A Foggy Day on Windy Hill

The weather did not cooperate today for my College of San Mateo field trip at Windy Hill Open Space Preserve. It was foggy and windy and fog condensation dripped from the Douglas fir trees as steady as if it were a rainy day. The spectacular views that normally greet hikers could only be conjured in our imaginations. On the bright side, there were lots of wildflowers, especially columbines, and the forest is still lush and green.

I had never lead a field trip at Windy Hill before because there are no loops that are under six miles. Plus, it is very steep terrain. To avoid that problem, we met at the preserve entrance on Portola Road in the town of Portola Valley. The parking lot is next to The Sequoias retirement home. We then carpooled to the northernmost Windy Hill Parking lot on Skyline Boulevard. We then started our five mile trek almost all downhill to the Portola Road parking lot. Our route followed the Anniversary Trail, Lost Trail, Hamms Gulch Trail, Meadow Trail, and the dirt road trail that goes to the east side of Sausal Pond. From start to finish we descended about 1,200 feet.

This turned out to be an outstanding route. It would be even better had the weather been more like it should be in late May instead of what you would expect in January.

Castle Rock State Park

The weather was near perfect today when my College of San Mateo class explored Castle Rock State Park. It was such a great day that the parking lot filled up and there were only a few parking places left along Skyline Boulevard.

From the parking lot we headed west and downhill  and then uphill on the Ridge Trail to Goat Rock. After watching rock climbers from the bottom of the rock, we hiked up the trail to the backside of the rock, which is a much easier ascent. The more adventurous students scrambled to the top of Goat Rock for spectacular views of the San Lorenzo River Valley. We then headed down the trail and made a detour to Hole-in-the-Wall Rock. The truly adventurous among us climbed to the top of the rock and then lowered themselves down a small hole and into a cave in the middle of the rock. On our way to the lunch stop I caught a big alligator lizard.


After lunch we cut over to the Saratoga Gap Trail, which has lots of spectacular views. After pausing at Castle Rock Falls, we headed uphill and took a side trip to Castle Rock. The namesake feature of this park looks like it was designed for recreation. It has lots of caves and overhangs which make it a favorite with rock climbers. On the way to the rock we came across a display of a beautiful native orchid called spotted corral root.

TO GET THERE... The main entrance to Castle Rock State Park is along Skyline Boulevard about 2.5 miles south of its intersection with Highway 9.

Springtime on Sweeney Ridge

Sweeney Ridge can be a risky place to conduct a field trip because it is often foggy and windy.

Today, however, was sunny and mild, and wildflowers were blooming in abundance. The second session of my CSM class met at the west end of Sneath Lane this morning. We then carpooled about 4 miles to parking lot F at Skyline College. The trail begins at parking lot C, but it is closed on weekends. Our one-way 3.75-mile hike began at Skyline College and took us along Sweeney Ridge to several Nike Missile radar stations left over from the Cold War era. We enjoyed lots of beautiful views of the ocean and the bay and many wildflowers, especially cow parsnip, blue blossom, checkerbloom, Douglas iris, hedge nettle, monkey flower, and Indian paintbrush, to name a few. The deep purple iris were the star of the show.

We stopped for lunch at the stone monument that marks the place where the Portola expedition first sighted San Francisco Bay on November 4, 1769. After lunch we headed downhill on the Sneath Lane trail, crossing the San Andreas Fault, and back to where we started.

TO GET THERE... from Highway 280 in San Bruno, take Sneath Lane west to where it ends at a locked gate. From Skyline Boulevard (Hwy 35) take College Drive west to Skyline College and park at parking lot C on weekdays or parking lot F on weekends. No parking permit is required on weekends.

Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve

It was a sunny and breezy day today for a 4.7-mile hike with my Foothill College class on Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve. We met at the main parking lot on Skyline Boulevard and charged uphill on the Ipiwa Trail (Ridge Trail). Spectacular views of the Pescadero Creek watershed appeared as we reached the ridge summit. We then slowly descended to Alpine Pond, where we examined an ancient Ohlone Indian acorn pounding stone and watched a velvet ant cross the old Page Mill roadbed.

After crossing Alpine Road, we ventured up Russian Ridge for some good views. However, it was quite windy and the wildflower display on the ridge was less than would be expected for this time of year; probably the result of rain that was less than sufficient and too late. We then headed back to Alpine Pond where we found two vacant picnic tables just in time for lunch. Before resuming the hike we looked around in the Daniels Nature Center.

Our hike back took us along the Sunny Jim Trail around Horseshoe Lake, where we saw a pond turtle resting on a floating board.

TO GET THERE... the main entrance is on Skyline Boulevard about a mile south of the Page Mill Road/Alpine Road intersection.