The team was immensely helpful when I visited. They were informative, interested in my pleasurable…read moreexperience and helpful in my getting to know their latest products with a test ride. They even diagnosed a problem with my Gazelle Ultimate C380+ without even seeing my bike in person. Amazing! I definitely recommend you visit when coming to Santa Cruz. I'll be interested in visiting the Experience Center again.

Amazing! We came in off the street, got bikes for me and my 12 year old son; he just fit the…read moresmallest model. Our Medeos were perfectly tuned. Seemed like brand new bikes. After a little under a two hour ride, Catherine only charged us for one. The best deal in Santa Cruz! When I'm too old to ride, I'll be looking to obtain a Gazelle.

Go on a weekday; the parking areas fill up quickly on weekends. It's $8 to park, and it's best to…read morebring exact change. The redwoods are not as magestic as the ones at Henry Cowell, but it's just as relaxing. There are a lot of loop trails around the ranger station. You can hike next to the stream going north, and cross at various points. You will find bridges, as well as clusters of rocks that are crossable. There is poison ivy that intrudes into the pathway; take precautions. Also treat your shoes with tick-repellent.

Beautiful forest with creeks, huge trees and banana slugs. Cool and shady. Many trails are…read morerelatively easy even if you're tired like I was. We've actually been here twice and enjoyed both times.

MiBike is the best!! I was in Santa Cruz for the summer and needed a way to get around town/to…read morecampus for an internship and it was so nice to have a bike just for the summer. The bike comes with a lock and AJ is super helpful if anything happens. I got a flat tire over the weekend and he fixed it up the next day. This is a perfect deal for students who need a bike temporarily because of the monthly subscription setup! Highly recommend!

Holy moly I'm so glad I found mibike!! Such an amazing deal to have a brand new bike that I can…read moreessentially call my own. Not only that, but if there is ever any issue or tune-up needed, AJ is able to come fix it, most of the time within 24 hours! Can't tell you how happy I am to have such a reliable source of transportation in this beautifully bike-able beach town!

This checked all my boxes for a great hike: woodsy, water, scenic, peaceful, moderate, posted…read moresigns, and free parking was a bonus. We arrived around 10:15 am on a Thursday, and there were still a few parking spots in their smallish parking lot. I'm sure you'd have to come much earlier on the weekend. There's a map of the various trails. We decided to do a loop of: Fall Creek - S-cape - Ridge trail - back to parking lot. The Fall Creek section was very easy, and you're walking along the creek with a few small waterfalls to admire. A couple of times you cross over the creek, but there are planks to walk on. I couldn't stop taking pictures during this section. There's a bit of elevation when you get to the Ridge trail section, but nothing too bad. The only thing to be cautious of is the abundance of poison oak. There are some narrow paths where the poison oak was spilling over from both sides of the path. TIP: wear long pants. This is a hike that I'd come back to.

#641 #1/25 A very…read moreBeLated review of '23 summer hike... til next visit to a Lusher forest :) Started from Big Ben near Bonny Doon airport to Fall Creek and return. Climb Dry rebirth after the fire Me n this Forest Scenery is an old growth forest with little ground cover other than Redwood sorrels after the fire. Entirely canopied, easy and well kept but a steep trail. Heard owls at the top near Big Ben, a squirrel, few birds and some grasshoppers. Otherwise pretty quiet. Fall Creek had steady water flowing and a tiny waterfall at the time of my visit. Pups are NOT allowed here. Less visited old growth forest as the trail is continuous elevation down to Fall Creek and back up to Big Ben. A couple of crossing to HC Lime Kilns where the lime was used to rebuild SFO post 1906 earthquake and to Lost Empire. Signals were virtually nonexistent and the BBT is NOT marked! I took pictures of the Trail descriptions and maps prior to and that was helpful. Go with someone who is familiar with these trails or download descriptions and good trail mapS. Felton Empire Rd runs through it. There is NO parking lot or any signs to per se. Once you find the trail, you can park on the shoulder. Pro tip: It's MUCH easier to find and start from Bennet Creek to Fall Creek Trailhead as there is a parking lot off Felton Road. About 3 to 8.4 miles hike depending on the trails (partial loop) you choose with little to ~1500 ft elevation if you hike to Big Ben and entire loop (8.4 miles). Recommend water, protein bars and comfortable shoes.

I've only hiked about 16 miles of this trail, but my oh my is it absolutely breathtaking! This is…read moretruly a hiker's and backpacker's dream trail. I've hiked about 8 miles of this trail through Castle Rock State Park and another 8 miles through Big Basin Redwoods State Park. I hiked this trail with a friend last year up to Berry Creek Falls and it was absolutely stunning! The actual trail itself is almost 30 miles long and stretches from the Santa Cruz Mountains all the way to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. The trail begins at the Saratoga Gap which is a ridge within the Santa Cruz Mountains. It makes its' way up the coast past the Pacific Ocean, then through the beautiful mountains of Castle Rock State Park, and finally through the amazing Redwoods within Big Basin Redwoods State Park. This trail has such an amazing variation of different terrains. From your typical coastal ridge paths, to hilly and mountainous inclines, to flat and paved excursions through the Redwoods; this trail seems to simply have it all. I'd have to say that my favorite section of this trail was definitely being able to hike through the Redwoods. Big Basin is California's oldest park and you'll get to see the most amazing old growth Redwood trees. I've always been fascinated by Redwoods, so exploring them while on this trail was so much fun. Aside from the Redwoods, the stretch of this trail through Big Basin is extremely green and filled with a plethora of different plant species and vibrant flowers. And of course, there's Berry Creek Falls which is pretty much the icing on the cake. This waterfall is beautiful and worth the extra miles to get there. I can't forget to mention the incredible rock formations that you'll see while hiking the section that goes through Castle Rock State Park. These views are equally mesmerizing. It's definitely a great workout as much of the trail ascends and descends through the mountains. Lots of water is must and I would recommend bug spray (at least for the portion that runs through Big Basin). I would love to hike the rest of this trail at some point and hopefully make it down to the beach one day. Either way, any hike along this trail will be enjoyable whether it's 5 miles or 30. Would highly recommend this hike if you're planning on visiting Big Basin Redwoods, Castle Rock, Sanborn County Park, or Saratoga Gap Open Space Preserve.

What a fantastic trail! 30+ miles over 3 days starting at Castle Rock campground to Waddell Beach…read more(stopping at Waterman Campground and Jay Campground at the Big Basin HQ). Almost all shaded by the trees (lots of redwoods!) and fantastic scenery the entire time, will well marked trails. You pretty much can't get lost at all. If you do, you deserve to get lost! Also all these campsites have piped drinking water and pit toilets so you probably don't need to bring your water pump. You'll need to make these reservations quite early too since they're pretty limited. State park # is (831) 338-8861 to make the reservations. NIGHT 0: Castle Rock Campground. We ended up not actually staying here because we thought (and there wasn't anything that indicated otherwise) that the campground was right at the trailhead. Instead it's 2.7 miles in. Thus as we had prepared for car camping the first night and were meeting others the next morning at the trailhead, we decided to find another campground elsewhere that was next to the road. Parking at Castle Rock trailhead gets crazy packed on the weekends so come early! The parking lot also closes at sunset so you'll need to make sure your car is in before then. DAY 1: This will be the most "complicated" path since you have to take a couple different trails. As you hike towards Castle Rock (assuming you didn't stay there the night before), you'll see a bunch of day climbers and boulderers. Gorgeous views above the tree skyline along the way. http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/skyline-to-the-sea-trail-davenport?select=mjXU08P2ueRqY-WvlfHxSw#yvfjWy3mdAw7PSTrD67dWw After you past Castle Rock, take the Travertine Springs Trail for ~2 miles which will connect to the Saratoga toll road trail for another mile until you hit an uphill dirt road on your right. It's 0.4 miles going up a couple hundred feet so not too bad. This will take you to the Skyline to the Sea trail (finally!) in which you'll take this for another ~2.6 miles to Waterman camp. You'll hug Highway 9 pretty closely so you'll see a couple abandoned cars that fell off the road. This one more recent. http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/skyline-to-the-sea-trail-davenport?select=mjXU08P2ueRqY-WvlfHxSw#QekFu-9mgaN6xt7NUH5KsA. And this one from a while ago! http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/skyline-to-the-sea-trail-davenport?select=mjXU08P2ueRqY-WvlfHxSw#UnpOYfPqPlJ-impxBrz65A NIGHT 1: Waterman Gap Campground Your instinct may be to tucker down at the sites right around the pit toilet. My advice is to walk a little further towards the back to sites 5 and 6. It's a a bit extra of a hike but totally worth it since you get your privacy. Campsite isn't too far from Highway 9 too so you may hear some speedracers zooming by at night like we did. This is also the first (and only) area where you do get cell phone reception. DAY 2: You pretty much stay on Skyline to the Sea trail the entire way from here now. Your goal now is to get to the Jay Campground at Big Bason HQ. You still hug the road sometimes and even cross it a couple times. Again gorgeous views along here. http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/skyline-to-the-sea-trail-davenport?select=mjXU08P2ueRqY-WvlfHxSw#WIfT7_JSDYc7zXVP0uHMWA NIGHT 2: Jay Campground You're at the park HQ so good time to stock up on stuff or get a bit of real food if you're tired of your freeze dried! THEY DO HAVE BEER THOUGH. And showers too (1 quarter = 2 min), The camp shop does not carry propane for Jet Boilers in case you run out like we did. However you can ask them to use their hot water though to heat up your freeze dried foods. DAY 3: You're almost there! A slight change in scenery here. No more hugging highways and more bridge crossing and waterfalls. Oh and way more banana slugs. http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/skyline-to-the-sea-trail-davenport?select=mjXU08P2ueRqY-WvlfHxSw#mjXU08P2ueRqY-WvlfHxSw I swear, the last ~3 miles felt like FOREVER. The trail opens wider and the trees start thinning in front of you which makes you constantly feel like you're almost there. Then you immediately smell the salty ocean breeze and which iswhen you know you're at the end!

I was just thinking back to our California vacation that we did a short while back. One of the…read morebiggest highlights from our trip was our surf lessons. My son and I joined with some friends to get a group lesson from Barry at "Making the Drop". To help out, Barry brought his good friend Tyler Fox (pro surfer - how cool is that???). So, for a couple hours, these two guys helped us figure out the basics of surfing - paddling out, looking for the right wave, getting on the board, etc. They were both SUPER patient and some of the friendliest guys around. To this day, I'm still positively affected by Barry's laid-back take-it-as-it-comes attitude. I'll always remember him saying, as we're floating out in the water with dolphins watching for waves, "how can you hate your job when your office looks like this?". I can see how Barry is an effective life coach as well as top-notch surfing instructor. Whether you are a strong swimmer or not, love the ocean or not, I would highly recommend some lessons here. Learn something about yourself as well as life, in general, with just a few hours on the water with Barry. It'll change your life.

Barry is an amazing coach. This is not just a surf lesson, but a relationship with someone who…read morewill help guide you through your surfing progression. I cannot recommend Barry highly enough.

Love it. Gone 3 times now and all were great…read more Looks like they no longer have the brunch sail which is too bad because that was my favorite, but both of the afternoon sails I've gone on too have been great. Staff are super nice. It's just gorgeous out there. Bring warm clothes! It's windy and sometimes you get wet!

Such an amazing experience! Came with a group of 8 people on a Sunday for a 1 pm tour. We all…read moreenjoyed it a lot: the weather was beautiful and the vessel looked very well kept. The crew itself was very knowledgeable and nice and the customer service was top notch: check in was easy and fast, we were given a lot of explanations about what the capital was doing and what is safe, the wine and beer was generously poured, and we were even given blankets as it was windy. separate thanks to the capital for letting a few of us hold the wheel. also saw an otter on the water and a seal chilling on the docks. we made amazing memories and will reccomend this place to others. will try to be back!

Seems like brown dry grassland for 1st. 1/2 mile. Then the creek is an overgrown trickle of water…read more I'd recommend staying on other side of highway & hiking along the cliffs & beaches.

When in Santa Cruz come to Moore Creek Preserve. Local Meetup groups frequent this and t's a fun…read morewalk when in a group