Garland Ranch
Regional Park
Directions: Coming from Salinas, take Highway 68 to the Laureles Grade. Turn left onto Laureles Grade at the light and go up and over the hill into Carmel Valley. Turn right onto Carmel Valley Road, go a mile or two and turn into the parking lot on your left.
Parking Fee: None
Facilities: Bathrooms at the Visitor Center, free maps and picnic tables
Garland Ranch parking lot
More parking
Board walk across the Carmel River
The Visitor Center
View south near the Visitor Center
On the Lupine Loop trail
On the Mesa Trail
Garzas Cyn trailhead
Mesa Pond
Looks like an old dead tree snag
The Snively’s Ridge trail junction
Heading up Snively’s Ridge trail
And still heading up Snively’s Ridge trail
And more uphill on Snively’s Ridge trail
I’m at the top, yay!
Snively’s Ridge trail along the ridge top
View out to the bay
another view out to the bay
View north
Heading down the Sky trail
View north off the Sky Trail
Looking down on Mesa Pond
Trees along the trail
Heading down the Sage Trail
Heading down Fern Trail
View off of Fern Trail
Fern Pond
Back on the Mesa Trail
Back at the Visitor Center, Another hike in the bag!
Driving home, the fog rolls in over Salinas
On Friday, July 6, 2007, I went to Carmel Valley on a solo hike to explore Garland Ranch
GPS Stats
Distance hiked: 6.63 miles
Total ascent: 1813 ft
Trailhead Elevation: ~200 ft
Max Elevation: 1901 ft
Moving time: 2 hrs 40 min
Moving Average: 2.4 mph
Overall average: 1.8 mph
Time stopped: 50 min
Personal stats
Dates Hiked:
6-Jul-2007
Start time: ~ 1:40 PM
Weather: Clear and sunny. Temperatures were in the 60’s to low 70’s F for the hike.
Water consumed: 1.5 liters
plus 600 ml Gatorade
Finish time: ~ 5:10 PM
Total time: ~ 3.5 hours
Beauty: Tree shaded trails, ferns, ponds, and extensive views as a reward.
Wildlife seen: One unidentified snake, probably a gopher snake, birds, lots of lizards, and one rabbit.
Difficulty: This hike had some significant uphill grades to it and would not be appropriate for the unprepared. There are flatter trails in the park for the less ambitious though.
Awhile back a hike leader I believe with the Stanford Outing Club posted a hike for Garland Ranch and noted that it had one trail with a 30% grade and compared that with the Short Cut at Henry Coe, which averages only 22%.
I have hiked up the Short Cut twice now and I have been planning in the back of my mind to go see what this steep trail at Garland Ranch was all about. I am terribly slow about getting around to doing the things I plan to do, opting mostly to just thinking about doing them instead of doing them. Yesterday I finally got off my duff and did one. I went to Garland Ranch and hiked that trail.
Garland Ranch is right about 75 miles from my place in San Jose and because of traffic delays from stop lights to accidents it took me most of 2 hours to get there. When I arrived I found that Garland Ranch has one of the biggest parking lots I have come across in my hiking adventures. It has plenty of parking.
From the parking lot you go down across a little boarded walkway over the Carmel River (more of a stream at this writing) and up to the Visitor Center. I was prepared to pay a day use fee but there was none. It was all free, even with free maps, though donations for the maps were welcome and I left a couple of bucks in the box for them.
The Visitor Center was not being actively staffed while I was there but a woman did arrive with supplies for the office and I talked with her briefly before starting out on my hike.
Garland Ranch has over 50 miles of trails on 3464 acres with elevations ranging from about 200 to 2030 feet. I was interested in going up while exploring a good selection of trails.
I started out on the Lupine Loop at the Visitor Center heading initially west and then looped back to catch the Mesa Trail. The Mesa Trail is largely shaded double track that heads up into the hills at a gentle enough slope and eventually winds its way over to a spot near the Mesa Pond. From there I caught the Garzas Cyn trail which climbs higher still to a spot where it junctions with the Snively’s Ridge Trail.
The Snively’s Ridge trail is the steep one, with a section listed on the map as varying between 20-30% grade. This trail is mostly single track and goes through open brush and trees and indeed, has some very steep spots.
Even though it was not particularly hot, I sure pumped out a lot of sweat hiking up that section and yet, it was not as bad as I feared, perhaps because the climb does not go on and on and on. In truth, I was up it and at the top while still wondering when the really bad steep part would come before I realized I had already conquered it.
And the climb up was worth it. As you walk out west along the ridge, you are rewarded with some great views out towards the Monterey Bay and up and down Carmel Valley. It reminded me in many ways of the views from Rocky Ridge at Las Trampas.
There is a further un-named trail up to the 2030 ft summit that I did not do but I probably should have. I would guess it was about a 200 ft hike up from the Snively’s Ridge trail. I’ll do it next time.
Otherwise, I took the Sky Trail down and grabbed the Sage Trail for a quick loop over to the Fern Trail. The Fern Trail indeed has ferns on it as well as a pretty little pond called what else? But Fern Pond.
The Fern Trail makes a nice straight line junction into the Mesa Trail which I took back to the Lupine Loop trail. From there I continued on the Lupine Loop Trail to complete the loop back to the Visitor Center where I called it a day.
For Bay Area visitors, this park would seem a little out of the way when there are many similar parks nearby. Nonetheless, if you find yourself down that way, I would certainly recommend exploring this park and come prepared to hike!
National Geographic TOPO! software website:
