View makes trip to top worthwhile
Each day brings a new canvas for nature’s artwork at the Peninsula’s Windy Hill Open Space Preserve.
It’s like watching the face of someone you care for, always changing, but always provocative: some days electric, others pensive; some days mysterious, others full of surprise.
It can make each visit to Windy Hill stand apart — and worth seeing no matter where you live, no matter what the weather.
For most, the big thing is the view from the top. The ridge rises above oak woodlands, and from the grasslands across the hilltops. On clear days you have unobstructed views to the east across the South Bay, East Bay hills and to Mount Diablo on the horizon. In winter, an inversion layer at roughly 800- to 1,000-foot elevation, like a lid, and at other times, low-lying stratus, are common across the South Bay. In each case, you can peer over the top as if a foggy sea.
It’s one facet of the preserve’s mercurial temperament.
Windy Hill is in the foothills of Portola Valley. It’s called Windy Hill because in the spring, the winds out of the northwest can howl across the ridge in late afternoon. Yet winds have been calm this week, typical for winter between fronts.
The park spans 1,335 acres from the foothills (elevation 600 feet) and up the slope to Skyline (1,200 feet), with staging areas both at the foot of the preserve near Portola Valley and on top along Skyline. Its location creates both a microclimate and a procession of habitats across its landscape: oak woodlands, gulches with conifers and riparian zones, wetlands and a pond, and ridge-top grasslands.
As the light changes each day, and as the seasons transition every few months, so does your experience and what you see and feel.
The routes are a variety of trails, former ranch roads and active service roads that are open to hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding and leashed dog walking. In wet weather, some trails are closed to bikes and horses. The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District posts conditions at its website.
At the minimum, drive up to the Skyline access and walk the 0.7-mile Anniversary Trail for the big views — the panorama of the South Bay. In last year’s photo contest run by the Open Space District, many entries came from this park, including winning photos by Ichiro Asao, Karl Gohl, Bob Clark, and my sister, Susan Vance.
A7.5-mile loop can take you around most of the park, a bottom-to-top-to-bottom route that connects several trails (be sure to have a trail map with you).
From the Portola Gate, most take the Spring Ridge Trail past SausalPond, and with a few cut-offs, to the Hamms Gulch Trail. That climbs to the top, with switchbacks to make the 600-foot climb (over 2.6 miles) less of a challenge. At the ridge, you turn right on the Lost Trail/ Anniversary Trail and enjoy the views en route 1.1 mile to the Spring Ridge Trail. Turn right and sail back down. All trail users are permitted on this route, so be nice and remember, “Share the Trail.”
One thing you can count on: Every trip here provides a new look, and with it, a new payoff.