Chapter 3, Morgan Hill, California at Morgan Hill Thousand Trails Campground
- traci wilson
- Apr 12
- 6 min read
The travel day from Arcata to Morgan Hill was one of the longest mileage days we’ll have on this journey, coming in at 353 miles. This might not sound like a lot but when you’re dragging a 37-foot 5th wheel trailer, it’s a long day. We did have some nice scenery on this leg but the things that stood out the most were lots of traffic and lack of rest areas. We only came across one rest area the entire way, which was the only time the dogs were able to get out of the truck. We can’t pull over just anywhere with our set up—read, 37-foot 5th wheel. Kenai was particularly pesty during this drive and I think it’s because he was cooped up so long without exercise. Kenai is a German Shorthair Pointer mix and requires a lot of exercise! Well, really, they all do. Zoe is an Australian Shepherd Golden Doodle mix, and Maggie is a mini Goldendoodle, and did I mention she’s only just turned one? The traffic started north of Santa Rosa and didn’t really let up the rest of the way to Morgan Hill. That’s over 120 miles! We thought we might escape the bad traffic because it was a Sunday but that didn’t happen. I hate to think what it’s like during the week!
We left Arcata around 7:30 a.m. and got into Morgan Hill Thousand Trails at 3:30 p.m. tired, stressed, and ready to be out of the truck. Thankfully, this TT assigned us a spot, so we didn’t have the additional stress of having to find our own. And it was a back-in site! Yay, the travel gods were taking pity on the weary travelers! The downside was that the sites, at least in the section we were assigned, were all crammed in together so tight that our picnic table was in front of our neighbor’s door! When we arrived, there was a trailer a few spaces over from us blasting their music which absolutely grated on our nerves as we tried to get set up. It seems it was grating on a few other campers because not long after we saw the TT ranger talking to them and the music was, thankfully, turned down.
We stayed in Morgan Hill for four nights. The first full day (Monday, March 31, 2025) we drove through the small downtown area of Morgan Hill to check it out before heading to our hiking destination—Anderson County Park, Cayote Creek Trail. Let me say that Morgan Hill is an attractive community with expensive looking Spanish style homes and clean well-kept businesses. It has an upscale, read, expensive feel to it. The downtown area was quaint and very inviting, with cute shops and interesting sounding eateries, brewpubs, and wineries. In fact, we are staying on the wine trail, a winding road though rolling hills with vineyards and wineries a plenty. I’d always thought the heart of California wine country was in Napa County, but apparently it expands throughout the bay area of northern California. We didn’t have time to explore much but I definitely would like to return at some point and explore more of this lovely area.
The hike was a paved 15-mile trail (the pavement didn’t feel very ‘hike like’), that is also open to bikes but no motorized vehicles. There’s also an equestrian option that isn’t paved but that wasn’t within view of the paved trail we were on. We only went out two miles and turned around, so I suspect the prettiest sections were farther down the trail. The part we hiked was nice enough, with some large trees and lots of tall grass, wildflowers and views of the hills beyond. We could see and hear highway 101 for a large portion of the section we were on, so that was a downside to an otherwise nice hike. A couple things to note: this trail had a divided broken line down the middle, which I’ve never seen before on any trail or path. It reminded me of a miniature highway! The other thing is that I thought the Morgan Hill area was going to be forested because we’re only 35 miles away from the Santa Cruz mountains, but it’s not at all. It actually has large grass covered hills spotted with several types of oak trees, along with western sycamore, bay laurel, and alder. It’s a beautiful area, just not what I’d expected.
The main reason we came to this area was the close approximation to Santa Cruz and the mountains. Our TT campground was approximately 35 miles from Santa Cruz and there wasn’t an option closer unless we wanted to pay a premium price, which, of course, we didn’t! I have fond memories of spending a summer in Boulder Creek with my sister Cheryl when I was fifteen. My first job was actually at Standy’s Café where Cheryl worked as a waitress. She got the owner to give me an ‘under the table’ job as a dishwasher so I’d have money to spend. I’d take my pay and head down the canyon to the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk. I spent a lot of time there!
So, I wanted to show Dave the area. We decided to go to Boulder Creek first since the traffic coming back would probably be worse in the late afternoon. We took the Old Santa Cruz Highway up and over the mountain. It was very slow with many sharp turns and a very bumpy road. In fact, trucks over 30 feet are prohibited so we wouldn’t have been able to take the 5th wheel on it. There was a funny sign that said, “Truckers, your GPS lied!” which Dave and I thought was hilarious. Boulder Creek was familiar and unrecognizable at the same time. Standy’s is no longer there, and I had a hard time trying to remember where it used to be. I didn’t really recognize any of the businesses. We went into a store that looked familiar, but the name was wrong. The woman who worked there said it used to be a Sprouts Ritz. A light bulb went on when she said that. That’s the other place I used to spend my money from washing dishes because I could get things cheap there! We had lunch at the Tree House Café in Boulder Creek. It wasn’t there when I lived here back in 1981. It was a unique place with very uneven floors and a redwood tree growing through the middle of the restaurant. The food wasn’t anything spectacular, but it was tasty.
We drove through the other little towns on Highway 9 through the canyon, and I kept having the same feeling—familiar and yet, not…
It’s a beautiful drive nonetheless with deep forests of majestic redwoods. Santa Cruz didn’t feel familiar at all, not until we got to the boardwalk, that is. That place was just how I remembered it! We didn’t take a long time there due to time, but we did stroll the length of the boardwalk and got ice cream treats before leaving. I was filled with a feeling of nostalgia as we walked by the food stands, games and rides. The Big Dipper, a one-hundred-year-old roller coaster, was the most familiar of all. It’s a Santa Cruz Beach boardwalk icon. I’m sure the names of the shops have probably changed and maybe some of the rides, but the main ones were still the same.
On the way back to Morgan Hill, we still hadn’t exercised the dogs, so we decided to stop for a hike along the way at the Black Hawk trailhead, sprig day use area. We ended up taking the merry go round trail to the old mine trail lookout. We had only planned to do a couple of miles because it was getting late, but we enjoyed this trail so much that we couldn’t stop. The trail kept beckoning us to keep going, just a little bit further…
It was a beautiful trail, wide and steep through large oaks, madrones, redwoods and rhododendrons. We followed a creek for the beginning until we really started to climb, and climb and climb. As we neared the top there were sweeping views of the valley below. At the lookout, we came to a large meadow with benches overlooking the valley and mountains in the distance. There were several picnic tables along the way where you could stop and have a nice lunch, some with views of the valley. We could have gone a lot further as the trail went on but as it was we ended up at 3.6 miles. This is definitely a location we would like to return to in the future. This was the final adventure for this location as the next two days we will be traveling almost 400 miles each with a one-night stopover in Newberry Springs California, arguably one of the most difficult runs of this road trip.
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