Two-Heel Drive

From my column in today’s Mercury News

Skyline Ridge is one of a string of preserves managed by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District along Skyline Boulevard in the Santa Cruz Mountains crest west of the Santa Clara Valley. The main attractions are Alpine Pond and its nature center, staffed by volunteers on weekends. A wooden walkway allows close inspection of life at the pond’s edge, and there’s a drinking fountain nearby to refresh your water supply.

This one’s always a fave. Previous Skyline Ridge hikes here.

I’m scouting Skyline Ridge for a future column, and because you really can’t go wrong hiking there. It has ponds, easy trails, varied terrain, and a fair amount of wildflowers. Russian Ridge is far less sexy for the hiker purist — few single single tracks, hardly any shade — but it does get an impressive bloom in the spring. It seems to have twice as many species of flowers as Skyline, which is right next door. We’re not getting the carpet-of-color effect we like to see, but if you like to putter around and take pictures of blooming things, it’s worth a look (just bring your sunscreen).

I also bumped into Mike and Kathy of the FOMFOK hiking club at Russian Ridge and strolled along with them for a couple miles. When I got back to the car I had an excellent conversation with an 86-year-old Swedish hiker who was resting in the shade of her car’s trunk: it was a bit hot out there. Her hiking club has been together 35 years. I got the feeling she’d been over every mile of the Santa Cruz Mountains about six times. If you ever needed more proof that hiking not only adds life to your years, it adds years to your life…

Let’s check out some pictures:

One of the first shots of the morning, on a south-facing slope in direct sun … I thought this was blue-eyed grass, but it didn’t look especially blue under these conditions. I’m told now it’s a variety of filaree.

Miner’s lettuce has delicate white blooms that are hard to capture without a tripod because the lettuce grows in the shade.

Alpine Lake, gorgeous as usual. The nature center here opens at noon on Saturdays and Sundays … lots of cool stuff for kids to look at in there, including skins of dead critters.

On to Russian Ridge, where most of the flowers were:

Checkerblooms bloom in big pink clumps over here.

Yours Truly at the top of Borel Hill.

A yellow violet — these are hard to photograph because they’re kinda shy and don’t face upward toward the sun all the time.

OK, maybe there was more single track than I remember. It’s a decent year for poppies, but they’re not dominating the hillsides around here. Also, forgot to mention: a controlled burn was conducted here last year and all these hillsides looked like toast at the time. A fire is just a haircut for grass; it grows back stronger the next season.

Miniature lupines, near as I can tell. These are very small blooms that require shooting in macro mode and hoping the breezes let up.

Traffic jam. The FOMFOK folks are heading this way past these polite mountain bikers.

Saw these blooms hanging down from a bush in the tunnel between Russian Ridge and Skyline Ridge. No idea what they are, but they are pretty (Update: Jane at Bay Area Hiker says they are currants). I saw a hummingbird but it flitted off in a second, long before it occurred to me to try taking its picture.

So, those are the highlights. Extra thanks to Mike for guiding us to a deck on at the end of a spur trail near the far end of the Ridge Trail, where we broke for lunch (look for Mount Melville on the map if you go; it’s at the far northern edge of the park). Always nice to meet friends on the trail.

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Skyline Ridge links:

• My previous hikes.
• BAHiker.com
• Mid-Peninsula Open Space District

View Larger Map

Russian Ridge links:

• BAHiker
• Mid-Peninsula Open Space District

I couldn’t tell what the four guys in the big red fire truck from the California Department of Forestry were up to. Didn’t smell smoke, though, so I figured it must’ve been a Sunday training hike.

About six steps into Sunday’s hike, it felt hot enough for a good brushfire. Stayed that way for the next four hours, though the occasional breeze from the coast found me. No actual fires happened; I’m guessing the buff firefighter types were a bit disappointed.

This one was just something I wanted to try: string together a loop from a bunch of the trails along Skyline Boulevard around Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve. I’ve done so much hiking in shady redwood forests of late that I’d almost forgotten how warm a sunny July afternoon can get in these parts.

I’d also forgotten how seemingly unremarkable trails can be full of little surprises. Almost from the beginning I was seeing these little purple wildflowers in fresh bloom. And noticing how the yellowed hillsides take on a certain golden glow when the sun hits just right. The sun burns this glow to a dirty brown by September, but a bit of the magic survives well into July.

The route was like this: start out at the Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve, wander over to Horseshoe Lake, then head north up a hill and back down one to Alpine Pond, then head over to Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve past Borel Hill to the Skyline Boulevard scenic overlook, then walk down the highway for about 50 yards to an old gravel road at the entrance to Coal Creek Open Space Preserve, then head south toward Monte Bello Open Space Preserve, and return to Skyline Ridge from there. Four hours of walking, maybe eight miles; didn’t really keep count.

Let’s look at some pictures:

Horseshoe Lake is a pretty little body of water less than a half-mile from the trailhead. It’s wheel-chair accessible, though far too easy for the likes of 4WheelBob. Lots of ducks splashing around.

A layer of fog hangs over the hills in the distance — Portola Redwoods is down that way; hikers were appreciating the cool, no doubt. I was just sweating it out. But there are far worse places to work up a sweat.

A few interesting rocks along the Bay Area Ridge Trail segment running through Skyline Ridge.

This snag looks cool from many angles.

Cattails at the edge of Alpine Pond.

Alpine Pond is picturesque, as usual.

There’s a tunnel under Alpine to Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve, the next park along the way. I noticed a lot of trees turning to summer brown — these looked to be blooming pods that have gone to seed.

Stalks rising from the tall grass at Russian Ridge.

This is the golden glow I was talking about. California’s hills were all this color when I moved here, so I’ll always associate this shade as the proper color.

Mount Diablo far in the distance from the scenic overlook on Skyline Boulevard just south of the entrance to Coal Creek Open Space Preserve.

Hardy wildflowers soak up the afternoon sun at Coal Creek.

I saw no hikers at Coal Creek, only mountain bikers.

When you leave Coal Creek and pass into Monte Bello Open Space Preserve, you need to turn immediately to the left to head up toward the White Oak Trail. If you do as I did and miss your turn, you might get lucky and stumble upon a view of this pond, unnamed on the maps.

Shadiest part of the hike is along the White Oak Trail near the turn-off to the Stevens Creek Nature Trail. From here it’s a half-mile westward to Skyline Boulevard and the Skyline Ridge trailhead.

One thing to keep in mind on these trails: they get lots of mountain bikers. There’s usually plenty of room to get out of each other’s way, and to date I’ve never run into any of the obnoxious twits other people have complained about (I sometimes wonder if you make your own luck in these regards). Also, these trails do get hot in the summertime — the moist cool redwoods a few miles distant may as well be on another planet when you’re out there with no shade and the sun’s beating down on your shoulders.

Related links:

On Bay Area Hiker: Coal Creek | Skyline Ridge | Monte Bello | Russian Ridge.

My previous hikes: Skyline Ridge | Monte Bello

This week we revisit Russ Beebe of CaliforniaWineHikes.com, whom I accompanied last month for a swell hike at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, followed by a wine tasting at a vineyard near the park. Russ was a co-conspirator in my weekend at Mount Shasta earlier this month, when he took it upon himself to prepare an excellent gourmet meal over a Coleman camp stove for about a half-dozen outdoor-blogging types. I knew I’d never be able to return the favor, foodwise, but last week I did figure I could at least offer to give Russ a round trip ride to a Bay Area trailhead of his choosing. (Note to Google surfers wondering if they should hire Russ to guide their wine hike: yes, do it. Today’s hike describes terrain much like the countryside you’ll be hiking in, though the Wine Country is even more scenic).

Russ picked Skyline Ridge Open Space Reserve, which runs along along State Highway 35 in the Santa Cruz Mountains on the west side of Silicon Valley. The Peninsula Open Space District operates a raft of these preserves in the hills nearby. All offer excellent hiking, running and mountain biking trails that are well maintained. Scenery is wonderful, especially on a day with cirrus clouds airbrushing the skies.

Weather was about as close to perfect as I could imagine, and I’m speaking of a locale that has a six-month run of excellent weather every year. Simply an excellent day to be out on the trail.

Russ changes into proper footwear in the Hiker Hauler, which appears to have been designed precisely with this activity in mind.

We hiked about a mile and a half to Alpine Lake, which shone like a mirror in the windless glade. This picture is proof enough that you don’t have to travel to the Sierra to get eye-popping scenery.

Lakes this photogenic oughta be on America’s Top Model or something.

California buckeyes dangle from an oak that has lost its leaves for the season.

We hiked north to the nearby Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve, then trudged to the scenic overlook atop Borel Hill. A little hazy up here today — in winter after a few days of rain knock down all the crud in the air, the view is even more impressive.

More of that cool-cloud action happening.

We came back by the lake on the way back; the cattails are also taking on an autumn-color tinge.

These trees — whose redness stands out like a sore thumb at this time of year — are a non-native species, Russ told me. Figures, for true fall colors we have to turn to alien invaders. On a day like this one, though, I’m not complaining.