Tracy Salcedo - Best Rail Trails California: More Than 70 Rail Trails Throughout the State

Tracy Salcedo-Chourr has written more than a dozen guidebooks to destinations in Colorado and California, including Hiking Lassen Volcanic National Park, Exploring Californias Missions and Presidios, Exploring Point Reyes National Seashore and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and the Best Easy Day Hikes guides to Denver, Boulder, Aspen, and Lake Tahoe, among others.

She is also an editor and newspaper columnist, works in her local public schools, and volunteers with her sons soccer teamsand still finds time to hike, cycle, swim, and ski. She lives with her husband, three sons, and a small menagerie of pets in Californias Wine Country.

You can learn more about her by visiting her Web page at the Falcon-Guides site, www.falcon.com/user/172. Her other guidebooks are available online through FalconGuides and The Globe Pequot Press, at various outdoor shops, and through local and national booksellers.

As you peruse this book, you will see that a trail manager is mentioned for each hike. These managers and their staffs, as well as the historians and other experts to whom they referred me, were critical to the compilation of this guidebook. They are too numerous to name here, but my heartfelt thanks go out to each and every one of them.

The first edition of this guide was compiled with information provided by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy staff. My thanks for their help, as well as for the thoughtful comments of the readers of the first edition who took the time to correct or augment trail descriptions and historical information.

Thanks also to Jesse Chourr for his steady assistance negotiating the traffic and trails of the mazelike Los Angeles region, and to Cruz Chourr for his help in gathering details about the trail through the Sonoma Regional Park. Mark Keppler, who provided thoughtful additions to the trail description for the Fresno Sugar Pine and Clovis Old Town Trails also has earned my gratitude.

Thanks also to Jeff Serena and the editors at The Globe Pequot Press, especially Shelley Wolf, for their infinite patience and for thinking of me when this project was proposed.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge my debt to my husband, Martin, and my sons, Jesse, Cruz, and Penn, who were real troupers as we crisscrossed California hiking and cycling these trails. Without their love and support, this book would not have been possible.

Northern Californias

Although the north coast of California usually brings to mind towering old-growth redwood forests, the Hammond Coastal Trail showcases the spectacular beaches that stretch along the coastline.

Activities:

Location: McKinleyville, Humboldt County

Length: 5 miles one way. Three miles of the trail extend from the Mad River Bridge north to Widow White Creek; an additional 2 miles stretch north from Widow White to Clam Beach County Park.

Surface: Asphalt and crushed stone.

Wheelchair access: The 3 miles of trail between the Mad River Bridge and Widow White Creek are suitable for wheelchair users; the section from Clam Beach south to the vista point is also wheelchair accessible.

Difficulty: Moderate. The path is exposed, and the southernmost portion includes some short but steep hills.

Food: You can pick up a snack at Rogers Market, which is near the southern end of the trail at the intersection of Fischer Avenue and School Road. This is also the only place along the route where you will find water, so bring what you need.

Restrooms: There are public restrooms at Hiller Park, which is at about the halfway point of the paved portion of the trail.

Seasons: The trail can be traveled year-round.

Access and parking: To reach the southern end point at Mad River Bridge, from U.S. Highway 101 in McKinleyville, take the Janes Road/Giuntoli Lane exit. Go west on Janes Road for 1.4 miles to Upper Bay Road and turn right (west). Follow Upper Bay Road for 0.7 mile to Mad River Road and turn right (north). The trailhead is at the bridge 2.4 miles north on Mad River Road. There is limited but adequate parking at this trailhead.

To reach the north end of the 3-mile stretch at Widow White Creek, take the Murray Road exit off US 101 and go 0.3 mile west to where Murray Road ends; the trailhead is west of the end of the road. There is ample streetside parking here.

To reach the northern end point of the trail at Clam Beach County Park, continue north on US 101 to the Clam Beach County Park exit. The trail-head is adjacent to the west side of the freeway, tucked in the dunes. There is a large parking lot at the park.

Transportation: Humboldt Transit Authoritys Redwood Transit System serves McKinleyville. The address is 133 V Street, Eureka, CA; call (707) 4430826. The Web sites are www.hta.org and www.redwoodtransit.org.

Rentals: There are no rentals along the trail.

Contact: Parks Department, Humboldt County Department of Public Works, 1106 Second Street, Eureka, CA 95501-0531; (707) 8392086. You can also contact Jennifer Rice, interim co-director with the Natural Resources Services division of the Redwood Community Action Agency, at (707) 2692060; www.nrsrcaa.org.

T he Mad River Bridge is a dramatic launching pad for the Hammond Coastal Trail. The old railroad trestle carries the rail trail through several separate coastal environments, including the pastoral expanses of the Arcata Bottoms, the pleasant neighborhoods on the west side of McKinleyville, shady arbors formed by gnarled shore pines, and the spectacular estuary at the mouth of the Mad River. A tangled riparian zone hugs the shores of Widow White Creek at the end of the southern section of the route. Beyond Widow White Creek, once the site of a gap in the route called the Hole in the Hammond, the trail arcs west around a vista point to skirt the beach fronting the Pacific Ocean, passing through rolling dunes to Clam Beach County Park.

Beginning at the turn of the twentieth century, the Hammond/Little River Railroad used the oceanside route to link logging operations in Crannell, east of Clam Beach County Park, with the Hammond Lumber Mill of Eureka. The railroad system was badly damaged in a forest fire in 1945, and, rather than rebuilding the tracks, many of the grades were converted to roadways. The line was abandoned in the late 1950s, and development of the trail, which has been built in segments, began in 1979.

Information about the diverse natural and cultural history of the trails surroundings, including a discussion of the indigenous Wiyot tribe, which thrived in the Humboldt Bay region until the 1850s, when disease and battles with invading settlers resulted in their near extinction, can be found on interpretive signs along the route and on a pedestrian side trail at Widow White Creek.