Go up the mountain on Old San Pedro Mountain Road, the old road immediately on the *highway* side of the ranger’s house that is the main trail. It goes past an outhouse about 50 yards from the rangers house. You can also take the steep ridgeline scar on the other side of the ranger’s house—the side closest to the bridge if you want a faster, steeper way up the hill.
Either way, you will be on the wide access road a little over a mile up the mountain. It will loop out toward the ocean going around the nose of a ridge and then turn back toward the mountain. Some old pavement on this stretch. You’ll be about 600 or 700 feet in elevation. In a little bit you will come to one of the new park signposts that directs you to the left to Pacifica. This is the route of Old San Pedro Mtn Road and will take you over the saddle and down to Higgins, the Shamrock Ranch, and the Linda Mar area. So if you don’t want to go to that area of Pacifica, don’t take the route to the left there.
Rather, stay on the wider road to the right heading up the mountain. It will be quite steep for most of a mile, a stretch some cyclists call “The Wall.” At the top of the steep part, about 1200 feet in elevation, the uphills are more gentle and you’ll continue less than another half mile or so on the road until you come to a single-track trail branching off to the left and heading downhill. It’s marked. Take it. Shortly, you’ll cross from state park to county park. Until you get down to the stinking eucalyptus near the bottom, this trail goes through some of the most intact natural and pretty plant communities left on the mountain. At the bottom you’ll be at the parking lot and visitor center in San Pedro Valley County Park.
Carl May
