Portola Valley Trails and Windy Hill Open Space Loop

On April 6 I lead my College of San Mateo class on a loop hike that included Coal Mine Ridge in the town of Portola Valley and Windy Hill Open Space Preserve. We met at the trail head at the intersection of Alpine Road and Willowbrook, which is in the town of Portola Valley. If the parking lot is full you can find additional

parking along Willowbrook.

Portola Valley is an affluent community with a wonderful trail system that combines residential and woodland areas. Along the San Andreas Fault, this land is a pleasant patchwork of woodlands and grassy meadows, with sag ponds formed by movement on the fault.

We followed the Old Spanish Trail, which has lots of beautiful white, black, and live oaks. There is even a swing hanging from an oak limb a short distance off the trail. Being on the dry east side of the Santa Cruz Mountains, this is a perfect place to see wildflowers in late March through April. We saw checker lilly, star zygadine, buttercups, Douglas iris, Indian warrior, sun cups, and giant wake robins, among others.  We stopped at one of two large sag ponds for lunch.

From the end of the Old Spanish Trail we turned right onto the Lake Trail, which connects with Alpine Road. Because Alpine Road is a dead end, there is little motor traffic and it is shared by cars, horses, hikers, and bicycles. We continued down Alpine Road to the Eagle Trail and then crossed the stone bridge to the other side of Corte Madera Creek, where we picked up the Hamms Gulch Trail in Windy Hill Open Space Preserve. We then made the next right turn, which took us across a bridge and back to where we started on Alpine Road.