Trailhead: The Emmett Reed Picnic area near the entrance kiosk
Distance: 1.1 miles to complete the loop
Classification: Moderate - some steep grades mixed with level sections
Highlights - The Old-Growth Loop Trail travels through an area many people consider the most beautiful place in the park. Along this trail you will see magnificent old-growth redwoods, some over 200 feet tall, attractive fern-covered canyon walls along Aptos Creek and a crazy forest of unusual redwoods called the Twisted Grove.
Starting from the Emmett Reed Picnic Area, the Old-Growth Loop Trail merges briefly with the Split Stuff Trail for about 200 feet. Following the directional signs, you will wind down to an intersection with The Aptos Rancho Trail. Continuing straight ahead, the trail is bordered with wild ginger plants and western sword ferns as it goes through a level area before descending to an attractive location along Aptos Creek. Here you will find a riparian plant community consisting of redwoods, big-leaf maples, red alders and a variety of ferns. What they all have in common is the need for a dependable water supply and the ability to tolerate periodic winter flooding.
Looking up stream from here, the creek flows through a narrow, shady canyon covered with a variety of moss’ and ferns. Throughout the summer months, you can cross Aptos Creek on a seasonal bridge constructed and installed by Advocates for Nisene Marks State Park volunteers. During the rest of the year, crossing the creek here could be difficult or dangerous especially during or after periods of rain. If the bridge is not in place, you can access the Old-Growth Loop Trail by taking the Vienna Woods Trail to the Terrace Trail, then to the short Terrace Trail Connection to the Oak Ridge Trail that ends at the Old- Growth Loop.
After crossing the creek, you will arrive at the Pourroy Picnic Area which is shaded from spring to fall by large big-leaf maple trees. Common on the west coast from British Columbia to southern California, their leaves are the largest of all maples. They are especially colorful in late summer when their leaves turn gold and provide a nice contrast to the evergreen redwoods.
Proceeding in a counter-clockwise direction, the trail climbs a short hill then bends to the left where you’ll see a hollow log surrounded by a carpet of redwood sorrel. This shade-tolerant, ground cover plant is often found in coastal redwood forests where foggy summer weather creates cool and moist conditions. If exposed to direct sunlight, it’s clover-like leaflets fold down like an umbrella then open up again when it is in the shade. Redwood sorrel blooms in the spring with small flowers ranging from white to purple in color.
Just up the trail, look for a signpost marking a short spur trail that leads to a fascinating grove of redwoods called the twisted grove. Instead of the characteristic flagpole growth pattern of most coast redwoods, the trees in this small cluster bend and twist as they spiral up to the sky, While these trees may share a genetic defect, another explanation for their unusual growth is something called phototropism where the tree twists to receive the sun’s rays. It is possible that this small grove has been sliding down the hillside over the years with each shift in its position causing the trees to twist and lean even more to follow the sun.
After returning to the main trail, you will climb gradually up the hillside along a seasonal creek canyon which is home to many old-growth redwoods and a few large Douglas fir’s. A little further up you will pass a trail coming in from the right, the Oak Ridge Trail. It heads off to the right and loops back to the Old-Growth Loop. The Oak Ridge Trail also provides a connection to the Terrace Trail if you want to continue your hike toward George’s Picnic area.
As you continue up the canyon, you can view several impressive old-growth redwoods characterized by large and often fire-scarred trunks. Soon after the trail passes another intersection with the upper portion of the Oak Ridge Trail, you will cross a small bridge near an exceptionally large colony of tiger lilies. This plant was once fairly common in the Santa Cruz Mountains, but over time, people dug them up for their home gardens. As a result, tiger lilies are not something you see very often in our local redwood forest. When they bloom around July during the summer, you will be treated to a beautiful display of large and mostly orange flowers with red to purple spots perched at the top of a tall stem. Unfortunately for us, the local deer population also finds the flowers irresistible so the time they are in display is usually limited.
From here, the trail heads down the other side of the canyon providing another perspective of the giant trees you see on the way up. After descending about 0.2 miles, you will come to a sign post that directs you back to the Pourroy Picnic Area which completes the loop. However, if you continue on to right you will see what remains of the Advocate Tree which toppled over several years ago during a winter storm. Named in respect for the Advocate for Nisene Marks State Park. It is located just inside the park border this tree stood over 250 feet tall and 39 feet in circumference with a burned out center at it’s base like many other trees nearby. Many people wonder how such large trees can remain standing when the heartwood at their center has been charred. This is because the tree’s bark, which protects the water carrying sapwood, contains a high concentration of tannin that functions as a fire retardant. Consequently, the tree’s heartwood, which is already dead, may burn at the tree’s base but over time, the fire scars will heal with new growth covering the burned area. This interest phenomenon is characteristic of the redwoods ability to survive fires that have swept across it’s habitat probably well before recorded history.
After heading back up the trail to the signpost directing you to the Porroy Picnic Area, you will cross a bridge constructed by The Advocates and quickly wind down the hillside to the picnic area along Aptos Creek.
by Jeff Thomson, writer, hiker and Treasurer, Advocates for the Forest of Nisene Marks
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