Weimar Institute is ideally located in the foothills of the Sierras, at about the 2,000 ft. elevation, above the valley fog and below the heavy snow.  Entering the campus you see trees of many kinds, overarching beautiful lawns and flowerbeds causing one visitor to exclaim, “I just had to come up to the Weimar Gardens today!”  We are grateful for the wise placement of flowering shrubs and trees, planted decades ago, blooming faithfully year after year.  And beyond this landscaped part of the campus are the natural environments of the Weimar Trails.

A look at the Trail map shows you the five campus entrances to the trails area, and miles of trails that lead along the creeks and hillsides.  It shows where the steep places are, so that you can choose the relatively level paths or more strenuous routes.

Starting out among the ponderosa pines of the campus, you may find your way through oak woodlands, next to blackberry and grapevine thickets, across open meadows, into cedar groves with ferns, along the creek with its willows and alder trees.  In many places the vegetation arches over the path, and the temperature is ten or more degrees cooler than elsewhere, a relief in the summer.

As you walk, you might see one of the wilderness shelters made by students, or a twelve-foot high wooden wall to scale during challenge activities.  Or you might see people from local walking groups, or marathon runners, or people enjoying horseback riding on the trails where horses are permitted.  And you might find NEWSTART guests walking for their health and enjoyment in accordance with the NEWSTART mantra, “walk, walk, walk”!

The trail along the creek is the easiest to start with, and the coolest in the summer (because warm air rises and cooler air flows under it, down the lowest terrain, which is where the creek also flows).  You can start on the Academy Road at Moses Rock, and walk over a mile, as far as you like, seeing trail signs like Manzanita Trail, Sugar Pine, Buckeye, and Frontier, while all along enjoying the songs of the water over the rocks.  There are no steep places on this trail.

One of the newest most rugged trails, Knob Hill, has many steep places and rocks – anything but a level path – for those preparing for mountain climbing.  A favorite strenuous hike is four miles around the Frontier Trail starting near the Chapel, along the east and south sides to the swing, then north on up Cardiac Hill, through Cougar Creek meadow, up and down then up again to the Academy.  Another vigorous hike might start gently along Coyote Creek, past the Fire Bowl to Frontier then up and up to Owl’s Roost Rock, a wonderful place to view the sunset.

Trail Maps

Click to see larger maps

Click to see larger maps