Enchanted Forest Trailhead

The trailhead is at the end of Bernina Dr. where you can park in the cul-de-sac. I'm a resident on Pine Mountain Club and have hiked this trail many times. It is especially nice in the mornings during early Summer when the snow is still melting and providing water in the creek that runs along the trail. This is one of the shadier trails and with the sounds of the water in the creek and the morning sunlight peaking through the tree tops, makes it especially "enchanting."

I like this trail, it lives up to its name and is very much like walking through a movie forest. Trees split in half, old rock slides, echo-y mountains give this trail such a good and on edge vibe. Unfortunately we had to head back early because the ground was too frozen to walk on without some sort of special ice gear.

The Enchanted Forest Trail is one of the closest trailheads to the center of Pine Mountain Club, and one that was marked on both Google Maps and on the map of hiking trails provided by the Pine Mountain Inn (5*). With such an inviting name, my friend and I wanted to be sure to check it out. Arriving in Pine Mountain Club on a Friday afternoon in April, we decided to save a longer trail for Saturday and visit the Enchanted Forest Trail with about 1.5 hours remaining before sundown. The trailhead is very simple to find. From there, the trail was not difficult to follow until it brought us to a rocky dry watercourse on the mountain. We had read that the track might get lost, but most of the reviews on AllTrails saying that were from winter. We had followed the path pretty easily until the watercourse, but at that point we lost it. We considered scrambling up the rocky gorge but that seemed wrong. At that moment, we heard voices echoing in the canyon, and that directed my attention over across the watercourse into the underbrush. We realized we could cross the gulch and find the trail on the other side. Locating the path, we soon passed the people coming down from the trail's end. We asked how it was, and they said "it gets steep and rocky." It had already been like that, so we wondered how much steeper and more rocky it might be. After going on for another 5-7 minutes, we arrived at an area on the path that felt like it was vibrating with energy. Neither of us is particularly spiritual but this place, where a large redwood had fallen with a tremendous, splintered split across its trunk and where someone had placed a stone cairn, felt inexplicably mysterious. (See my pic. The place where the trunk splits is taller than the height of a person.) The sun had just dipped behind the ridgeline, and we decided this would be where we would stop. It's an out-and-back trail, so why not make this our back point? On the way down the trail, I started to get tinnitus in my right ear. This isn't something that has happened to me in recent memory. Maybe because the area is so quiet, I could hear a ringing in my ears. But then, out of nowhere, a tree started dropping its leaves on the path to our left. No wind blew, nothing discernible changed. Leaves just started dropping. We thanked the forest for hosting us, and made our way down the path--without urgency, but expeditiously. Whatever's enchanting this forest was probably having a good time. We did too. Just be ready for a hint of the chills as you hike along.