Fog and Sun on Montara Mountain

Montara Mountain rises out of the Pacific Ocean just above Devil's Slide south of Pacifica at the northern end of the Santa Cruz Mountains. It's steep granite peaks form an ecological island of biological diversity that includes plants found nowhere else. It is also a great place to see an amazing variety of wildflowers late in the season when inland areas have already entered the dry season.

The source of moisture on Montara Mountain is fog. Yesterday I lead my College of San Mateo class on a field trip through sun and fog to the summit of Montara's North Peak. Because of the fog, and despite the drought, the mountain is still lush green, with lots of wildflowers. Unfortunately, the fog prevented us from enjoying most of the spectacular views of the ocean, mountains, and bay that are one of the big attractions on a clear day.

Starting near the visitors center in San Pedro Valley County Park, we headed uphill on the Montara Mountain Trail and then walked the Montara Mountain Road to the 1,898 foot summit of North Peak.
Along the way we saw sweet peas, ferns, bright orange fungus on the eucalyptus, Douglas iris, yerba santa, morning glory, sticky monkey flower, Indian paintbrush, lizard tail, madrone, lots of manzanita, pitcher sage, blue blossom ceanothus, lupine, chinquapin, stonecrop, salal, red elderberry, blue elderberry, silk tassel, and many others.

As we ascended the mountain blue sky and fog took turns dominating the sky. Near the summit we burst into the sun, and at the top we could see an ocean of white all around. The fog, however, was so close to the summit, that the only Bay Area landmark we could see was Mount Diablo to the east. We then retraced our route on the Montara Mountain Road and Trail until we reached the intersection with the Brooks Creek Trail, which we followed to the Old Trout Farm Loop Trail. From there we headed back to the parking lot.

This is the longest and most strenuous hike I lead for my CSM and Foothill College classes. The total distance is about 7 miles, with a climb and descent of about 1,600 feet.

TO GET THERE... take Highway 1 to Pacifica and head southeast on Linda Mar Boulevard to Oddstad Boulevard. From there, drive into San Pedro County Park.