Adventure 008, Hike 050 - New Year Creek

Capture California, the Game-2012

Adventure: 008, Hike 050 – New Year Creek

Team: Thing One, Thing Two

Date:  August 6, 2012

Location: Ano Nuevo Point State Park

Hike Info:

Trail: New Year Creek

Distance: 1.0 miles

Duration: 0:40

Elevation Rise: 120'

Description:
As team Thing One, Thing Two was going down the coast from Half Moon Bay with our parents, we came across Ano Nuevo Point State Park. Not having really explored this park, we thought, why not take a peek and see what we can find. What we saw was a Visitor Center and that it featured one of our favorite mammalians, elephant seals. It is not time for elephant seals, but we got to learn a little bit more about them at the Visitor Center.



While our parents were looking at the exhibits, we decided to go on a short hike—which actually took a little longer than expected. The Ano Nuevo Point trail requires a permit and the park was not issuing anymore that day, so we went on a different trail—the New Year Creek Trail. You may be asking why is it called the New Year Creek Trail—one hint, Ano Nuevo is Spanish for New Year. On January 3, 1603 Don Sebastian Vizcaino first sighted this point. His expedition was to explore, identify and map the coast of California.



This trail is really a loop trail, which we went on two legs of the trail and then returned back up the final leg to the Visitor Center. The trail goes from the Visitor Center down towards the ocean. It is surrounded by a covering of brush, grasses and poison oak. But the trail is cut well. You descend down a staircase to New Years Creek. Once you get to the creek bed—which is dry—you can see the concrete from an old bridge which used to be part of Highway One. The trail descends sharply to a lagoon on the beach. Being without a map, we did not know to take the beach over to the Cove Trail and come back up to the Pond Trail. We ascend back up and go over to the Pond, then return back to the Visitor Center.






By this time, the Visitor Center was closed and our parents were waiting for us. This is a nice little trail and we hope to get back to Ano Nuevo soon to explore other trails.