Butano State Park

DATE: Tuesday, August 11, 2020
DISTANCE: 10 miles, total?
BUTANO STATE PARK
SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA
SOUNDTRACK: Gates Of Slumber: To Walk The Night

PHOTO ALBUM

I was too depressed to write this report for many months. Shortly after my first visit to Butano State Park, it burned down in the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire, along with Big Basin. It is not known what condition it’s in at this point.

Butano State Park encompasses a secluded redwood canyon on Little Butano Creek in the Pescadero Watershed. Amber and I showed up early, before Fern and Greg, at the campsite, so we got settled in and then went on a little walk around the area to become oriented. When Fern and Greg showed up, we went on another hike together, this time down towards the park entrance area. Then it was time for dinner, drinks and drugs, the hallmarks of a Fern and Greg camping trip! Oh, how I love them. That night, we went out again, basically repeating the first hike of the day, going out to find an open area to try to see the meteor showers. It wasn’t exactly cloudy, but there was a fine. marine haze that impaired stargazing significantly. Amber and I left the next morning, and five days later began an early, long and intense California fire season, in which Butano would be one of the first sites to succumb. 

FURTHER READING
• Redwood Hikes: The usual big photographs and quality description
• Bay Area Hiker: A dissenting opinion on Butano!