A Windy & Foggy Day on Sweeney Ridge

Sweeney Ridge can be a risky place to plan a field trip. The 1200 foot high ridge can be spectacular, with views of both the Pacific and the bay, or it can be socked in with fog. Unfortunately, my College of San Mateo class field trip on April 20 was the worst day of the week to hike the ridge top. The day before was beautiful, and the day after was even more beautiful, but the the day of the field trip was foggy, cold and windy.

We met at the west end of Sneath Lane in San Bruno to arrange a car shuttle to our starting point at Skyline Colllege. That way  our 5 mile outing was one way. Other wise you have to go in and out the same way. From Sneath Lane we took Skyline Boulevard north, and turned left (west) on College Drive to Skyline College. On weekdays you can park in parking lot C, next to the trail head. On weekends the closest parking is in parking lot F. No parking permit is needed on weekends.

From parking lot C the trail heads uphill and south, climbing to a high point where the abandoned Coast Guard station stands covered with graffiti. It then makes a steep descent and a steep ascent to the Sweeney Ridge. Continue south, past the site of the Nike Missile radar station. The station buildings were recently removed as part of a toxic waste cleanup.

Though the fog obscured our views, we saw lots of beautiful wild flowers, including footsteps to spring, checker bloom, lupine, poppies, Douglas iris, goldfield, twin berry, Indian paintbrush, crimson columbine, blue witch, and cow parsnip.

Normally we would have stopped for lunch at the stone monument marking the place where the Portola expedition first saw San Francisco Bay on November 4, 1769. However, because it was too

cold, windy, and foggy we skipped lunch and headed downhill on the paved road/trail and back to the west end of Sneath Lane, where we car shuttled the drivers back to their cars at Skyline College.

TO GET THERE... From Highway 280 take Sneath Lane exit and proceed to the end of Sneath Lane in San Bruno.