Local: Mountain lions gone — Peninsula hiking trails open.
Move comes just in time for Labor Day weekend hikers
Residents eager to celebrate Labor Day weekend with a hike again will be able to visit the Peninsula’s most popular trails.
Just in time for the holiday weekend, Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve is reopening all of its trails, officials announced Thursday.
The decision to reopen the trails comes just six days after Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District — the government agency that manages the preserve — closed the preserve because of a surge in mountain lion activity. The district reopened about 8 miles of trails closest to the preserve’s parking lots Monday but kept the backcountry trails closed.
Officials monitoring the lions on wildlife cameras have observed that the animals have retreated away from the hiking trails to less-used areas of the preserve and thus have deemed it safe to fully reopen the park, said Cori Skinner, the district’s public affairs manager.
Rancho San Antonio — located between Mountain View and Cupertino — has 24 miles of trails and draws 700,000 visitors each year. The preserve also is home to Deer Hollow Farm, a working farm with cows, pigs, goats and chickens.
In recent weeks, a female mountain lion and her three 9-month- old cubs who live in the preserve were spotting walking along the trails and getting too close to visitors.
The rare decision to temporarily close the preserve was made Aug. 23, following an uptick in mountain lion sightings and after a hiker captured video footage of the lions leaping out of nearby brush and onto a trail within 100 feet of the hiker.
Over the past six days, the district has been working with biologists from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to lure the lions farther back into more open areas of the preserve by laying out deer carcass as bait.
Even though all the trails are open, Skinner advises anyone planning to visit to stay alert.
“The mountain lions’ native habitat is that whole Santa Cruz mountain range,” Skinner said. “They live in most of our preserves, so whenever you’re in an area that is a mountain lion habitat, you should remain aware and follow the rules.”
If you happen to spot a mountain lion, officials advise you to keep your children and pets close, back away slowly and try to look big, face the animal, stand tall, make noise and wave your arms.
Officials will continue to monitor the lions, and future closures may occur if the lions return to lingering in areas of the preserve that are more heavily trafficked by visitors. Information about any trail closures will be available on the district’s website.