71. LONELY TRAIL TO RICHARDS ROAD LOOP AT HUDDART COUNTY PARK

https://youtu.be/8COwpVp-Tb8

Explore this 8.4-mile loop trail near Redwood City, California. Generally considered a moderately challenging route, it takes an average of 4 h 4 min to complete. This is a very popular area for birding, hiking, and horseback riding, so you'll likely encounter other people while exploring. The trail is open year-round and is beautiful to visit anytime.

Set in the wooded hills above Woodside, Huddart Park & Phleger Estate are a trail runner's and hiker's paradise. These parks offer some of the most beautiful and well-maintained trails in the Bay Area, climbing through dramatic redwood forests. Huddart Park and Phleger Estate combined offer about 20 miles of trails through 2000 acres acres of oak, fir, and second-growth redwood forest. In addition to great trails, Huddart Park also offers several group picnic areas, sand volleyball courts, and a walk-in campground.

Huddart Park and Phleger Estate were once the site of extensive logging operations. In 1850, the California Gold Rush was booming, and so was the demand for lumber to build San Francisco. Five sawmills operated in this area between 1853 and 1860, including Richard's sawmill. From this mill, Richard's Road led down the mountain and wagons loaded with lumber and drawn by teams of oxen traveled down it to Redwood City, where the lumber was barged to San Francisco. Today, Richard's Road Trail follows the route of this old road. Before his death on in 1935, the wealthy lumberman James Huddart deeded 900 acres of his property to the county with the provision that it would be developed into a public park. The County of San Mateo has owned and operated the land as a public park since 1944. In the hundred years since the Huddart Park area was logged, a new forest of redwoods and other trees has grown, covering much of the evidence of this early logging activity.

The trails in Huddart Park and Phleger Estate are primarily well-maintained singletrack, with the exception of Richards Road and the Campground Trail which are rough dirt roads. Elevations in the park range from around 500' at the bottom of Richards Road to just over 2000' at Skyline Blvd. The trails are almost entirely shaded and the temperature is usually mild which makes this an excellent summertime destination.