California’s oldest state park burned almost to the ground in 2020 — its best trail just reopened
California’s oldest state park spent most of the last six years looking like a disaster zone. The 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire burned through more than 97% of Big Basin Redwoods State Park, torching the historic headquarters, the campgrounds, and even the employee housing. Six years on, one of its best-loved trails is finally open again.
Big Basin has held the title of California’s oldest state park since 1902, when a group of activists organized as the Sempervirens Club bought up the redwood forest above Boulder Creek to keep loggers out. The fire didn’t spare much of what came after that. But it didn’t kill the trees.
Coast redwoods are built to survive fire, sprouting new growth straight out of blackened bark, so the forest you’re walking through right now is technically rebuilding itself around you as you go. It’s an odd kind of beautiful — somewhere between ruin and comeback story, and worth seeing in person before it fills back in.
The big news: the Sequoia Trail reopened for the first time since the fire, a 2.9-mile loop through that recovering forest to Sempervirens Falls, a 20-foot cascade that’s become the park’s signature shot. Combine it with 1.4 miles of the Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail and you’ve got a 4.3-mile loop back to the main day-use area — a moderate hike, nothing technical, just enough climbing to remind you you’re in the mountains.
That trail’s part of a bigger reopening push. New segments now connect the main day-use area to China Grade Road, out toward Castle Rock, and along the Hihn Hammond connector by Opal Creek — more than 20 miles of trail have come back since the park’s limited reopening in July 2022.
Getting in still takes some planning. Day-use parking runs on a reservation system — book online at least a day ahead (up to 60 days out) and it’s $8 total, a $6 entrance fee plus a $2 reservation fee.
Don’t want to deal with parking at all? A free shuttle runs weekends and holidays from Memorial Day through Labor Day, looping between the Saddle Mountain overflow lot and the historic core. Santa Cruz METRO’s Route 35 bus also stops at the park on weekends, and riding it in gets you free entry with guaranteed access, no reservation required.
Don’t expect much once you’re there. There’s no potable water, no cell service, and no concessions, so pack in what you need — an entrance kiosk sells bottled water if you forget. Dogs aren’t allowed on trails or fire roads; leashed pups can stick to paved areas only.
Camping hasn’t fully come back to the main park — Blooms Creek, Sempervirens, and Huckleberry campgrounds are still closed while recovery work continues. The one exception is Rancho del Oso, an interim walk-in and bike-in campground on the park’s coastal side.
More than 230,000 people have visited since that July 2022 reopening, and the trail count keeps climbing every season. If Big Basin gets you craving more of the Santa Cruz Mountains, 9 TOP Hikes in Santa Cruz rounds up the rest of the area’s best trails, most of them a lot less complicated to plan around.
A burned forest reopening one segment at a time isn’t the flashiest comeback story in California. But standing under trees that survived a fire that took out nearly everything around them is worth it on its own. Ready to see it before the crowds catch on?
Trip tips: grab a rental car to make the drive up into the Santa Cruz Mountains, lock in your hotel before summer weekends fill up, or skip both and post up at a camper van instead.
Rules and fees change — always confirm current requirements before you go.
