Weekly Walker: A Glorious Local Hike With a Dose of History

 Burleigh Murray Ranch State Park

“The mice rustle very lightly in the flatted grass. Only he who walks sees these mice.” Werner Herzog

Directions: Take Highway 92 west to Highway 1. Go south on Main Street in Half Moon Bay or Highway 1 for 1.2 miles to Higgins-Purisima Road., then East for 1.6 miles to the trailhead. Parking available for 10 cars.

Trail Map: www.parks.ca.gov/ and search for Burleigh Murray Ranch.

Grade: Easy. Elevation gain of 250 feet.

Distance: Four miles round trip to water tanks, two miles round trip to the barn.

Time: Two hours for round trip to water tanks 

Special Conditions: Trail is a double-track farm road in good condition. Two chemical toilets are available along the way. Bring water. No dogs. OK for bicycles and equestrians. Managed by State of California Department of Parks and Recreation.  No use fee.

Burleigh Hall Murray (1892-1978) was the grandson of Miranda Murray (1831-1913), the widow of Robert Mills (1823-1897). Mills acquired 1,100 acres (most of this 1,325-acre park) between 1862 and 1884. Through the years, Mills developed his ranch and leased it to immigrant English, Irish, Italian, and Portuguese farmers. The property was passed through the family until the estate of Burleigh Hall Murray donated the ranch to the state of California in 1979 as a living monument to early San Mateo County ranch life.

Robert Mills was an immigrant who came to California during the Gold Rush. An expert glazier, he did work on the Ralston House in Belmont and the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.

This is one of the newer, less well-known parks in the state system. It has only one trail currently available, although plans are afoot to extend the trail to the Skyline Boulevard trail corridor and the nearby Purisima Redwoods Open Space District. 

The trail follows Mills Creek from the trailhead to the water tanks. Along the way are good views of rounded hills covered with grass and coastal shrubs. Groves of large eucalyptus trees mixed with oaks dot the hillsides, with alders and willows lining the steep banks of Mills Creek. A few hundred feet from the trailhead is the first pit toilet. The second is located downwind from a nice picnic table about one mile in. Two bridges cross Mills Creek before you reach the ranch house and barn area.

As you round the bend leading to the barn, you will notice a sign identifying a shooting range near the park residence that is reserved for police and sheriffs' practice. The residence is used by park employees and is off limits; however, the barn is worth a closer look, as are two stone bridges. 

The barn is known as an English bank barn, one of only two in the United States. The barn was built into the hillside on two levels. The lower level was accessed from the road, while the upper level was loaded from the opposite, or hillside. Tucked into the hill is some interesting stonework that supports the beams and rafters. On display near the barn is a horse-drawn McCormick-Deering No. 7 reaper.

Other rusting farm implements are scattered around the area. Two picnic tables are located near the barn. The barn is now closed to public access but is on the state's to-do list of things to rebuild. In the meantime, you may look inside and get an idea of how the structure housed 100 cows many years ago. Notice how the building is propped up and how it bends in the middle to follow the contour of the hill. Be sure you climb up and around the barn to view it from all sides.

Nearby, you will also find two arched stone bridges built with masonry techniques, presumably offered by Italian immigrants in the late 1800s. The larger straddles Mill Creek with an 8-foot high opening. If the water level is low, you can walk under the arch and observe the rock work. The smaller arched bridge carries a small tributary past the barn and into Mills Creek. This is a smaller, but better preserved structure that reminded us of the rock work leading to old gun emplacements overlooking the Golden Gate that were built at the Presidio during the Civil War era.

As you continue up the trail, you will pass an old bunkhouse and various outbuildings and cattle chutes, all overgrown with a tangle of blackberry bushes. The trail gains altitude as it continues up the Mills Creek watershed to two wooden water tanks above. From time to time, you will see a 6-inch iron water pipe exposed along the trailside. You can continue beyond the tanks on a single-track, overgrown trail for a short distance until the overgrowth forces a turnaround.

As you return, notice an old dam structure in Mills Creek that presumably fed the water tanks in the old days. Now the water flows freely, but the structure has slots for 2-inch wood planks that would raise the water to a 4-foot level and allow it to run through a piping system to the tanks.

Your walk back to the trailhead is short and pleasant, especially in the late afternoon as shadows lengthen and the surrounding hills take on a golden glow.

By the Way…

Exploring this historic ranch draws you to the large wooden barn which housed 100 cows during its prime.  Tom Tabor writes in his Santa Cruz Mountains Trail Book that the barn is an “extraordinary example of nineteenth century rural architecture both for its size and its construction. Notice that the second floor is suspended from the ceiling by metal rods.”  As funds are available, the state plans to continue this restoration project.