A Delightful 11 mile Hike on Windy Hill

If you are ready for an 11.2 mile hike with a climb and descent of about 1,800 feet then I can't think of a better place then Windy Hill Open Space Preserve. You can start this hike from either the Skyline Boulevard parking lot or the parking lot along Portola Road in Portola Valley. I like to start in Portola Valley because you get the uphill part of the loop out of the way first, before lunch.

From the Portola Valley entrance take the Spring Ridge Trail past Sausal Pond, which is a sag pond nestled into the San Andreas Fault. Then follow the Eagle Trail, which parallels Corte Madera Creek and turn right on the Razorback Ridge Trail. This is where you gain most of your altitude. At the top of the ridge turn right on the Lost Trail (which is also a segment of the Bay Area Ridge Trail), which will take you to the Skyline Boulevard entrance to the preserve. With several picnic tables, this is a great place to stop for lunch. After lunch, some of us continued north on the Anniversary Trail and ascended one of the two peaks of Windy Hill. The views here are spectacular. On a clear day you can see the bay and the ocean from the same place.

After lunch we retraced our steps on the Lost Trail and then headed downhill on the Hamms  Gulch Trail. At the bottom we retraced the first part of the route to return to the parking lot. The ecological diversity of this preserve is amazing. It includes magnificent oaks near the bottom and douglas fir forests near the top. Because Windy Hill often lives up to its name, there are no trees near the summit, making it a great place to fly a kite. Though we are well into May, there are still lots of wild flowers, including columbine, clintonia, checker mallow, and poppies.

TO GET THERE... from Highway 280 exit Alpine Road in Portola Valley. Go south on Alpine Road about 2.9 miles to Portola Road. Turn right on Portola Road and travel .8 miles to the parking lot on the left side of the road.

Redwoods to Sand Hills at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park

Occasional showers didn't deter my College of San Mateo class from completing the final Spring 2016 field trip today at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. From the main parking lot off of Highway 9 south of Felton we hiked south on the western half of the Redwood Grove Loop Trail. We paused to admire magnificent old-growth redwoods, and some of us entered the interior of the Fremont Tree. After stopping to see an albino redwood we continued south on the Pipeline Road and then turned left (uphill) on the Eagle Creek Trail.

The Eagle Creek Trail climbs above the redwoods and into the realm of a unique ecosystem of sand hills. These hills are made of sand that was deposited deep in the ocean 15 million years ago and then uplifted to their present location near Felton and Scotts Valley. Because the sand is too porous to retain moisture it is unsuitable for redwood trees. Instead, it is inhabited by ponderosa pines and an assemblage of drought resistant plants, some of which only grow in this environment.

From the Eagle Creek Trail we turned right (south) on the Pine Trail to a large overlook structure where we stopped for lunch. From here we could see the surrounding mountains and south to Monterey Bay. We also enjoyed watching acorn woodpeckers coming and going from a nesting cavity in a dead

ponderosa pine (woodpecker photo by Diana Gustafson). We then headed downhill to the west on the Ridge Fire Road, which goes through a thriving community of native plants following a recent controlled burn.

Heading west on the Ridge Fire Road we rapidly descended back into the second-growth redwood forest and then turned right (north) on the Rincon Fire Road. We then continued north on the River Trail, which parallels the San Lorenzo River. From there we walked the eastern half of the Redwood Grove Loop Trail as it lead us back to the trail head.

On this field trip we saw banana slugs, wild ginger, redwood violet, manzanita, sticky monkey flower, yerba santa, bush poppy, lupine, wild rose, redwood sorrel, Douglas iris, thimbleberry, and many other wildflowers.

After the hike most of our class walked to the Roaring Camp & Big Trees railroad a short distance to the east, where we saw the remains of an old steam donkey and sawmill, and enjoyed the noisy and steamy appearance of the narrow-gauge  steam engine.

TO GET THERE... the main entrance is just south of Felton on Highway 1.