Giant Salamander Trail: El Corte de Madera

An 8.4-mile hike, descending deep into one of the most spectacular of the MSROD open space preserves.

The route that I took is a little weird because I was trying to eliminate overlap from the Tafoni Trail and the Manzanita Trail that I had gone on earlier. The first part of the trail, the Sierra Morena Trail, was very flat and easy. It is something that a person with bad knees could still manage quite comfortably. The rest of it was quite steep--especially the Timberview Trail.

I embarked on this adventure because one of the park rangers told me that his favorite trail in the whole park is the Giant Salamander Trail. I did think that it was very beautiful, and I was delighted to see so many wildflowers, even late in August; however, I found it less enjoyable than I might have otherwise because the bicyclists were not very considerate of hikers along that particular trail. Most of them probably weren't expecting to see a hiker that far from the road, and they were going very fast on a narrow trail. I would recommend this trail on a weekday if you can go then!