Sam McDonald County Park

Sam McDonald Park, located between La Honda and Loma Mar in San Mateo County, California, United States, is operated by the San Mateo County Department of Parks. The park is 867 acres (3.51 km2) of redwood forest, mixed woods and open meadows. Trails climb up to a ridgeline with views across the Pescadero Creek valley, Butano Ridge, and the Pacific Ocean. The park includes Heritage Grove and borders Pescadero Creek County Park through which it connects to Memorial County Park, Portola Redwoods State Park, and Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Horseback riding is popular here, and many use Jack Brook Horse Camp. Part of the natural area is old-growth forest and recognized by the Old-Growth Forest Network.

History

Emanuel B. (Sam) McDonald was born on January 1, 1884, in Monroe, Louisiana, the fifth of seven children born to Rev. Peter Bird McDonald and the former Priscilla Wheatley; his grandparents had been slaves. The family moved to southern California in 1890 to farm sugar beets, then moved to Gilroy in 1897, and finally Washington state in 1900. where he built a lodge he called Chee-Chee-Wa-Wa; he bequeathed the La Honda property, by then exceeding , to Stanford; San Mateo County acquired the land in 1958 for $67,000 and created Sam McDonald Park in 1970. An additional were acquired in 1976 from Kendall B. Towne, bringing the total acreage of the park to . ==Setting==

Setting

The park is part of a larger group of county parks known as the Pescadero-Memorial Park Complex, formed by nearby land acquisitions: • Memorial Park (1924) • Sam McDonald County Park (acquired 1958, established 1970) • Heritage Grove Redwood Preserve • Pescadero Creek County Park (acquired 1968) They are adjacent to Portola Redwoods State Park and close to several areas preserved by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, including the Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve and the Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve. Sam McDonald Park is divided into two halves approximately by Pescadero Road: in the northwest, largely forested with redwood trees, and in the southeast, open ridge and grassy knolls. Heritage Grove Redwood Preserve lies to the east of the southeastern half of Sam McDonald Park, and has of old-growth redwood forest along Alpine Creek. ==References==

Source: Wikipedia ↗

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