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McNee Ranch (Montara Beach) State Park |
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The trailhead is easy to overlook, and provides parking for only a few cars. From the road, a log barrier and a series of steps may look discouraging. but these are the entrance to Gray Whale Cove Trail, which is by all accounts lovely, but not for the likes of you and me, being single-track along the steep hillside. |
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North Peak Access Road starts here also, and has a single-bar padlocked gate and a hikers' entrance through an overhanging gateway to exclude motorcycles, though it's rather narrow, allowing only 30 inches of tread width. If your chair is a low one, you may be able to pass under the gate instead. The first 0.2 mile of North Peak Access Road serve as a well
graded asphalt and gravel driveway for the park ranger's residence,
not a completely smooth ride, but no challenge. Near the house, San
Pablo A few hundred feet after turning onto San Pablo Mountain Road, you come upon a lonely portable toilet. An accessible one! but unfortunately the short path and ramp to its entrance are a bit steep, and at the door a 3 or 4 inch gap must be crossed. But a lot better than no toilet at all, and, when we were there, comparatively clean. |
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If, however, what you want is grand ocean views, this is not the place to stop. Only a little further, and a spur to the left leads toward the sea. It's narrow and eroded, but if you can climb it, it takes you up a rise to a nice spot for whale watching, with a wide view to the west over the sea and south to Montara Beach and houses along the highway. Unfortunately, you probably can't get to the bench that is in sight where this spur goes sharply downhill and links to Grey Whale Cove Trail. But numerous more accessible benches are along the trail ahead, some with fine views. |
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But this is a very enjoyable trail with a wonderful mix of wildflowers, bird life, grand views and interesting topography. No doubt foggy and cold at times, but likely to be cool when it's hot inland, and to have some green in the driest season. We turned back after 1.5 mile but I believe a much longer trek would have been possible and rewarding. Details: No fee; leashed dogs and bikes okay. Trailhead is about 4 miles south of the last signal in Pacifica, a small pullout on the left with no designated parking and space for only a few cars. More parking is further south a few hundred feet, on the right. SamTrans bus #294 stops in Montara. |
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Montara
Beach has little to offer a wheelchair user-- the scramble to get to
it from the road means even if you had a beach wheelchair you'd need
a block and tackle to use it. But McNee Ranch, the land across Highway
1, is also part of Montara State Park, and turns out to be a fine place
for a seaview ramble in a wheelchair. Amazingly, one of its main trails,
San Pablo Mountain Road, goes, for at least 1.5 mile, in and
out of lovely pine and cypress woods, along chaparral and grassy hillsides
without becoming very steep, though roughness from roots and erosion
are a problem, and after the first 0.4 mile occasional deep ruts make
it difficult for most wheelchair users unless they have a strong assistant
or two.
Mountain
Road swings left; I understand that North Peak Road soon becomes
very steep indeed, though it's probably better maintained (as a service
road) than San Pablo Mountain. We considered using it to return, which
looked possible, and decided against because the steepness combined
with some erosion looked to be uncomfortable. (I have to go backwards
to get better traction, which is hard on uneven terrain.)
Another
0.1 mile or so, up a gentle climc brings you to a pleasant picnic ground;
6 or 8 weathered picnic tables strewn across a grassy dell which I read
was once a quarry. No access modifications here, and not much shade,
either, but an inviting spot out of the strongest ocean winds.
San
Pablo Mountain Road must have originally been a one-lane asphalt road
intended for cars, negotiating the steep hillside in gentle switchbacks.
The pavement has decayed and been patched with gravel; in other places,
where it runs through groves of cypress and pine, roots have created
obstacles to struggle over. Worse, erosion has left deep ruts that may
be hard to navigate.
McNee
Ranch trail map with access highlighted (only on trails I have evaluated).
Original map can be found 