Easter Weekend we decided to take a walk. We had time and the weather was nice. We also had Saturday and Sunday off from our usual “open house” weekend schedule.
On Saturday we got into two cars, went from Montara to the Starbucks at Linda Mar in Pacifica and picked up two double lattes. We drove over to Adobe and went to Higgins where we turned and parked at the end of the street. This is where one of the trails begins/ends going over Montara Mountain. We left one car and turned around and went back to Montara parking just South of Devil’s Slide.
We walked along the old road going East until we got to the rangers house. Two paths, one to the left and the right path, that we took, which is a dirt road with a straight uphill incline. We stopped several times as we ascended to admire the views and get my heart rate under control. About 15 minutes later we came to the paved path that we had bypassed when we took the dirt trail.
Then our time really got started following the old San Pedro Mtn. Road. Michael started recalling stories his Grandfather had told him of driving this road in the 1930′s to buy produce in the country outside of San Francisco. We were amazed at the effort it must have taken to build this road in the early part of the 1900′s and how long a ride this was over the mountain.
Switchbacks and views, granite hills with a cave! We noticed another cave and then two others around the next switchback. We realized these must be from the Ohlone Indians with great visuals of the ocean and hillsides below. These would be great local ruins to check out if we could.
Then we came upon the view looking West to see an amazing perspective on the Tunnel project. This is one of the sites we can’t see from Hwy.1. The day was very clear and as we got to the top we could see the “golf ball” at Pillar Pt. at Mavericks, all of Montara, Moss Beach and the beach with surfers and cars everywhere. Nice days like this bring lots of people wanting to enjoy the beach and the small towns of the coast.
We got to the crest and turned down the path and headed into a grove of Eucalyptus trees. As we made the first turn we could see all of Pacifica, San Francisco, Marin County and Mt. Tamalpias and a faint Golden Gate Bridge. Absolutely beautiful in a completely different way then the views we had left to the South. This dichotomy reminds me of being on the Golden Gate Bridge and looking in one direction and seeing San Francisco in all it’s glory and looking in the opposite direction to the West and seeing the mouth of the Bay surrounded by rugged terrain as it opens to the Pacific Ocean. Thus, the Bay Area which is a place of utter beauty. Thus, the Coast, another.
As we continued down the trail the Eucalyptus grove kept closing in and creating a canopy over us. This is a place that’s like being in the book of Alice in Wonderland. We felt like we were spiraling into the Looking Glass.
This glorious walk is about 5 miles. We only saw a few people walking and several bike riders. Serene from beginning to end and a great way to spend 3-4 hours getting a workout and so much more. Michael and I were excited. We will return to explore the many other trails we saw on the Mountain the next time we have an afternoon off.
The next week we had a few hours one afternoon and wanted to explore the trail in Pacifica along the ocean. We went back to the Linda Mar shopping center and got a few nibbles from the deli at Safeway. We walked over to the parking lot next to the Taco Bell and started our adventure. Most of this trail isn’t visible from Hwy 1 and what you see of it when driving by, doesn’t give the true feel of what this trail is about.
The all-paved path starts out level and wraps around Linda Mar beach with a slight incline. The incline continues to get more intense as you walk north towards Rockaway Beach. Some switchbacks that are long and curvy are great fun for bikers. This trail is so friendly with lots of benches to stop and look at the view along the way.
At the top of the hill you drop down to the North side looking at Rockaway Beach. The views were over Pacifica and of San Francisco and Marin. The switchbacks reminded us of Lombard Street in San Francisco but with an ocean view and a little shopping area at the base. Michael and I stopped at the top where there was a bench and had our nibbles from the deli enjoying the views surrounding us and trail watching. Bicyclist, hikers, casual dog walkers and runners were part of the mix going up and down the switchbacks.
We took our “Lombard Street” pathway until we reached the little center of Rockaway Beach. This is a great place to look at a few shops, eat at one of several restaurants and take a bathroom break. The restrooms are located in a passage way at the north end where businesses are on two sides of the building. You can access them from either side. I like the west side of this walk because there is a garden that you walk through.
After leaving the center you can turn back around or continue north to Vallemar. This portion of the walk is a level, paved path that wraps around Calera Creek and ends up at a small parking lot at Vallemar. The local garden club has planted a garden and put several benches with local flowers surrounding them. People were watering the areas the day we passed by.
We felt a few raindrops and headed back south. We chugged up our “Lombard Street” path like 2 little engines testing how fast we could go without stopping to take a breath. We got to the crest and went down the other side of the hill with it’s gentle switchbacks making our descent to sea level. We got back to our car just before a light drizzle started. Another exhilarating outing.
We saw several other trails one to the west and others up on the mountain east of Hwy 1. Everywhere we look, we have more adventures to discover here on the coast.
We had a few hours and wanted to go back to Montara Mountain. This time we parked in the back of Montara and picked up a paved trail. As we were walking, I wondered why we hadn’t done this before. The trail went through lovely vegetation for about 3/4 of mile before we got to the rangers house where we had to decide if we wanted to go up the steep dirt path or take the fork to the left that is paved. Michael voted for a new adventure, as much as we enjoyed the workout of the dirt road.
Off we went to the left where the trail was level and went into a gentle incline. We came upon a clearing with picnic benches as we continued the 20 minute walk up the hill. The trees formed a canopy of pine and with the sun warming the hillside the scent was warm and sauna like. The springtime blooms were everywhere with purple ceanothus covering the sides of the valley. We came upon a bench that seemed fairly new and was very sturdy, sitting to the side of the path and snuggled in the shrubs. We had been ascending a moderate incline and were happy for a nice place to rest climbing the hill. We continued up to meet the place where the dirt road reaches the paved trail to find another bench that had “Tom’s Bench” carved into it. This looked out at Montara Beach with views looking south down the coast. We marveled that we had only to look to the left of the dirt road junction the last time we were near and could have used a rest spot.
We went another mile going down the Old San Pedro Mtn. Road before we decided to turn around. Since our time was shorter that day we thought we would walk down the dirt road. 10 minutes to ascend and we were back at the rangers house. We turned left and crossed the bridge where we walked over the bridge and through the horse ranch and back down the trail to the back of Montara.
More people were starting their walks and we stopped to say hi to our friend Elizabeth who had just begun to enjoy her trail walk. We had spent under 2 hours with stops along the way and walked 4 miles. Another micro vacation in our day.