Ridge Loop

The Ridge Loop is a 7-mile outing in Orick’s horse-trail network: an approximately 1.7-mile shared approach, the Ridge circuit, then the same approach back to the lot. Allow about four hours on foot. The route is mostly gentle, without especially steep sections, but it is a half-day walk. Choose it for forest time and a few old-growth groves, not a string of big views. The right turn is unmarked, so bring the current horse-trails map. Pets are not allowed on park trails.

Start at the dirt lot near Drydens Road behind Orick School. Take the small path up to the levee and turn right toward Orick Rodeo Grounds. The levee gives you Redwood Creek and dairy pasture views before the dirt road becomes a broad horse trail and climbs through mossy alders into the redwoods. At the fork, about 1.7 miles in, take the less-used right branch for Ridge Loop. It is not marked; older signs may still call it Three Hour Loop.

The climb moves from dark, lush redwoods into a brighter grove of tall, straight trunks over a ferny floor. The Ridge branch then leaves the redwoods for mixed woodland along old-growth edges. Brush hides much of that old growth, so expect a few distinctive groves rather than an unbroken cathedral forest. Most of the walk is second growth. This is also a pack-animal trail, and it can be muddy in winter and spring.