Portola Valley Trails

Portola Valley has one of the most extensive trail systems of any town in the country. The field trip I conducted today with my Foothill College class explored the Coal Mine Ridge area of Portola Valley and then looped into Windy Hill Open Space Preserve to complete a loop of about 5.5 miles.

We met at the parking lot along Alpine Road at the intersection with Willowbrook Drive. If the parking lot is full, there is plenty of parking along Willowbrook. We then crossed the road and headed up the trail and turned right (west) on Old Spanish Trail. Only a month ago I feared that the lack of rain this winter would result in a dreary absence of Spring wildflowers. However, a few good drenching storms in March changed all that. The foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains are as green and wildflowery as they are supposed to be this time of year.

We continued west on Old Spanish Trail, pausing to enjoy Indian warriors, hounds tongue, buttercup, wake robins, forget-me-nots, and lots of other flowers. We also enjoyed the sight of stately white oaks, black oaks, and live oaks, and we noticed that there are lots of galls growing on the oaks. We also stopped to sample some yerba buena and miners lettuce.

This trail runs just west of the San Andreas Fault, allowing us to study fault features such as pressure ridges and sag ponds. In one of these ponds we saw pond turtles and newts. Next to the larger pond we stopped for lunch, with views of ducks and turtles in the water.

After lunch we walked south on the Lake Trail to Alpine Road. We then sauntered downhill on the road, enjoying views of Corte Madera Creek and lots of beautiful big-leaf maple. We then took the Eagle Trail, which parallels the road to a beautiful stone bridge, which took us to the other side of the creek to continue our hike

northeast on the Hamms Gulch Trail and back to the parking lot. We stopped briefly to examine a banana slug.

TO GET THERE... from Highway 280 take Alpine Road exit and continue on Alpine Road about 3.6 miles. It is past Portola Road at the intersection with Willowbrook Drive.