From the parking lot, you have to walk back down the road to the bridge. That’s where the trail begins. It was kind of mushy down low, then climbed steadily.
I had remembered walking through the gate (in 1984) and continuing along the road, so in 2013 I went through the parking lot, across an clear cut, then through some weeds before realizing I was heading the direction opposite to what I should have been.
I don’t know where the path I was following would have led.