SUNDAY DRIVE

What you’ll see: The Old Haul Road, a former railroad line for loggers, provides one of the best, easy mountain-bike rides through redwoods. It feels almost like wilderness, and its easy rises and falls make this trip ideal for newcomers. For those who aspire to more, you can add a hike with a 1,300-foot climb to an oceanview lookout, one of the region’s least-known bike-and-hikes.

Location: South of La Honda in San Mateo County, on the west flank of the Santa Cruz Mountains near Loma Mar.

The parks: The trailhead is at Memorial County Park, with the ride into Pescadero Creek County Park and the hike going to Butano Ridge overlooking Butano State Park.

Easy and pretty: Start the trip at the Hoffman Creek Trailhead. This connects you quickly to the Old Haul Road, a dirt road for easy mountain biking that is routed through gorgeous forests and into Pescadero Creek County Park. You can ride about 4 miles before being stopped by a slide (near the cutoff for the Butano Ridge Trail, damage from last winter), for an 8-mile round trip. The forest feels wild and remote there. The route was once a railroad line for hauling logs, so the gradient had to be mild enough for a vintage train to handle it; the total climb is only 385 feet.

Challenging with payoff: You can turn this into a bike-and-hike adventure (with a disclaimer). From the Hoffman Creek Trailhead, ride your bike on Old Haul Road for 1.8 miles to Dark Gulch and a cutoff on the right for the Ocean View Trail. Lock your bike and then hike up Ocean View Trail (no bikes), a 1,200-foot climb over 2.4 miles, to the Butano Ridge Fire Road. Here’s the disclaimer: Downed trees and scrambling can be an issue. At the ridge, turn right and hike 1 mile to the ocean-view lookout (1,727 feet). Round trip, 3.6-mile ride plus 6.8-mile hike. I’ve ventured to Butano Ridge several times and haven’t seen anybody.

No through route: The slide on Old Haul Road means you cannot ride from Memorial County Park to Portola Redwoods State Park.

Dogs: No dogs on the park’s trails, dirt roads or backcountry. Cost: $6 parking.

Trail maps: County parks at http://parks.smcgov.org; map/ brochure at www.parks.ca.gov.

Contacts: Memorial County Park, (650) 879-0238; San Mateo County Parks, (650) 363-4020, http://parks.smcgov. org; Portola Redwoods State Park, (650) 948-9098, www. parks.ca.gov.