La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve

La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve is one of Midpen's largest preserves, more than 6,400 acres of historic ranchland on the San Mateo County coast side of the Santa Cruz Mountains, with grazing cattle, coastal views, and pockets of redwood forest. Much of it was the 3,600-acre Driscoll Ranch, which the Driscoll family ranched from the 1970s and sold to the Peninsula Open Space Trust on condition it stay open, grazed, and public; Midpen bought it in 2006. Since opening to the public in 2017, the preserve has become a regional birding destination, and its grasslands support badgers, burrowing owls, and San Francisco garter snakes.

More than 17 miles of connected trails are open to hikers and riders, with bikes on designated trails. The 1.3-mile easy-access Grasshopper Loop crosses grasslands, oak woodland, and redwoods; the six-mile out-and-back Harrington Creek Trail runs through open, shadeless rangeland where you may meet cattle. A short trail in upper La Honda Creek leads to the "Big Tree," a surviving old-growth redwood. Two historic barns stand in the preserve: a red barn on Highway 84 built around 1900 that shelters the Peninsula's only known pallid bat maternity roost, and a white barn on the Cielo Trail that predates 1860.

Dogs are allowed only on the Grasshopper Loop (except August 1 to about December 15, during calving) and on trails in upper La Honda Creek. The main lot is on Sears Ranch Road off Highway 84; the Event Center and Allen Road entrances need a free permit requested 48 hours ahead.