Berry Creek Falls

Berry Creek Falls is perhaps the most well-known waterfall this close to Silicon Valley. While the falls deservedly gets lots of photo clicks and literature devoted to it due to its alluring 70ft drop surrounded by coastal redwoods, and possessing a character that makes it very photogenic, we wonder how it still holds up its fame despite requiring at least 6 hours of fairly strenuous hiking to see it! Usually, famous waterfalls are easier to access in addition to possessing that beauty that makes people go out of their way to see.

Even with that said, Julie and I not only loved this waterfall, but we also enjoyed the hike to get here. Sure it's pretty long and tiring, but we were constantly surrounded by coastal redwood trees throughout the hike. And just that presence of being amongst some pretty special scenery and life helped us to delight in the hike despite the workout we were getting and the sore limbs that were soon to follow. On top of that, we also saw lots banana slugs on the trail (something we're not accustomed to seeing) as well as an additional series of waterfalls (i.e. Silver Falls and Golden Cascade) just a short distance beyond Berry Creek Falls.

There are actually two main lookout areas to see this falls. The first (if you're coming from the Skyline to the Sea Trail) is a distant vantage point providing a view of the falls with a line-of-sight flanked by tall redwood trees. We saw a guy here sitting on the bench just staring at the falls the whole time we were taking photos at this lookout, and we don't blame him!

The other lookout is a viewing platform right in front of Berry Creek Falls. Depending on the flow, you might even feel a sprinkle or two from the very front of the platform. There almost always seems to be someone on this platform at any given time of day (or maybe it was just us coming on a Saturday), and we even shared this platform with two hiking groups picnicking here as well as basking in the presence of the falls itself.

It's from this platform that you can get that classic photograph of Berry Creek Falls. The one at the top of this page is my attempt at that familiar postcard shot you may have already seen in the literature.

As alluded to earlier, there is another series of waterfalls worth checking out if you've already hiked this far. But we've devoted a page for those falls, which are called Silver Falls and Golden Cascade.

Speaking of this trail, we were a bit confused about the actual length of this hike. You see, the Big Basin Redwoods State Park (in which this falls is located) has a network of trails offering you a variety of ways to visit this falls as well as other scenic assets. We saw signs suggesting that if you did the falls as an out-and-back hike, it's 3.9 miles each way (or 7.8 miles round trip; though we swear it felt longer than that). However, we've also seen claims in the literature (our guidebook included) that said this falls is 11-12 miles round trip.

Moreover, a lot of people do this hike as a loop (I heard it was 13 miles, but I can't vouch for it since we didn't do it) going clockwise starting at Park Headquarters, going along the Skyline to the Sea Trail to the falls, and then going up to the Sunset Trail (beyond the Silver Falls and Golden Cascade) returning to the starting point. There are also a couple more connecting trails between Sunset and Skyline to the Sea Trails as well. And what's more, I heard you could mountain bike most of the way before locking it up and getting to the falls from the Waddell Beach path (I don't think Skyline to the Sea Trail is friendly to bikes). We did the out-and-back option along Skyline to the Sea Trail to minimize the amount of hiking (yeah, yeah, we're lazy).

I'm sure there are other ways to get there from Santa Cruz or other parts of Saratoga or San Jose, but that was the most straightforward way we could think of since we were staying in Moorpark.

Note that since Berry Creek Falls is in a state park, there was a $10 (as of 2010) vehicle fee, which you pay and display.

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Berry Creek Falls and the lookout platform

It's easy to sit here and just stare

Redwood towering over Julie on the Redwood Trail

Redwoods towering over Julie on the Skyline to the Sea Trail

No kidding

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Fixated on the falls from the distant overlook with lots of wind rustling the surrounding foliage


Deliberate bottom up sweep of the falls from the lookout platform right in front of the falls


Left to right sweep from the brink of the falls ending at the lookout platform

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TRIP REPORTS

• April 10, 2010

GUIDEBOOKS / OTHER RESOURCES

NEARBY WATERFALLS

• Silver Falls and Golden Cascade

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