- Open Space Preserves in Palo Alto -- A few that come to mind are Monte Bello, Russian Ridge and Redwood Portolas State Park. To get to any of these, go west on Page Mill and Just keep going. Monte Bello is on the Stanford side of Skyline. Russian Ridge is just past Skyline on West Alpine Road (the continuation of Page Mill) and Redwood Portolas is a few miles farther on West Alpines. They're between 30-50 mins driving time. Just wander around!
- Purisima State Park -- Great views of Half Moon Bay, nice Redwood's, etc. Take 280N to 92W upto Skyline, it's several miles south of that intersection. It's about a 40 min drive from Stanford.
- Big Basin State Park -- Make a loop out of the hike to Berry Falls. I can't remember the exact trails, but if you tell the ranger that you want to do a 10-12 mile hike to Berry Falls and the cascades they'll point you in the right direction.
- Marin Headlands -- I recommend the Coastal Trail from Muir Beach and the Steep Ravine Trail that runs between Panorama Road and Stintson Beach. Time it right and you can get a nice lunch in Stintson and sit on the beach for a bit before hiking back. To get to Muir Beach, go over the Golden Gate Bridge, take the Exit for CA 1 and just keep following CA 1. Be careful, there's one or two turns required to stay on one. The Steep Ravine Trail starts at Pantoll Ranger Station in the Mount Tam area. Getting there is similar: once you're over the Golden Gate Bridge, exit 101N at CA1 N. Follow it to Panorama Rd with signs for Muir Woods. Stay on Panorama though. It's location is shown in the map below. It'll take about 1.5 hours to get to either one of these locations.
View Larger Map - Pt Lobos Preserve - 4 miles South of Carmel on CA 1 (south of Monterey). These are very short hikes, 1/4 to a 1/2 a mile but absolutely beautiful. It's an absolutely spectacular piece of coast. You're likely to see seals, a variety of birds, possibly whales and otters. If you go do the whole Monterey thing, it's a worthwhile add-on. 2 hours driving distance.
- Pt Reyes National Seashore. Alamere Falls -- Imediately after Bolinas Lagoon, you make a left onto Olema Bolinas Road (it'll sneak up on you! don't say I didn't tell you), go 1.3 miles turn left to stay on Olema Bolinas Rd, go half a mile and then turn right on Mesa Rd and go about 5 miles. Once the road turns into a dirt road, you're almost there. This hike goes out to a beautiful waterfall that drops right onto the beach. Take the route to the falls that says "DANGEROUS! NOT ADVISED!" It's not that bad.
Tomales Pt Hike -- This is possibly the best wildlife hike in California. There's a herd of Tule Elk that hangs out there and I've also seen bobcats, whales, seals and lots of birds. Should be great wildflowers in the spring as well. The hike takes you out along the point adjacent to Tomales Bay under which the San Andreas runs. It's fairly famous as a breeding ground for great white sharks. Both of these hikes take some time to get to.. between 2.5-3 hours. Longer than you think!
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Day Hikes in the Area
I get asked a lot about day hikes in the vicinity of Stanford. I've compiled a short list here that is hopefully timely with a few days of thanksgiving break left. All of these hikes are great year round. I've listed them in order of distance from Stanford. If you've done any nice day hikes that fit this theme, post them in the comment section!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Sykes Hot Spring, Nov '09
Sykes Hot Springs is not only Big Sur’s most frequented backpacking destinations, but it is, in fact, one of the most popular trails in California. Two years ago, Big Sur’s Basin fire ravished the area. The trail remained open for a few months following the fire but closed during the subsequent rainy season due to mudflows and landslides. It took over two years, but the trail was finally reopened this October. A Redwood trip to the location was promptly set.
The hike into the hot springs is purportedly 10 miles but is likely closer to twelve. The first two miles from the trailhead climb approximately 1500 ft on a western facing chapparal slope. On a hot day, the exposure can make this climb tough. Conditions for our trip, however, were cool and close to ideal. The trail then turns upward into into a long canyon through which the Big Sur river runs. The trail is rolling, not gently but not terribly difficult, for the remaining 8-10 miles. It meanders in and out of lateral glutches alternating between cool redwood forests and exposed chaparral. There is reliable water source (though it has to be treated) at Terrance Creek five miles in.
The hot springs themselves are about 1/4 to a 1/2 a mile down stream from where the trail meets the Big Sur river. They are on the left bank (remember, the left bank is defined looking downstream!) There is a trail to them but it requires a bit of scrambling. It took our group approximately 20 minutes to cover this distance. There are three springs: two small ones closer to the river comfortable holding about 3, and one larger spring higher on the hill that comfortably holds about 7. You may find them filled with naked people when you get there. It's no easy task to find a time when a group of 12 can all go in together. We woke up at 6am to accomplish this feat, and also all crammed into the biggest spring.
A lot of people have asked about what the trail looks like after the fire. I can now report that it looks great! I was surprised to see how green and beautiful it really was. Many of the Redwoods are burned to a height of 10-15 meters but have continued growing just fine above that. The trail has a distinctly more open feel as the underbrush has been cleared out. This area is notorious for poison oak. I had feared that poison oak would be able to take advantage as a poineer species and would be worse than ever. As it turns out, there seems to be less poison oak than there has been in years past. It's very early in the wildflower season but a few early bloomers were present. In particular, we saw some milk maids, penstemon and yarrow in bloom. Vetch is getting ready to explode in the sunnier places. A morning glory type flower that I suspect is invasive is beginning to bloom. It is, unfortunately, taking over in some areas.
We found a large Santa Cruz garter snake distinguished from other local garter snakes by its matted yellow dorsal stripe and lack of greens/oranges. (Picture courtesy of CaliforniaHerps.com. Check out the external airway if you ever wondered how a snake can eat and breath at the same time.) This is a pretty neat species. It's locked in an evolutionary arms races with the Rough Skinned Newt. Some species of the rough skinned newt are thought to be the most poisonous creatures in the world (harmless if they bite you, but eat it and you'll surely die). The Santa Cruz garter snake has evolved an increasing resilience to the newt's neurotoxins. Also seen we're several California Condors--a species almost eliminated but now doing fairly well, banana slugs, western fence lizards and the like. The Big Sur river is supposedly a steelhead run for you anglers out there, but I think you'd have to walk fairly far upstream after a long hike to get to an undisturbed location.
A few trip details:
The hike into the hot springs is purportedly 10 miles but is likely closer to twelve. The first two miles from the trailhead climb approximately 1500 ft on a western facing chapparal slope. On a hot day, the exposure can make this climb tough. Conditions for our trip, however, were cool and close to ideal. The trail then turns upward into into a long canyon through which the Big Sur river runs. The trail is rolling, not gently but not terribly difficult, for the remaining 8-10 miles. It meanders in and out of lateral glutches alternating between cool redwood forests and exposed chaparral. There is reliable water source (though it has to be treated) at Terrance Creek five miles in.
The hot springs themselves are about 1/4 to a 1/2 a mile down stream from where the trail meets the Big Sur river. They are on the left bank (remember, the left bank is defined looking downstream!) There is a trail to them but it requires a bit of scrambling. It took our group approximately 20 minutes to cover this distance. There are three springs: two small ones closer to the river comfortable holding about 3, and one larger spring higher on the hill that comfortably holds about 7. You may find them filled with naked people when you get there. It's no easy task to find a time when a group of 12 can all go in together. We woke up at 6am to accomplish this feat, and also all crammed into the biggest spring.
A lot of people have asked about what the trail looks like after the fire. I can now report that it looks great! I was surprised to see how green and beautiful it really was. Many of the Redwoods are burned to a height of 10-15 meters but have continued growing just fine above that. The trail has a distinctly more open feel as the underbrush has been cleared out. This area is notorious for poison oak. I had feared that poison oak would be able to take advantage as a poineer species and would be worse than ever. As it turns out, there seems to be less poison oak than there has been in years past. It's very early in the wildflower season but a few early bloomers were present. In particular, we saw some milk maids, penstemon and yarrow in bloom. Vetch is getting ready to explode in the sunnier places. A morning glory type flower that I suspect is invasive is beginning to bloom. It is, unfortunately, taking over in some areas.
We found a large Santa Cruz garter snake distinguished from other local garter snakes by its matted yellow dorsal stripe and lack of greens/oranges. (Picture courtesy of CaliforniaHerps.com. Check out the external airway if you ever wondered how a snake can eat and breath at the same time.) This is a pretty neat species. It's locked in an evolutionary arms races with the Rough Skinned Newt. Some species of the rough skinned newt are thought to be the most poisonous creatures in the world (harmless if they bite you, but eat it and you'll surely die). The Santa Cruz garter snake has evolved an increasing resilience to the newt's neurotoxins. Also seen we're several California Condors--a species almost eliminated but now doing fairly well, banana slugs, western fence lizards and the like. The Big Sur river is supposedly a steelhead run for you anglers out there, but I think you'd have to walk fairly far upstream after a long hike to get to an undisturbed location.A few trip details:
- Number of participants: 9
- Number of leaders: 3
- Grad/Undergrad: 4/8
- Male/Female: 6/6
- Departure from Stanford: 6:00am, 11/14
- Arrival at Stanford: 8:30pm, 11/15
- Driving Time: 2.5 hours
- Hiking time: 6 hours in each direction
- Trip Cost: $12/person
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