The oldest and largest of California’s state parks, Big Basin Redwoods State Park ($6 per car; 831/338-8860) protects some 16,000 acres of giant coastal redwoods. Established in 1902, the park has many miles of hiking and cycling trails high up in the mountains. The heart of the park is most easily accessible from Santa Cruz via Hwy-236, but a popular trail winds up from the coast to the crest, starting from Hwy-1 at Waddell Creek Beach, a popular haunt for kite-surfers and sailboarders, who sometimes do flips and loops in the wind-whipped waves.
