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.