A Tour of the San Andreas Fault

Twenty-five years and one day after the Loma Prieta Earthquake, my De Anza College class toured a section of the San Andreas Fault in Monte Bello and Los Trancos Open Space Preserves.

We started at the Monte Bello Open Space Preserve parking lot on Page Mill Road. From there we followed the Stevens Creek Nature Trail into the oak and bay woodlands along the headwaters of Stevens Creek. We paused to sample berries from two madrone trees with an abundance of fruit. Near the junction with the Canyon Trail we noted a proliferation of galls on an old white oak.

We then headed north on the Canyon Trail, which involved a steep uphill climb in places. We caught our breaths while admiring a large artists pallet fungus on a bay tree. Lunchtime occurred at exactly the right time to stop at a large sag pond on the San Andreas Fault. This pond, which was open water when I first visited in the late 1970's, is now filled with cattails.

After lunch we hiked north on the Canyon Trail and then crossed Page Mill Road into Los Trancos Open Space Preserve. From there we toured the San Andreas Fault Trail, which loops through some evidence of fault movement during the giant 1906 earthquake. We saw benches, pressure ridges, a displaced fence, and two oak trees that were knocked onto their sides by the quake but sent up vertical shoots. The highlight was the sight of a magnificent buck and doe. Being the rutting season, they were inseparable.

TO GET THERE... the main parking lot is on Page Mill Road about 7 miles west from Highway 280 and 1.4 miles east from Skyline Boulevard.