We met at the Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve parking lot near the intersection of Skyline Boulevard and Alpine Road. We started our 5.5 mile saunter with a third of a mile loop around Alpine Pond in adjacent Skyline Ridge Open Space. We paused at the Ohlone mortar stone where women pounded acorns centuries ago.
After returning to the Russian Ridge parking lot, we headed north (uphill) on the Bay Area Ridge Trail and then made a left turn on the Ancient Oaks Trail. We saw numerous leafless buckeye trees displaying their fruit. Along the way some of us climbed an ancient canyon live oak beside the trail. Turning right on the Charquin Trail, we enjoyed the bright yellow fall foliage of big leaf maple trees. Along the Hawk Ridge Trail we stopped for lunch near two dead Douglas fir trees riddled with holes used by acorn woodpeckers to store acorns. Nearly every hole contained an acorn, and we saw several woodpeckers at work on their acorn cache.
After lunch we ascended the ridge to the Bay Area Ridge Trail and then headed south. We stopped to view Mindego Hill to the west. This hill is now part of Russian Ridge Open Space, and is expected to be open to the public next year. The high point of our hike was the summit of 2,572-foot
Borel Hill, named for nineteenth century banker Antoine Borel, a Swiss immigrant who once owned this property. From the summit, which is the highest named point in San Mateo County, we could see north to Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, east to San Francisco Bay and Mount Diablo, south to Mount Umunhum, and west to the Pacific Ocean. It was a perfect day for ridge top vistas.
TO GET THERE...from Highway 280, take Page Mill Road west (uphill) and look for the
Russian Ridge parking lot on the right just beyond Skyline Boulevard.
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