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When we arrived around noon, the parking lot was overflowing. Cars were parked on the side of the road,
and also on the other side of Skyline. Many of those parked were probably mountain bikers or
road cyclists. If you want a decent parking space, get here early. An alternative is to park at the
large lot at Horseshoe Lake. That would make the hike a bit different than what we did, but
you'd get the same views. We opted to park on the side of Alpine Road.
Looking back along the trail
From the nondescript park entrance on Alpine Road, you can see small Alpine Pond below, with the
new David C. Daniels Nature Center next to it. We decided we would visit the center on the way
back, so we followed the trail around the pond and then turned right onto the Ridge Trail. There
are basically two ways to reach Horseshoe Lake (our destination). There's the main Ridge Trail, which
is a wide dirt road, and then there's the alternate Ridge Trail, a narrower trail only for hikers,
which we took.
The trail starts off in the forest, passes a couple old wooden structures, and then quickly breaks
out into the sunlight. Rolling green hills spread out in front of us, and acres of green forest
stretched out below us to the right, off to the next mountain range. To be quite honest, I was not
expecting much of this hike, but I was pleasantly surprised by the fantastic views along the Ridge
Trail. Be forewarned that the views are better in the morning/early afternoon. The late afternoon
haze dampens the view. But even on our noon-time trek, we were treated to fantastic views almost
all the way to the lake.
Green hills leading to green forest
The trail rolls up and down gently. You'll almost assuredly see raptors in the valley below if you
look for them. Halfway in there's an undesignated trail intersection with a fork to the left; we
continued straight, where some railings guide the way over some rocks. This entire section of trail
is almost devoid of shade, so I'd definitely avoid it on a summer afternoon. Even in spring in the
Bay Area, it was quite warm on the return trip. In the summer, not only would it be hot, but the hills
would be brown instead of green.
Hiking along the ridge
Eventually the trail veers left, then intersects with the main Ridge Trail. Here, we turned right onto
the wide Ridge Trail, toward Horseshoe Lake. The trail (still unshaded) now descends steeply.
While before you could imagine yourself hiking in the wilderness, at this part of the trail, you can
hear motorcycles screeching along Skyline Boulevard, which you can see to your left, along with a
parking lot. So the illusion is sadly broken. In less than half a mile you reach the next
intersection, where you can see the lake just in front of you. We turned right and went another
tenth of a mile, crossed a bridge, and sat down at a bench next to the lake.
More fantastic views
Our lunch stop left a bit to be desired. It's
nice to have a bench, but there was no shade. While we ate, we saw a lot of lizards running around,
and a few ducks swimming in the water. The lake is mostly lined by cattails, so it's hard to get right
up to the water's edge. After our break, we took the small trail back along the edge of the lake,
but it doesn't provide any greater views of the lake. The trail ends at the handicapped-only parking
area. We then turned left and continued back onto the trail we had descended to the lake. As you
can imagine, since it was a steep descent, it was now a steep ascent. Not quite as steep as some
of the sections on the Stevens Creek Nature Trail hike, though. Unfortunately, this ascent is
completely unshaded.
Horseshoe Lake
We had the option of taking the main Ridge Trail back, but we decided to take the same way back,
since the views were so nice. As I mentioned earlier, though, the afternoon haze detracted from
the views on the return trip. After returning to the forest, and the intersection with the main
Ridge Trail, we continued straight, toward the nature center. The center is a small building with
a few displays about the inhabitants of the preserve. It's open every summer weekend from noon to
5pm (or at least it was at the time of this writing). Just outside the center is a deck where you
can look down into the pond and see fish swimming (the pond is stocked with bass; no fishing!).
After our visit to the center, we continued around the pond, then up the hill back to Alpine Road.
By now, the parking lot had plenty of space. But I would definitely recommend going in the morning
as opposed to the afternoon, because of the views.
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