This hike begins along shaded Shoreline Trail, then climbs steeply on the fire road, and winds down gently on busy-with-bikers Bay View Trail.
Location: China Camp State Park
Length: 3.6 miles
Difficulty: moderate
Shade: shaded
Parking: street parking along North San Pedro Road near the trailhead ($5/vehicle, pay at the trailhead)
Public Transportation: n/a
WC: at campground, about 0.2 miles into the hike
Dogs: not allowed on trails, only in developed areas
Hiked: Jan 2021
Our Trail Route
We started our hike at the Back Ranch Meadows campground entrance. We took the first fork to the left to do this loop in clockwise rotation. The next intersection was a little confusing because Shoreline Trail to the left was a little difficult to see, but once we walked past the picnic tables and into the tree cover again, it was easy to spot. We followed Shoreline until we hit Back Ranch Fire Trail, which looked to be an intimidating climb. And it was! We climbed up steadily for about half a mile on the fire road.
The fire road hits Bay View Trail after 0.5 miles, but that loop goes towards the left, so we stayed on the fire road for another 0.1 miles until we again saw a marker for Bay View Trail – that’s the path we took. It was relatively flat for about another half a mile, then started to gradually descend. Bay View was pretty easy going, other than the constant flow of bike traffic.
Bay View Trail took us to Shoreline again, where we returned to our starting point.
Notes
Bay View Trail is extremely popular with bikers. The way back down felt very long because we had to keep stepping off the trail to let a line of bikers pass. I’ll also note that only about half of them wore masks, which was an additional annoyance. I’d guess that the trail traffic is much lighter on a weekday, though.
Gallery
