Quail Hollow Ranch Pace Family Wilderness Trail
Sign up to volunteer for the Quail Hollow Ranch County Park Trails Construction project, a trail-building endeavor that will expand the Quail Hollow’s existing 4.5-mile trail network into the Pace Family Wilderness, a 79.5-acre parcel that was gifted to County of Santa Cruz Department of Parks, Open Space and Cultural Services in 1997.
This phase of construction focuses on the 0.5-mile Pace Access Trail and the 2.0-mile figure-8 Pace Loop Trail. The Pace property is located in the diverse Santa Cruz sandhill ecology, and the new trails will be open only to hikers. The acreage is located roughly between Quail Hollow Ranch and Loch Lomond Recreation Area, part of the Newell Creek Watershed, and is currently inaccessible from Quail Hollow.
Construction is scheduled to begin this spring with a pause from May 15 to August 15, then work resumes after August 15th. With limited work expected through the winter months, construction will continue into the spring of 2026.
County Parks, Jodi McGraw Consulting, and Santa Cruz Mountain Stewardship staff are managing the work. Training is required due to the sensitive nature of working in the protected sandhills. For more information about training and volunteering, contact Margaret Ingraham with the Santa Cruz County Parks Department: (831) 454-7927 or (831) 566-6529 or send email: volunteer@parks.santacruzcountyca.gov. This is a great way to make a difference in your community and meet your neighbors and make new friends.
Additional Resources
Best Walks and Hikes in Pace Family Wilderness Park
iNaturalist biodiversity information and images from Pace Family Wildnerness Park
Friends of Quail Hollow Ranch
Featured photo by Julie Horner
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