Downing suggested we do something different for our saturday ride so we loaded the bikes in the back of his truck and headed to Waddel Beach for a ride up to Berry Falls in Big Basin Redwoods State Park. We got an early (0730) start and were on our bikes about an hour later. Fog hugging the coast as we crossed the PCH and got on the trail and made our way 6 miles up into the redwoods. This part of our ride was on the “Skyline to the Sea Trail” that I have heard about and read about but never done. We were actually doing the reverse “Sea to Skyline.” Or at least part of the way up to Skyline Blvd. 
A beautiful sunlit morning on the coast provided for a perfect sun filtered ride through the redwoods. These 200 foot plus beauties towered over everything and in some spots you could tell sunlight hardly ever hits the ground. Like my dad used to say; “look at all the greens!” You wouldn’t know there was a drought by riding this trail. Ferns growing everywhere. Wildflowers, moss on rocks, trees growing out of downed trees. Green everywhere!! No wind and not very many people either. At the six mile mark the bike trail ended. We locked our bikes at the rack and headed the rest of the way up the the falls on foot. I think the map said 1.1 miles to the falls.
As we were making our way up to the falls, following the creek along the way, I was wondering if there would even be any water coming over since we haven’t had rain in months. There was water in the creek but not very much. We had to cross the creek a couple of time on makeshift foot bridges and eventually made our way to Berry Falls. Beautiful spot. 
They built a little platform so you could gaze upon the falls. It looked like about a 100 foot drop from the top to the pool below. Even though it was fairly early, there were already a few people on the trail. There was a family at the falls and they offered to take our picture. We took a short break and then decided to venture further up the trail to the top of the falls. At the top of the falls you could see that there were actually several more waterfalls further up the trail. So away we went. Up and Up and Up. We must have climbed up to another 3 or 4 small waterfalls. At some point we were taking a break and there was some guy coming down. He said there were no more falls up there so we decided to head back down.
Some way, some how, we took a wrong turn and got lost for a little while. Just hiking and talking away when at some point we realized we were not on the trail we were supposed to be on. We back tracked and got right and before we new it we were back at our bikes. And boy was I glad we had our bikes. As we were cruising (and mostly coasting) back down to the beach, you realize that all the people hiking were hiking at least 14 miles from beach to waterfall and back. That’s a lot of miles. But for us, it was a 12 mile piece of cake bike ride and a 3 mile hike. PERFECT!! We actually passed a scout troop that had passed us going down when we were going up.
Those redwood trees not only blocked the sunlight but they also blocked the wind. We could believe how windy it was back at the beach. Crazy windy! We took a short break before we headed up highway 1 and towards home. The bonus of the trip was that we stopped at the store in Pescadero and got a coupld of loaves of artichoke bread!! When I saw the sign for Pescadero I knew we had to stop, and I’m glad we did. Bought two loaves that were still warm out of the oven.
Another point of interest was the traffic. When we made the turn onto highway 92 in Half Moon Bay to head back over the hill, the traffic coming the other way (to the beach) was backed up all the way to highway 280.That is a long long way. Unfortunatly for those suckers, there really is nowhere to turn around so you are pretty much stuck. We’ve been in that mess before and its no fun. So if you plan on going to the beach on a nice summer day, GO EARLY!!
