This was our first time camping and hiking at the Portola Redwood State Park. The drive to Portola from San Jose is almost as long as the drive to Big Basin - about 1 hour. The park is nice, but we like Big Basin and Henry Cowell better.
There's a short trail starting behind the camp office, the Sequoia Nature trail I think, that takes you to a small stream with a bridge running across it. This is a great place to come by for a late evening walk from the campground.
The main hike marked in the map was on the Slate Creek trail. Took us a while to get to the trailhead, as you can see. We walked over 9 miles, spanning an elevation gain of 1000 - 1200 feet. A large map of the hike can be found here.
There's a short trail starting behind the camp office, the Sequoia Nature trail I think, that takes you to a small stream with a bridge running across it. This is a great place to come by for a late evening walk from the campground.
The main hike marked in the map was on the Slate Creek trail. Took us a while to get to the trailhead, as you can see. We walked over 9 miles, spanning an elevation gain of 1000 - 1200 feet. A large map of the hike can be found here.