Stewart Trail Long Loop

Stewart Trail Long Loop is a 12.9-mile circuit from Five Brooks Trailhead over Inverness Ridge and back. It links the Olema Valley, Stewart, Ridge, Alamea, Old Out Road, Coast, and Greenpicker trails, mixing broader graded tracks with narrow forest paths and an ocean-view stretch. It is mostly shaded but not a quick stroll: allow about seven hours with breaks. Choose it for a long walk that moves between different landscapes; if you want a shorter day, the separate 6.1-mile Stewart–Greenpicker circuit gives you a smaller sample without the Alamea and Coast sections.

Start at Five Brooks and follow the right side of the mill pond on Olema Valley Trail to Stewart. The route rises gradually as Stewart heads onto Inverness Ridge; this opening is a broad, graded multi-use track that feels more like an old road than a narrow path. Turn onto Ridge, then right at the Alamea junction. After about half a mile on Ridge, Alamea narrows to a dirt path and winds through quieter mixed evergreen and Douglas fir forest. It stays under the trees for roughly 1.5 miles to Old Out Road. Turn left there and follow the shaded roadbed about 1.1 miles to Coast. The middle miles are about steady progress, not big summit moments; the payoff is the change in vegetation and the feeling of crossing the ridge through forest.

Turn right onto Coast for around 0.6 miles to Stewart. The shoreline views arrive in pieces: you see the ocean through openings in the trees along Coast and Stewart for more than a mile combined. If you have time for extra beach walking, Wildcat Beach near Wildcat Camp is an optional detour, outside the mapped 12.9-mile loop. On Stewart, turn uphill and continue about 2.7 miles to Greenpicker at Firtop, the ridge high point; the trail map labels it 1,324 feet. This is a long, rising stretch back toward the crest. At the Greenpicker junction, the loop descends about 1.9 miles before the last 0.8 miles on Stewart back to Five Brooks. For a coastal photo, include the rocky foreground or trail edge with the ocean through the opening; a frame of water alone loses how the route moves between forest and shore.

Allow six to eight hours for the 12.9 miles, depending on pace and stops. The route rolls between valley and ridge, with around 2,000 feet of cumulative ascent in a spaced terrain profile; expect climbs on both sides of the coast section. The Greenpicker descent can become very muddy and slippery after rain; the shorter Stewart return from Firtop avoids that descent. Bring food and water for the day: no resupply or drinking-water source was found on the route. Five Brooks has a medium gravel lot, an information kiosk, picnic table, and vault toilet. The final 0.3 mile of access road is unpaved and can be pothole- and washboard-heavy. Dogs are not allowed on any trails in this area.