Category: California

Sierra Azul Trudge ‘Completes’ Bay Area Ridge Trail Odyssey

We began our Bay Area Ridge Trail adventure in April 2021 at Purisima Creek Redwoods Preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Three years, 403 trail miles, 530 total miles and 13.7 miles of elevation gain later, we completed the last of the 73 segments listed in the 2019 Ridge Trail guide book with a difficult 12-mile tramp across Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve at Los Gatos.

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Trione-Annadel State Park

A Deadfall Scramble on the Ridge Trail at Trione-Annadel

The Bay Area Ridge trail at Trione-Annadel State Park begins on a connector path through Howarth and Spring Lake parks in Santa Rosa. It snakes past a pair of reservoirs – Ralphine and Spring lakes – wraps around a bevy of water tanks and crosses an earthen dam. Upon reaching the state park, the trail parallels Spring Creek before rising into wooded highlands on the east side of Bennett Mountain. As the rocky track descends, it passes through a marshy meadow and finally a series of switchbacks through a blackened redwood forest. Portions of the state park were damaged by the 2017 Nuns fire and 2020 Glass fire.

We are hiking the 407-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail. Sign up to follow our progress here.

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Sierra Vista Open Space Preserve

A Sea of Clouds below the Ridge Trail at Sierra Vista Open Space

The Bay Area Ridge Trail at Sierra Vista Open Space Preserve begins on a ridge 2,000 feet above the Santa Clara Valley. The trail traverses the face of a steep hillside before rising and then dropping steadily into the valley below. It ends abruptly just past the park’s historic homestead, where a locked gate, yellow caution tape and sign with skull and cross bones make clear that the last two miles are closed indefinitely.

We are hiking the 407-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail. Sign up to follow our progress here.

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A Ridge Trail Toe Jammer at Alum Rock Park

The Bay Area Ridge Trail winds past parking and picnic tables along the wooded banks of Penitencia Creek at Alum Rock Park before ascending, more steeply than anticipated, more than 1,500 feet into the pastures and chaparral of the Sierra Vista Open Space Preserve. The parking lot was full when we arrived at 10 a.m. on a weekday. But we found a curbside spot in the San Jose neighborhood just outside the park. Trail traffic was minimal once we began hiking uphill.

We are hiking the 407-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail. Sign up to follow our progress here.

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Logistics Complicate Ridge Trail Hike at Mount Umunhum

The Bay Area Ridge Trail at Mount Umunhum climbs steadily and occasionally steeply through a mixed forest of madrone, bay laurel and oak. The 3,486-foot peak, pushed skyward by a left bend in the San Andreas fault, is the fourth highest in the Santa Cruz Mountains. In addition to the requisite views and a large parking lot, the summit contains “The Cube,” the shell of a Cold War era radar installation that was decommissioned in 1980.

We are hiking the 410-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail. Sign up to follow our progress here.

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Máyyan 'Ooyákma - Coyote Ridge

Bay Area Ridge Trail Grows at Máyyan ‘Ooyákma

The Bay Area Ridge Trail grew nearly four miles this summer with the grand opening of the Máyyan ‘Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge Open Space Preserve. The five-mile loop that encompasses the Ridge Trail begins with a steep ascent – nearly 900 feet in the first mile – through grasslands to Máyyan ‘Ooyákma, which means “Coyote Ridge” in the native Chochenyo language. The trail runs along the ridge for about a mile before looping back to the trailhead. The Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority requires a “Butterfly Pass” for the Ridge Trail segment. Hikers also must clean their boots before entering the sensitive preserve.

We are hiking the 424-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail. Sign up to follow our progress here.

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Point Sur, CA

Point Sur Lighthouse Hides in Plain Sight

Perched on the backside of a 361-foot tall volcanic rock between the Pacific Ocean and a sea of private pastureland, the Point Sur Lighthouse is barely visible from California Highway 1. Most visitors to the Big Sur coastline cruise past without a glance.

We drove down from our hotel in Monterey and lined up on the shoulder of Highway 1 for the 10 a.m. tour on a sunny Saturday in April. As the gate swung open, about a dozen cars crept past grazing cows to a dusty staging area at the base of the rock. Our windswept, three-hour tour began with a trudge up a narrow road to the top of the rock. Our cap-clip accessorized docents admonished us to hang onto our hats. Access has never been easy.

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Pinnacles National Park

Props for Underappreciated Pinnacles National Park

Quick. Think of a national park in California. Did Pinnacles National Park in the Gabilan Mountains east of the Salinas Valley come to mind? Probably not. We paid a visit.

A national monument elevated to national park status in 2013, Pinnacles is roughly three hours of bad traffic southeast of our home on the San Francisco Peninsula. Fractured volcanic cliffs, talus caves and California condors comprise the most prominent features. The park is hot in summer and cold in winter. Nearby lodging is scarce.

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Big Sky & Wild Pigs at Grant Park on the Ridge Trail

The Bay Area Ridge Trail at Joseph D. Grant County Park rises and falls along a ridgeline with a view of San Jose to the west and the Lick Observatory atop Mount Hamilton to the east. Large and lovely meadows bookend the trail at the north and south ends of the trail. Watch out for feral pigs.

We are hiking the 405-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail. Sign up to follow our progress here.

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Battling Ridge Trail Anxiety at Mission Peak

The core of the Bay Area Ridge Trail across Mission Peak Regional Preserve rises 1,600 feet in just three miles from the parking lot at Ohlone College. It then rises some more. The trail flattens out as it bypasses Mission and two other peaks before diving steeply down the west side of the mountain toward Ed R. Levin County Park. The views and elevation gain are breath-taking. Recent trail extensions meander through neighboring hills at the college and county park.

We are hiking the 400-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail. Sign up to follow our progress here.

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Hood Mountain Regional Open Space and Preserve, Santa Rosa, CA

Hood Mountain Jump Starts Ridge Trail Trek

The Bay Area Ridge Trail at Hood Mountain begins with a gentle climb from the St. Francis Winery and Vineyard in Santa Rosa toward Hood Mountain Regional Park and Open Space Preserve. Upon entering the preserve, the trail spikes skyward to a ridge about 300-feet short of the 2,730 foot summit. Fire damage from 2020 and storm damage from 2023 litter the mountain. The views of Sonoma Valley are lovely.

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North Sonoma Mountain Regional Park

Battling the Ridge Trail ‘Wall’ on Sonoma Mountain

The Bay Area Ridge Trail across Sonoma Mountain climbs a series of switchbacks at North Sonoma Mountain Regional Park and Open Space before crossing a narrow isthmus of dedicated open space and plunging headlong into the forest at Jack London State Historic Park. The “wall” was purely psychological as we crossed the 80 percent completion threshold on our Ridge Trail trek.

We are hiking the 405-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail. Sign up to follow our progress here.

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Trail to Coyote Peak

A Boot Conundrum at Santa Teresa Park on the Ridge Trail

The Bay Area Ridge Trail at Santa Teresa County Park begins with a steep, mile-long hike up to Coyote Peak and its magnificent view of the South Bay. After returning to the starting point, the trail undulates through the park before exiting down a rocky set of switchbacks and picking up suburban footpaths along the banks of Calero and Los Alamitos creeks.

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Almaden Quicksilver County Park

Quicksilver Relics at New Almaden on the Ridge Trail

The Bay Area Ridge Trail winds past the remains of California’s oldest commercial mining operation at Almaden Quicksilver County Park. The trail segment runs across land first tapped for its mercury content in 1845. Look for the partially reconstructed ruins of a 20th-century processing plant trailside above English Camp and other buildings in the surrounding hills and valleys.

We are hiking the 405-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail. Sign up to follow our progress here.

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Coyote Lake Harvey Bear Ranch County Park, Gilroy, CA

Boot-sucking Mud above Coyote Lake on the Ridge Trail

The Bay Area Ridge Trail at Coyote Lake-Harvey Bear Ranch County Park rises gently above the 90-year-old Coyote Dam and Reservoir and meanders through a pasture on the ridgeline east of Gilroy. Recent rains left the hills a brilliant green and portions of the trail a cattle-churned quagmire.

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Bay Area Ridge Trail

Silicon Vistas at Mt. El Sereno on the Ridge Trail

The Bay Area Ridge Trail at El Sereno Open Space Preserve winds down the side of the preserve’s namesake mountain past coastal scrub to a scruffy overlook above the Lexington Reservoir. The views of the Silicon Valley are magnificent.

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Hiking the Dixie Fire Scar at Lassen National Park

A green meadow frames Kings Creek as it meanders from a forested trailhead, over the namesake falls and into the Dixie Fire burn scar at Lassen Volcanic National Park. Nearly a year after the fire, the meadow contrasted sharply with the gray cinders and blackened conifers that dominated the landscape on the loop trail to Bench Lake. Signs of recovery were sparse.

Kings Creek Falls and Bench Loop Trail (Aug. 6, 2022) – 4.3 miles

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Bay Area Ridge Trail

Moody Oaks at Rockville Hills on the Ridge Trail

The Bay Area Ridge Trail climbs abruptly into Rockville Hills Regional Park into a woodland of gnarled blue oaks overlooking rugged bluffs of volcanic rock. The trail leaves the park just as abruptly, descending to the paved and landscaped Vintage Valley Trail as it passes through suburban Fairfield.

We are hiking the 405-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail. Sign up to follow our progress here.

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