|
Jean and I hiked by Priest Rock in Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve.
The Bay Area had been experiencing unseasonable cold for a couple
weeks when we did this hike. There'd been snow on Mt. Hamilton,
even down to about 1000 feet at times. There'd been a light rain
the night before our hike, and the day was shrouded in mist in
the morning. But as we drove to Sierra Azul, the clouds lifted
and the sun shone brightly.
The hike starts next to Lexington Reservoir, and climbs and climbs
up a service road. There's not much let-up to the climbing for
the 4 miles to the top. It averages close to 11% grade, but there
are several short sections which are closer to 20%. Unfortunately,
where it wasn't steep, it was muddy. After a particularly bad
stretch, I felt like I had mud bricks attached to the bottoms
of my boots. The mud was only in a very few places, though (i.e.,
the trail wasn't flat very much).
Trees line the trail much of the way, but there are plenty of
spots to take in the views. Manzanitas were easy to spot. In places
they grew in bush form like in Henry Coe, but in others they grew
with obvious trunks. We spotted an olive tree, eucalyptus trees,
and holly. There were many more, but I'd need a field guide to
distinguish them. We didn't see much in the way of animal life
-- mostly birds, a few squirrels.
The climbing actually made it quite hot underneath the clear blue
sky. But at about the 2000 foot elevation, we started to see tiny
patches of snow on the trail in the shade. Quite a treat -- that's
the first time I've ever hiked next to snow in the Bay Area, though
I've biked next to patches near the top of Mt. Hamilton (at over
4000 feet elevation).
The Priest Rock Trail is really a service road, all the way to
the Kennedy Trail. It's a very popular trail for mountain bikers,
most of whom we saw gunning down the trail (they could have been
making a loop trip, going up using another trail). There were
a few joggers, as well.
Fog spreading over the valley, as seen from near the summit
At the top, we could actually see the Pacific Ocean in the distance.
Fog seeped into the Bay Area, and could be seen blanketing the
area below. By walking a short distance along the Kennedy Trail,
we were able to look out toward Mt .Hamilton, peeking high above
the fog.
The return trip was almost all downhill, and it started to get
much colder as the sun dropped further and further toward the
horizon. But we made it back with plenty of light to spare, a
nice change from my recent previous excursions.
| 
Facebook Fan Page
Twitter
RSS Feed
