Creekside Connector Trailhead
Creekside Connector Trailhead offers a scenic and moderate hiking experience through beautiful redwoods with shaded trails covering about a 5.5-mile loop. The trail features some elevation changes and a connection to other trails, providing great views including ocean sights. Parking is limited along the single-lane road, so early arrival is suggested. The trail is kid-friendly but is not wheelchair accessible.
Reviews
Great Moderate hiking in beautiful redwoods, awesome view to the ocean!
Beautiful hike through redwoods. 5.5 mile loop that took us 2 hours. Moderate hike with some long climbs. Trail is shaded 95% of the way. Limited parking at trail head.
This is a nice, shaded trail that loops around if you take it all the way toward the west end. It starts as a fire road and narrows down to a trail. If you do the entire loop, you will walk a little over 5 miles from the Coleman Valley Road gate. You can also potentially connect with Willow Creek Road (which is why it’s called “Connector Trail” I presume). If you have it in you, you can then walk on to the Pomo Canyon trail to Shell Beach. The only reason why I wouldn’t give this trail 5 stars is that you will start at the top and descent 750 ft to then come back to your starting elevation. I tend to prefer to get my workout up front and have a nice downhill as I head back to my car. You also have the option to hang a right after the gate to take the Watershed View Trail, which will take you to a nice view of the Willow Creek Preserve in less than a mile.
Beautiful drive getting here and then equally beautiful hike thru redwoods. The only parking is along the road which isn’t much since it’s basically a single lane road so might want to get there early.
Great trail, a few downed trees and some muddy areas last weekend but otherwise absolutely fantastic. Decent amount of parking on the side of the road, enough for probably 6-8 cars. Loop trail, according to alltrails 5.7 miles with ~900ft elevation gain total.