#74 San Pedro Valley County Park, Pacifica

Have you ever been to Hawaii? I went for the first time this July to Oahu to visit my fabulous friends Ry and Beth. They were really great, and took the time to show me lots of the natural sites. Hawaii was unlike anything I had seen previously; it has a stunning natural beauty. And if you visit San Pedro Valley County Park in Pacifica and do the Brook Falls Loop, you will be reminded of Hawaii and feel the same awe and appreciation of the natural world that Hawaii evokes.


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On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day I drove down to Pacifica to do this hike and see if I could catch a glimpse of the 175 foot waterfall there. It only flows in winter, which is the rainy season here in the Bay Area. The hike consists of a 3 mile loop up and around a little mountain.

The park starts off at a pretty picnic area in a valley.

It then proceeds up through a mix of eucalyptus and probably native trees.

The first leg up the mountain was the sunny side.
After about 20 minutes of hiking up through this pretty forest, the scene opens up.

It was strikingly beautiful at the top, with hills looming tall and close.

Unfortunately, the waterfall wasn't flowing very much, although I could hear some splashing. The waterfall is the central crack in the picture above. Apparently it needs a really good rain to flow.

As I proceeded on I was treated to a most excellent surprise. The bushes that you can see in the bottom of the picture above are covered in flowers and positively infested with hummingbirds! I love hummingbirds!

Hummingbirds are very territorial, so when I started to walk through their bushes I could hear their piercing little cheeps from all directions, and one male started flying near my head to check me out. He had a gorgeous ruby-throat, and he's in the picture below. See if you can spot him.

I spent a little while enjoying the hummingbirds, and then proceeded up a bit more to the foggy side of the mountain. A mist started to materialize, and then it thickened, and I could just barely feel it on my face. Lovely. What a sense of adventure as I ran down through the misty eucalyptus.

I really enjoyed this brief hike. It took about an hour. I liked it so much that I in fact came back a few days later and brought a friend. On that day it wasn't foggy, and I could see fabulous views looking out over the town of Pacifica and over the magnificent Pacific itself.

After my hike on the first day I checked out the beach and the pier. There were LOTS of people surfing, perhaps 50. And people were out on the pier fishing. It was exciting to walk way out above the powerful surf.

I would definitely recommend this hike to anyone looking to get out of the city for a bit and experience some natural beauty. It's only about 20 minutes outside of SF!

#77 El Corte de Madera Creek Open Space Preserve

It's been almost two weeks since the last time I got out to do a hike, and high time! I spent most of New Year's weekend laying around at Chez Commanda while watching Star Trek and eating ice cream. On Sunday I applied for jobs and then decided to go to the gym, but when I got to my car, Alack! The battery was dead. My neighbor jumped it for me, and it started right up, so then I drove down 280 for a while to charge it up.

Since I didn't get to go to the gym yesterday, and since I had discovered where highway 280 is, I decided it was definitely time for another hike from my book. I decided to head down the peninsula and check out the El Corte de Madera Creek Open Space Preserve.

I did the Tafoni and Fir Trail loop as suggested. This allows one to visit all the highlights of the area, including the awesome Tafoni formation, a pretty vista point, chaparral, a creek, and giant redwoods.

I had a dream about mountain lions last night, and then saw this sign at the trailhead. Unfortunately, I didn't see any mountain lions to FIGHT BACK against.

The trail gets off to a pretty start:

It's readily apparent that many of these trails are a favorite of mountain bikers. This makes the trail extra muddy at times, so I was glad I had worn my trail sneakers. Some of the fire road trails are great for running as well, but others would be too precarious.

I was intrigued by the steam coming off of this stump.

Next, I made my way on to the tafoni.

Tafoni is sandstone that has eroded in a cool way to form lattice-like structures and other neat formations. The second image on the wikipedia page I linked to is a picture of the tafoni I visited today. It's a lot sexier in that pic than in my iPhone pics below. The tafoni was huge! <3 Geology <3

After the tafoni I continued down the trail until I got to the creek trail. The roundtrip total for this hike is around 5–7 miles (the book and the trail map seem to differ). The creek trail was very pretty, and there are lots of beautiful redwoods. I couldn't really see the creek, however.

At this point it was about 3 in the afternoon and I had had only 350 calories and very little water. I had been hoping to find a convenience store on my way, but there is nothing out that way. One of the things I love about San Francisco is how easy it is to quickly get out of the city and feel like you're in the country. But today that worked against me as I hiked for 3 hours without food. So for a lot of the Creek Trail I was thinking about what I would eat when I was done. Don't get me wrong though, the creek trail had its charms.

I love chaparral, and was excited to finally start climbing up into it, knowing that this meant I was closer to food. And to the vista point! I could finally see the ocean! Or was it the sky? The horizon was very difficult to discern.

After the wonderful view I quickly descended down and found my way back to my car. I had a great time on the hike, and it was very beautiful. How excellent is it to be able to enjoy a green, lovely forest in the middle of winter? The temperature was about 50 degrees, the sun was out in parts, and the forest was largely my own. Gorgeous. I would definitely return to show a friend the tafoni and the view.

And don't worry, I got to eat, finally. I hit up Rainbow Pizza and Tasty Treats in the Crystal something plaza in San Mateo. Yum! I still need more water though. I always do.

#63 Hayward Regional Shoreline

Last Tuesday I had to move my car for street cleaning, so I whipped out my handy Bay Area hiking guide and decided to head over to the Cogswell Marsh Trail at the Hayward Regional Shoreline.

This trail features miles of flat trail perfect for jogging, biking, or walking with a stroller.

Starting point:


View Hayward Area Recreation & Park District: Hayward Shoreline Interpretive Center in a larger map

I'd say it took me about 30 minutes to drive out there from the Mission. The trail starts at the Hayward Interpretive Center, which I didn't get to visit because it is only open on weekends.

Hayward Regional Shoreline is home to over 400 acres of restored wetlands, which is important habitat for endangered species of birds. This area is known for birds, and it didn't fail to disappoint, even in the middle of December.

I saw lots of snowy egrets, which flew away when I walked down the trail.
I saw a bunch of cute little marsh wrens.
I saw lots of cool ducks, including some pretty white and brown ones.
A field of Canada geese stared at me intently when I crossed in front of their field.

From the interpretive center, there is pretty much only one way to go. After 1.2 miles you come to a fork. Go left to cross over the footbridge and keep the city in your sights. This will eventually loop back around to the original fork. If you complete this loop and head back, it's 3.6 miles roundtrip.

About halfway through the loop I was pleased to see another cute footbridge branching out in a different direction. I ran across it and continued up onto a plateau, which gave me some nice views of the surrounding area. I probably added another mile or two on by exploring up there, and it was well worth it.

This was where I walked the gauntlet of Canada geese and saw a giant hare. I also noticed a cool little dock down far below me, but I had taken the wrong trail branch to reach it. Next time!

I really enjoyed this trail. It was easy and pretty. I enjoyed walking right along the water and seeing the ground squirrels and birds. Pretty much the whole way I was treated to a nice view of San Francisco. Even though the trail starts right at the base of the bridge next to the highway, you leave that fairly quickly and I definitely got what I was looking for: the sense of adventure, play, and rejuvenation I get from being out of doors.

I would come back to this trail, except I'm not going to soon. I've got 100 more to check out!

In the future I'd like to post more quickly after the hike, so that I have more of a story to tell and some left over exhilaration. And I'd also like to include pictures! When I went on the Cogswell Marsh Trail I hadn't yet conceived of creating this blog. But next time: pictures for sure!

Let's hike!

Hello universe,

This is my first blog! I'm hoping that some fellow outdoor adventurers in the Bay Area will find the information about my local hikes amusing or informational.

I moved to San Francisco in July of 2010. While I love the city, I also love getting outside of it. I can't believe the attitude of some of my friends here in the city.

"I haven't left the city in months."
"We don't visit the East Bay, they visit us."
"Emeryville is much too far."
"It's too cold to go outside."
"You went where??"

Yes, my friends have actually said these things. And these are friends with vehicles. It can be hard for someone without a car to get out of the city and to a pretty hiking location easily, but if you do have access to a vehicle there are many gorgeous places to hike within a 30 minute drive. And take a car-less friend with you!

I have a great book that I "borrowed" from my sister by Foghorn Outdoors entitled 101 Great Hikes of the San Francisco Bay Area. So far I have been very impressed by Foghorn's thorough information and suggestions. I've already hiked a few of the trails, and have decided it would be a great mission to do them all. Some of them are pretty strenuous, so completing this project will be good motivation to work up to those.

I also tend to pick a spot I like and go there regularly. Hiking a specific trail through the seasons can give you a special relationship to it and a better understanding of the ecosystem. However, I think it will be great to keep trying new locations, so this will force me into that habit.

I grew up in the forest of Connecticut, but was living in Tucson for 5.5 years prior to moving to the Bay. As a former desert rat, I'm excited to explore locations with water and trees. And as a redhead, I'm excited about less intense sun exposure. As far as I'm concerned, the climate in the Bay Area is perfect for year-round outdoors exploration.

Join me as I explore the Bay, north, south, east, and west!