More ways to enjoy a park

Wilder Ranch brings many flavors of experience to one local state park. A few steps from your car takes you to a historical family farm with a Victorian home, farmhouse, and a water-powered machine shop built in the 1800s. Enjoy the farm on your own. You and your children can walk into a barn, see sheep and chickens in a natural environment, play with the cats, have a picnic, or touch a real John Deere tractor.

Want to know more history? Tours are available on weekends. For more information, visit the Wilder Ranch website. Do you ride a horse? Equestrians are allowed on all park trails and unpaved roads except for those on the ocean side of Highway 1.

Equestrian campsites have their own entrance near Dimeo Lane. To learn more, call 831- 423-9703. You can ride your bike on all trails and roads. Just be respectful of hikers and horses. Speaking of trails, there is a lot to like when you have a 34-mile network of wide roads and single-tracks that take you over 7,000 acres. Also, those acres display a wide range of environments: from wide open areas of grasslands to dark forest, sea level to high elevations, and on deep sandy soil or rugged rocks.

So how do you decide where to go? The park’s website offers some clues. Considering range of difficulty, an easy trail is the 2.4-mile, mostly flat Old Cove Landing Trail to Ohlone Bluff on The Bluffs side of Wilder. If you are looking for more challenge, consider the 6.3 miles of the Wilder Ridge Loop in the Backcountry section. For your extra work, you get great views of Monterey Bay and possibly, some opportunities to see wildlife. You want more? Challenge yourself with an eight-mile trip up Wilder Ridge to see giant redwoods and tan oaks in the Enchanted Forest Loop.

Another way to decide where to go in Wilder is to look at your watch. How much time do you have? If you have only an hour or are bringing small children, explore the cultural center, visit historic buildings, and see the animals. If some of your walkers don’t have time for long trails, bring them down the Old Cove Landing Trail. They can see great views of ocean, bluffs, and wildlife without steep climbs. If you want the biggest challenge, hike a full day to include the Ohlone Bluff trail all the way to the Four-mile beach, or go beyond Wilder Ridge Loop to the Enchanted Forest Loop.

Finally, chose the experience you want. It’s By the way, if you are hungry after your hike, I suggest driving up Highway 1 a few miles to the Davenport Roadhouse. Three friends and I enjoyed a wonderful lunch there with juicy burgers, spicy tacos, (Fee is $9 for seniors 62 and older.) Bicycles and horses are allowed on all trails, Carry a map. If you don’t have one, ask for a map at the park entrance.

If you are walking or riding alone, The park entrance is a few miles Pay your vehicle entrance day fee at the gate or use the LAZ system to pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay. and refreshing salads. Great food. Great service. Visit any time, except on Mondays.

As you enter Davenport, watch for the roadhouse on the right. It is conveniently located in front of the little historical two-