Montara and Pedro Mountain

Montara Mountain is a 1,898-foot tall hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean near Montara, CA, 20 miles south of San Francisco. McNee Ranch State Park on the western slopes of the mountain is a very unique place, because of the network of hiking trails and roads leading up into the open hills in a coastal area that is otherwise accessible only along the ocean shore. I have been visiting beaches around Half Moon Bay for over 15 years and only recently learned about the hiking trails at the McNee Ranch SP.
There are several places to start the hike up the mountain, this time we chose to park at the Gray Whale Cove State Beach parking lot, to walk down to the beach after the hike.The trail quickly climbs above the ocean level and opens a view at the Devils Slides and a newly constructed highway tunnel,



and at the Montara Mountain slopes.



At the top of the mountain, the road ends with the gate to the San Francisco State Fish and Game Refuge. The refuge is a large open space extending up to Fwy 280 and as far as I know can be only visited on a docent lead tour.



Despite excellent views in all directions, I  was disappointed with the summit of the Montara Mountain, because it is fenced and hosts communication facilities. I always expect the mountain tops to be the most remote and untouched places, but the top of the Montara Mountain is just the opposite of that. A nearby peak of the Pedro Mountain is a much more remote and enjoyable destination. Below is a view at the Mountara Mountain antennas from the top of the Pedro Mountain.



From the peak of the Pedro Mountain we randomly wandered down and eventually connected to the main trail.  The upper part of the mountain has a lush shrubbery, which is most likely thriving on the moisture from the coastal fog.



The mountain has views in all directions, at the Marin Headlines, Mt. Hamilton, Santa Cruz, and Pacific Ocean. Here is the view south towards Half Moon Bay captured on the way down.



Near the end of the hike w noticed a person practicing sun salutes towards the setting sun. What a great place to do yoga.



After the hike we walked down to the Gray Whale Cove State Beach and stayed until the sunset. This is the first time I visited this beach and I it has become one of my favorites. The sand is coarse and has this orange color I have not seen at the other beaches in the area. The sun was setting behind the clouds and the ocean waters were rough. I uploaded this photograph directly from my camera, there was no need to do any editing.

Cadillac De Ville on Pedro Mountain

High on the slopes near the top of the Pedro Mountain, sits a wreck of Cadillac De Ville. Overgrown with the Coyote bushes, it looks like a modern sculpture rather than an abandoned car. Its wheels are turned to the right, as if the driver was trying to avoid going down the steep slope before the car finally froze on the rock.



That model was manufactured only in years 1960-70, and one of the signs scratched on the body has a date 1976.



De Ville used to be a large luxury car, how did it end up stuck up there? There is another car wreck on the uphill slope a couple of hundred yards behind, and both cars were heading in the same direction, west towards the ocean.

Rancho San Antonio

Unique Redwood Trees in Purisima Creek Redwoods Preserve

Last Saturday I joined the Unique Redwood Trees hike led by David Milburn, a docent for the Open Space District. We hiked in a rarely visited Bald Knob area of the Purisima Creek Redwoods Preserve, looked at the trees, and listened to David's comments. The unique trees were the old growth trees that survived the logging times becasue of their nonstandard trunks.
For me, the most remarkable was the note on the redwood bark, which is rough and fractured on younger trees and gets smoothed on the old trees. This is how one can recognize the age of the redwood, since the height and diameter may depend not only on the age but also on the environmental conditions.
Photographing these trees was very difficult, the forest was dark and the occasional sun spots created a lot of contrasts. I selected my three best photographs.

Reiteration Tree is old and bulky. It has a secondary trunk starting high above the ground. Our leader David Milburn is standing next to the tree.

The bark of the Reiteration Tree tree is smooth and veined, like an old human skin. Looking at the bark, one can have a sense of the old age, and we are talking 1000 years here.

The Chimney Tree has a long open cavity all along its trunk. Many old redwoods have open cavities at its base, which are made by a repetitive action of the fire burning and rotting caused by fungus. This tree's cavity is much larger, and somehow did not casue the tree to fall.

Sunday Morning in Rancho San Antonio

Last Sunday morning I went to the Rhus Ridge trail head for a quick hike up the Black Mountain, but the parking lot was already full at 9AM. To not loose time, I drove to a nearby access road that is not marked on the Rancho San Antonio map and hiked to the Chamise Trail. From there I walked down to the Rancho. That morning the valley was covered with fog and I expected the same in the hills, but the air cleared out quickly. It was one of these bright and sunny mornings, with birds singing in still air.

A view toward San Jose and Mt. Hamilton from the trail to Rancho San Antonio. The white layer above the valley is from the fog rather than from the usual smog. The view looked very Japanese to me.


Buckeye trees look cool in the fall.


In several places I have seen clouds of little flies dancing in the air above the chaparral.

Off Trail Hike in Sanborn Park

It was one of these lazy Bay Area autumn mornings, sunny and not too hot. The hike started casually, to visit the Lake Ranch Reservoir and see if it already filled up with water. We quickly climbed to the reservoir and found that the water has cleaned since summer, no signs of smelly algae, but the level is still low. Continuing on the road past the reservoir, we walked by the creek paralleled with an old forest road. It looked like a good idea to turn right off the trail and check it out.

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The trail along the creek was overgrown and blocked with fallen trees. After a couple hundred meters we discovered an old water pipeline, probably a reminder from the days when the reservoir was privately owned.  A little dam on the creek used to fed water to the pipeline, which carried it to the reservoir. The dam is now destroyed.



Past the pipeline the trail disappeared and the creek started to climb up the bottom of a steep canyon. The forest was dark, moist, and full of  vegetation. The ferns were up to 2.5 meter tall. Dead trees, branches, and thick layer of leafs covered the ground. Our progress along the creek was slow because of the obstacles. It felt like a primal forest, though we found reminders of peoples activity in the creek: broken pipes, a water tank, and some cables.





Isia found some cool looking fungi that grew on dead branches under the ground, and two salamanders. I identified them on the web as Sierra Newt Salamander. The salamander had a very tight and muscular grip when walking on my hand. According to the web page description, this tight grip is developed during the mating season.



At some point the creek canyon was totally blocked by fallen trees, this is where we turned back.

Deer Hollow Farm Volunteer Recognition Event

Isia volunteered at Deer Hollow Farm in Rancho San Antonio during the summer. She was taking care of the animal pens, and played with little goats and piglets after work. Today we drove her to the volunteer recognition event at the farm. The farm was closed for the visitors, and the event was held at the barn and the vegetable garden. Probably close to 100 people was there, volunteers and farm donors, staff from the City of Mountain View and the Open Space District, and the accompanying guests. I did not realize that so much work at the farm is done by volunteers, who contributed over 6000 hours in one year.

Rancho San Antonio and Deer Hollow Farm were the first park that we visited after coming to the Silicon Valley. I remember that I found the information about Rancho in the phone book in the section listing local parks. This was in 1993, before the internet. We are coming the the Rancho ever since.

Today's event at the farm had a lot of attractions. There was a live folk band playing in the barn, a lunch with dessert at the picnic tables, a  pumpkin ruffle, and a lot of interesting people around. Thanks to Isia, we were able to be part of it.

Here is Isia with Jen, the farm staff.

One of the goats that Isia was taking care of during the summer. I remember them when they were just born several months ago.

The live band was playing and singing through much of the event. The band was very entertaining, but I do not recall its name.

Lunch was topped off with the pumpkin and apple pies.

After lunch the volunteers were recognized with letters and gifts. Here is Isia receiving the volunteer recognition letter,

and here is the entire volunteer group.

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After the event we walked back to the car on the Coyote Trail, which goes above the farm. In this picture the farm is hidden down in the valley behind.

Ancient Oaks and Mindego Trails in the Russian Ridge OSP

Today we made a 6.5 mile hike along the Ancient Oaks and Mindego Trails in the Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve. These trails are located at the edges of canyons that channel a lot of fog and moisture, so there is a lot of green vegetation around. Because the day was cold and windy there was more wildlife then people. We have seen several rattlesnakes, deers, a coyote, and some curious looking spiders.  I like to come here, but it is a long 40 min. drive from Sunnyvale. Today I came to show the area to Alex and Peter, and the next time I want to come in the early springs when the hills are bright green.

Looking north-east from the Ancient Oaks Trail on this foggy and windy day. This is one of my favorite views in the preserve.

A magnificent oak at the Ancient Oaks Trail. This area receives more than average moisture from the fog and the trees are enclosed in moss, a fairytale scenery.

Black Mountain from the trail to Borel Hill.

We spotted three baby rattlesnakes along the trail.

We also noticed several larger spiders. What species are they?

Mt. Price Loop in the Desolation Wilderness

We were backpacking in the Desolation Wilderness in October a year ago. It was so nice that I wanted to repeat it this year, with a condition that we will make a loop trip rather than hike and return on the same trail. After looking at several options, I found the Tahoe Backcountry web page with a description of the hike to the top of Mt. Price. The hike starts at the Wrights Lake and in part goes off the trail, cross-country. Our two day itinerary was:

Day 1: Wrights Lake, Island Lake, Mt. Price, Lyons Lake: 5.2 miles
Day 2: Lyons Lake, Lyons Lake trail head, Wrights Lake: 10.7 miles
Total: 15.9 miles


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On the way to the wilderness we stopped at the Pacific Ranger District to pick up the overnight permit. Ranger there said that there is a Snow Advisory above 5500 ft. for the evening, and I imagined ourselves sitting in the tent looking at the single snow flakes falling on the trees. With that thought we drove to the Wrights Lake and started to hike at noon. The day was sunny and windy, a good day for hiking.

At the Island Lake we stopped to rest and look-up the way, which from this point goes cross-country. Mt. Price is in the center of the picture, the second small peak from the left. The route goes up the slopes to the right side of the peak and then traverses to the pass at the left.

Going up we have seen a flock of funny looking Sooty Grouse, which hid in the tall grass and under the rocks when we came closer.

By the time we got to the top of the mountain, it was surround by dark clouds and the temperature significantly dropped. The plan was to traverse to Mt. Agassiz and then descend to Sylvia Lake, but the traverse was invisible under the dark clouds and the slopes leading to Lyons Lake were still clear. We choose to go down and camp at the Lyons Lake.

Our overnight camp was on the gully overlooking the lake at the left side of the dam that crosses the lake right to left. We rushed to the sleeping bags because of the cold and wind. Soon after that the thunderstorms started, and were followed by the snowfall.

In the morning the world outside looked very different then yesterday. It was still dawn when we got up, and the snow was swirling around the tent. We started to descend along the Lyons Creek to the main road. For the most part, the Lyons Creek Trail trail was visible under the 4 inch cover of snow.

Things cheered up when the sun came out, and there was more people on the trail - two groups were walking down from Sylvia Lake to the trail head.

Here is the view at the Wrights Lake at the end of the trip, and more pictures in the Picassa Album.

Windy Hill Loop

Today's weather was very warm and sunny and I wanted to hike on trails that are shady, like the Hamms Gulch and Razorback Ridge trails in the Windy Hill Open Space Preserve. I figured that I can hike up the sunny Spring Ridge Trail to the top of Windy Hill in the morning sun and descended in the shade on the Lost and Razorback Ridge Trails. It is an 8.8 mile loop. I started from the Alpine Road parking lot at 10AM and clearly lost to the sun, the trail was already very hot. I walked up at a fast pace to get out of the sun quickly, and caught some mild breeze near the top of the hill.

There was very few people hiking today, except for a large group of the Contra Costa Hills Club which was hiking the loop in the opposite direction to mine.

The plaque at the top of the hill.

A view from the top of the Windy Hill towards the Black Mountain. The hills were dark gray and tired of the sun, ready for some rain.

As soon as I entered the shade of the trail south of the Windy Hill, the temperature dropped and even felt chilly compared to the sunny slopes. Going down on these shaded trails was fun. From time to time I was getting out into the full sun, where the air was standing still and smelled of the conifer sap and needles, and you could only hear the buzz of the flies.

A runner near the top end of the Hamms Gulch Trail.

A huge tree fallen across the Razorback Ridge Trail. It must have happened quite recently.

A view at the Windy Hill from the Razorback Ridge Trail.

A view of the Corte Madera Creek slowly trickling along the Alpine Road was very refreshing on this hot 90s day.

This is near the end of the trail, an old bridge from the early 1900's, not a common view in the Bay Area. The bridge leads to the Villa Lauriston property.