Final section of a 3 day hike Distance: 3.5 miles Elevation Gain/Loss: 190/1160 We combined this section with 3 others to create a 3 day backpacking trip beginning in Skyline Ridge and Russian Ridge Open Space Preserves. You can start there for the full story. These were the final few miles of a hike that…Read more
3 Days Backpacking the Ridge Trail, End of Day 2 and Beginning of Day 3 Distance: 5.8 Miles Elevation Gain/Loss 850/560 This is the 3rd section out of 4 traversed in a 3 day hike along the ridge trail which started at Skyline Ridge and Russian Ridge Open Space Preserves. We had hiked nearly a…Read more
First part of day 2, on a 3 day hike. Distance: 8.1 Miles Elevation Gain/Loss 1280/665 We completed this section as part of a 3 day hike beginning in Russian Ridge. You can find details on that section here: Skyline Ridge and Russian Ridge Open Space Preserves. Elevation Gain/Loss above reflects the southbound direction of…Read more
3 Days and 2 Nights Distance: 5.1 Miles Elevation Gain/Loss: 810 feet/780 feet Trail Map Russian Ridge is the northern end of several uninterrupted segments of the Ridge Trail which are in close proximity to a couple of the rare backpacking camps in the area. So I thought I would try to string them together into…Read more
A great beginning, 5.8 miles completed, 403.9 miles to go Distance: 5.8 Miles Elevation Gain/Loss 1,215 feet/1,290 feet Having 403 miles remaining of a 400 mile hike is hardly a cause for celebration. But getting started is a worthy event, and picking a starting point from so many choices took some time. After pouring over the…Read more
A Quiet Trail and a Bike Return Distance: 7.4 Miles Elevation Gain/Loss: 715 feet/845 feet one-way In spite of the name, the route for this hike includes only a short section in Huddart County Park and a couple of miles in El Corte de Madera. The majority runs along a relatively direct and seemingly rarely used…Read more
A Docent Lead Hike Distance: 12.8 Miles Elevation Gain/Loss 1,725 feet/1,490 feet Much of the ridge trail in the southern end of the peninsula passes through a dense forest of coast redwoods. Conversely, in the north, the Sweeney Hill section leading into Pacifica is dominated by coastal sagebrush and similar dense, low vegetation. The Fifield-Cahill trail sits…Read more
Hiking Through the Fog Distance: 3.2 Miles (7.1 miles total for the day) Elevation Gain/Loss: 785 feet/300 feet Sweeney Ridge Trail Map The official map of this section combines it with the segment just north, Skyline College to Pacifica. We decided to also combine them into a single hike. For this post I’ll just focus on…Read more
Descent From Ridgeline to City Distance: 3.4 Miles (7.1 miles total for the day) Elevation Gain/Loss: 115 feet/670 feet We started the day at Sweeney Ridge to complete both sections as one hike. We spent much of the day in a comfortable descent down from the ridge line toward the ocean. By the time we…Read more
A ridge trail with no ridge, and very little trail Distance: 8.6 miles (4.5 miles and 4.1 miles) Elevation Gain/Loss: 655 feet/565 feet I’m hate to say it, but the two ridge trail sections that make up this hike were both my least favorite so far. I was not expecting much from this primarily urban…Read more