Wilder Ranch is a wonderful state park just on the outskirts of Santa Cruz on Highway 1. Offering challenging mountain biking trails on one side of the freeway, and one of the most beautiful coastal paths on the other, Wilder Ranch is a treat.
It also has a working historic farm with horses, goats, sheep, and chickens, Victorian houses, and great family events on holidays.
But let’s get to the trail!
First of all, it’s a 2.5 mile loop that takes you along the coast and has incredible hidden delights for kids. On our day (in August), we saw pelicans, cormorants, and harbor seals. If you go in the winter, you’re likely to see grey whales. In the spring you’ll get wildflower and butterfly explosions, plus raptor and small mammal sightings. Apparently, there’s quite a few bobcats around, too.
You begin by parking in the lot and self-paying the $10 state park day use fee. Yes, it’s a lot. Do it anyway. Have cash on hand as there’s no change. Then make your way down the incline to the historic buildings and interpretive center, which is only open Thursday – Sunday. But you can go in the historic and absolutely stunning old barn — keep an eye out for the barn cat and nesting swallows. We also said hi to the horses and chickens, and the boys had a fantastic time running through the aloe vera mazes in front of the main house, plus climbing the massive and wonderful low cypress tree. Don’t miss these things!
Pick up a map from the interpretive center (they’re outside in holders in case the center is closed) and then head back up to the parking lot. Start the trail from there.
Start by heading down to the farm. You’ll see it because of the gorgeous old Victorian house. There are super fun kid-sized mazes made out of aloe vera to be explored on the front lawn of the house. Head back to the farm part and explore the old barn, which is home to swallows in the eaves. The barn is a fascinating building with neat ways of grain distribution built in.
Awesome giant aloe vera maze
Gorgeous old barn
After exploring the farm, head to the path to begin the walk. The path is west of the parking lot, you can’t miss it. You’ll be taking the Old Cove Landing Trail and then merging into the Ohlone Bluff Trail along the cliffs.
The first part of the path is shrub land and not terribly exciting, except that you know you’re heading west and that the ocean is just beyond. Use this part of the walk to hunt for animals. I was hoping very much to see raptors or bobcats, but saw none. We did, however, come upon this most odd of oddities:
This is a dead snake and a dead lizard. The situation, which is hard to see in this photo, is this: the snake is missing some of its body, and the lizard is missing its head. Did they kill each other at once? Was it a crime of passion? Was it a Reptile Duel gone bad? Or did someone simply find the two and place them next to each other for all eternity?
Either way, it was very interesting.
Then the walk got spectacular.
Make sure to pause and take pictures of the pelicans and cormorants covering the rocks.
Harbor seals!!
About three quarters of the way through the walk, you’ll see a small inlet beach and a cave. You MUST go down the path to it for you will not believe what you see– it’s Fern Grotto, a cave filled with dripping ferns and wondrous things. The photos don’t accurately capture how awesome it is, so I’ll just say this: I gasped when I turned the corner and got up close!
Eventually, the walk will lead you back toward the parking lot alongside fields of fragrant rosemary.
Animals
Well, I was hoping to see all kinds of wild beasts, but I had to settle for pelicans and harbor seals, so that wasn’t so bad.
As always, take a look at my animals page for pictures of everything we’ve seen on our walks.
We saw:
- Pelicans
- Cormorants
- Quail
- Gophers
- Lizards
- Snakes (dead!)
- Harbor seals
More Information
How to Get There
- Just north of Santa Cruz, turn west at the Wilder Ranch sign. If you take the east Wilder Ranch direction, you’ll be in mountain biking territory.