so it's probably about 60 degrees down at the beach.

Bella at the overlook. This road merges with a horse trail that descends 1000 feet in less than a mile and eventually ends at the Rancho del Oso part of Big Basin Park (the beach)

This is as far as we went on this trail today.

Bella at the overlook

Bella at the overlook. We have been riding for an hour, and in this heat, mostly walking, so we're in pretty good shape so far.

You can see distant ridges beyond the thick forest

Middle Ridge Road goes down steeply in this spot

Took Middle Ridge Road back to Gazos Creek, and then continued on that road which curved to the north west - lots of redwoods here.

Redwood forest

Gazos Creek Road

Gazos Creek Road - fallen redwood debris

At the end of the second hour of riding, we were way up by the Santa Cruz-San Mateo County line. I tried to get Bella to stand by the sign, but when I backed away to take the picture, she didn't like it, and she's giving me sad eyes and droopy ears. Maybe she thought I was going to leave her there. We were both hot and thirsty, so time to go back.

Young redwood trees in a healthy forest

Gazos Creek Road

There's a burn area up this hill

The Santa Cruz Mountains are uplifted ocean floor. This looks like granite rock

Gazos Creek Road - not a lot of people out hiking or biking in this heat.

Gazos Creek Road

Not a lot of water flowing out of the hills in our 3rd year of drought, but this could be the head of Timm Creek.

Next to the creek was an eroded hill. Lots of big boulders with big trees growing on top of them.