Samuel P. Taylor State Park: A peaceful walk in the redwoods
Most tourists who fly into SFO “see the redwoods” by driving or taking a tour bus to Muir Woods—a redwood grove so popular that the large parking lot is often full. Either that or they drive for hours to Sequoia or Redwood National Park. Yet just up the road from Muir Woods in Marin County is quiet Samuel P. Taylor State Park, where there are many impressive coast redwoods to admire without a New Yorker elbowing you out of the way to take a picture.
It’s ironic the namesake is a lumber man, because it’s the redwoods that Samuel P. Taylor did not cut down that make this park a worthwhile destination.
Getting to the park couldn’t be easier. Take the Sir Francis Drake Boulevard exit off Highway 101 and then drive west for about a half-hour. The drive gets prettier as the towns get smaller, then you enter the woods just past the village of Lagunitas and watch for the “Camp Taylor” sign.
After paying $8 for a day visit at the ranger’s gate (parking is prohibited outside the entrance), you’ll immediately see the Azalea Picnic Area on Papermill Creek on your left. Unless you’re camping or you’ve booked one of the two “group reservation” picnic areas elsewhere in the park, this is your spot. You’ll find some of the park’s beefiest redwoods here, plus more just across the adjacent bridge, where the park’s campsites are clustered along the creek and in the hills above.
Recreation opportunities abound. North Creek and South Creek Trails, which branch off the campground road, meander along Papermill Creek. Along these redwood-shaded paths are signs that explain the creek’s role as a longtime coho salmon spawning ground. They also describe Taylorville, which boasted a paper mill, hotel and camping resort (the state’s first campground) on the creek’s banks in the 19th Century. A well-marked swimming hole is also on the trail, which gets busy on hot summer weekends.
Equestrians and ambitious hikers will enjoy the hillier trails and fire roads that climb into the grassy hills above the main part of the park—notably those that ascend 1,466-foot Barnabe Peak. If you bring a bike, the paved and gravel Cross Marin multi-use trail on a former railroad bed launches from both ends of the campground road. Altogether you can pedal a generally flat and exclusively scenic nine-mile roundtrip. Mountain bikers can add loops on intersecting fire roads.
Deer and chipmunks; madrones and firs; ferns and wildflowers; and poison oak (beware!) all populate the park. But the redwoods, with their massive trunks and soaring height, are the stars of SPTSP.
HelloSanFrancisco Tip: Ask for a trail map at the ranger’s gate—they won’t automatically give you one—if you plan to explore the trails.
Posted by Bob Cooper
