The southern end of Hammond trail is on the north bank of the Mad River.
The trail follows Fischer Avenue climbing into the western edge of McKinleyville where a separate trail begins along the east side of Fischer Avenue from School Street to Hiller Park.
Leaving Hiller park the trail enters woodlands along the eastern edge of the McKinleyville sewage treatment ponds and emerges atop a steep bluff above the north bank of the Mad River.
Following convergence with the eastern end of the Widow White Creek interpretive trail, Hammond Trail continues north along Letz Avenue and then past a highway 101 vista point where the trail leaves the former railroad grade to drop into the Clam Beach County Park dunes between the Pacific coast and highway 101.
[1] The southern portion of Hammond Trail was built on an abandoned logging railroad which once carried redwood logs to Samoa sawmills from forests between Trinidad and Big Lagoon until a 1945 wildfire destroyed many of the wooden trestle bridges.