On a recent Monday, the Bay Area was hit by a well-timed heat wave that left it warm and windless. At sunset, the Audrey Edna Cabin in La Honda turned the same orange colour as the Golden Gate Bridge.
The black wood house is on a beautiful knoll surrounded by the Santa Cruz Mountains. From the front porch, you can see the watershed of Pescadero Creek.
Since the sun goes down in the west, I put the Adirondack chair to my right for nighttime entertainment.
Just when I thought it was time, the buzzing sound of crickets began. The weather did not change much, but it became easier to see blinking dots from flight paths over the Pacific.
My wife and I started making dinner when the skin-contact wine bottle was half empty.
This time, unlike other nights spent in the woods under the stars, we had a full kitchen with running water, a fridge, and enough power to cook our ratatouille on a stove.
We went back to the front porch with our dinner bowls just as the sun was setting behind the trees. One foot was still in the world of luxury and the other was firmly planted in the ground.
Silicon Valley is a short walk or 30-minute drive away from the Audrey Edna Cabin in La Honda. It used to be called the “hiker’s hut” in Alpine Ranch.
A few trail workers walking down the fire road in the morning are the only people in the area around the cabin. The cabin itself does not have much technology; the only remote control it has is for the air conditioner.
The Alpine Ranch was bought by the Peninsula Open Space Trust for $5 million in 2012. The Palo Alto-based charity group then fixed up the hut.
The light, rough shack was built on a hill in the early 1900s and was completely rebuilt. In 2018, it had been updated to a modern house with a balcony that went all the way around and enough beds for ten people.
Taking down hurdles to the outdoors was the goal, according to Bryanna Whitney, the public access project manager for POST. This would allow more people to spend the night in the woods.
He told SFGATE, “The goal is to make a hike-in easier to get to.” “It is part of our programme for fair access.”
For people who are new to hike-ins, it is not like camping in their cars. People who do not want to walk two miles to a place without a toilet can use it.
The cabin can be rented by the night through Hipcamp for $100, but not on most weekends. That is because those are set aside for Park Rx, a trial health care measure.
As part of a clinic-to-nature medical approach, people who work with the San Mateo County Health Department can book the cabin for a retreat in nature.
The Audrey Edna Cabin was named one of the best Hipcamps to visit this year after getting dozens of great reviews.
My wife and I wanted to get out our camping bags one more time before the season ended because it was getting close to fall, so we left San Francisco just after noon.
We aimed our GPS for Sam McDonald County Park, which has a path to the cabin that you can reach after paying $6 to park overnight.
The post at the beginning of the Towne Fire Road trail tells you that it is 1.5 miles to the hiker’s hut. The wooden sign does not say that the first part of the trip is a steep climb up a green mountain.
The 650-foot climb takes just over half a mile, but it is easy to feel better because it is done under a cover of redwood trees.
The fire road winds through the redwoods and then turns around the Jack Brook Horse Camp. It then opens up into a field where turkeys and quails are looking through the bushes.
There is still about a mile to go before you reach a sign that says “1,330 feet” that is in front of the house. When we got there a few hours before sunset, the one-story house was already very hot from the sun.
We put together the hut’s history using the plaques on the walls and the papers from POST.
The post at the beginning of the Towne Fire Road trail tells you that it is 1.5 miles to the hiker’s hut. T
he wooden sign does not say that the first part of the trip is a steep climb up a green mountain. The 650-foot climb takes just over half a mile, but it is easy to feel better because it is done under a cover of redwood trees.
The fire road winds through the redwoods and then turns around the Jack Brook Horse Camp. It then opens up into a field where turkeys and quails are looking through the bushes.
There is still about a mile to go before you reach a sign that says “1,330 feet” that is in front of the house. When we got there a few hours before sunset, the one-story house was already very hot from the sun.
We put together the hut’s history using the plaques on the walls and the papers from POST.
The cabin was exposed to the elements for years on top of the ridge and became badly damaged. Since it was built before the current permitting process, POST decided to completely tear it down.
The nonprofit did not build a full bathroom because there is a water tank close that could be used for sinks and toilets.
Whitney said, “That is what a cabin looks like.” “Most of the time, it means there is no shower.”
The main feature of the house is a small amphitheatre made of benches made from redwood slabs found nearby. Along the edge of the knoll’s flat top, they form a half-circle.
They are in an oval space that is covered in gravel and surrounded by concentric circles that look like tree rings or a yard labyrinth. There are two posts on either side of the redwood seating that honour the effort to protect the land.
Andy Butcher was one of the biggest donors, and the house would be named after his mother.
In her fourth generation, Audrey Edna Butcher lived in Santa Clara County. She was a trustee of the California History Centre at De Anza College and worked with kids at Wastahi Campfire Girl camp when she was younger.
“I thought she was a lovely woman.” “Under our new plan, we do not want to name things after specific people, but that does not mean she did not deserve the honour,” Whitney said. We could not have done this without the Butcher family.
Whitney has been taking care of the house for two years now. People who come to visit are very important to her. “There were times I worried, is it cosy enough?” she said.
While keeping the cabin’s promise to be accessible—said, “I think I need more rugs.” As of now this year, she said, POST had given 47 nights of free stays to local nonprofits like Canopy and Saved by Nature.
There is also a back road that people can take if they would rather not walk in. This makes sure that everyone can enjoy the experience.
There is a visitor’s log on the coffee table inside the cottage. It is already full to the last page with notes and drawings.
Someone who stayed in the cabin in July 2018 wrote, “So glad that we find room in our hearts to preserve something for those who come after us.”
A few pages later, a person who was probably much younger kept pleading to be able to watch TV. People who visit the mountaintop house are often moved by it.
“One family told us it was their first time backpacking with their kids,” Whitney said. “It makes me happy to light that spark for them.”
