Windy Hill Open Space was located in Portola Valley,
if you started from San Jose, took HWY 280 North, exit on Alpine Rd, headed south.
Turned right on Portola Rd, drived for about 1 miles, there was a small sign said :
"Windy Hill Open Space Reserve" , turned a shape left would be the parking log.
parking lot
It was a beautiful day when we arrived, unlike last time, pouring rain, dark cloud and we
were forced to retreate. As usual, we chose a biggest route to explore it. Here was our plan:
1. Ridge Trail
2. Eagle Trail
3. Razorback Ridge Trail
4. Lost Trail
5. Annerversity Trail
6. Spring Ridge Trail
7. Back to parking lot
starting point
On the Ridge Trail
The Ridge Trail was a slow asending dirt trail, very good for the warm up our legs and adjusted
the pace. However the sign was a little unclear, we didn't even know we were on the
Eagle Trail already, and the end of the Eagle Trail was the Alpine Rd. And we were totally
lost the direction, no sign, no people. On the left out of the Eagle Trail, there was an
entrance looked like a trail head. As far as I remembered, it was called Alpine Trail.
It was not even on the map !! All of sudden, I saw a lady jogging by, and I called her asap.
She said we should run along the Alpine Rd and turned right on a bridge. Wow..we were lucky,
it was really difficult to find for a first timer.
Yi was on the Eagle Trail
Alpine Rd was pretty narrow here
The bridge we made a right turn
After we crossed the bridge, the trail head for the Razorback Ridge Trail was on the right
hand side of the road, still, no sign, we just wild guessed, and we were right !!
Yi lead the run
Now, the fun part begain , it was a continuous 2.5 miles uphill, just like its name,
the trail was single track, zig-zagging into the oak forest, we were like two mountain lions,
quietly cruising through our territory. The only sounds was the sound of our gasping,
and crashing of the fallen leaf under our foot.
Some unknown blue flowers on the trail side.
A big log
We could have made it to the top, if I didn't call Yi to take the picture.
top of the Razorback Ridge Trail, it was HWY 35
Somehow we missed the sign of the Lost Trail, and continued another 0.4 mile to the
entrance on the HWY 35. So we had to turn back and found the Lost Trail.
On the Lost Trail, the trail started to break out of the wood, we could see the whole
valley on the right side of the trail.
On the Lost Trail
Valley view
Gradually, the high grass replaced the oak trees on the trial, I guessed we must have reached the tree line. The scene started to change, everything was so clear out here. We almost forgot
the pain and tireness on the Razorback Ridge Trail, and caught some breath while enjoying the view. The grass was so tall that we could totally disappear while running into the trail.
It's another hightlight to me in this place. Very special experience...
Yi was disappeared in the trail
The tall grass
Then, we reached another entrance on the HWY35 of the reserve.
Another HWY35 entrace
We didn't know there was a summit view until we got here, just a little detour from
Annerversity Trail, there was a summit view waiting for us.How could we missed this..
No second thought, we headed to the summit to collect another good moment.
The summit was ahead.
Yi and some hikers
The summit view
Another peak of the park.
We were taking the Spring Ridge Trail down.
The Spring Ridge Trail was a fast and wide open downhill. By the time of our desending, the sun was up high and big. We saw a lot of hikers taking uphill from here, it's good we made a right choice not to climb from here. However, it was just beautiful, nothing more...
Summary:
Distance: 10.6 miles
Time: 1:57:27
Elevation Gain : 2027 ft
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So far, I think it's the top 3 open space reserves we've ever been. Hopefully, we could
come back here soon..but wait, there are still a lot more for us to explore !!
