Jean and I hiked in Rancho San Antonio.
Sunday afternoon is not the best time to visit Rancho San Antonio.
Especially on a glorious early spring Sunday afternoon. While
the weather couldn't have been perfect, it attracted everyone
to the park in droves. We circled for about 15 minutes before
finally finding a parking spot. If I had to do it again, I'd come
early in the morning.
After our parking adventure, we started hiking along the Permanente
Creek trail. This flat trail joins two parking lots. At the end
of the trail, we started up the Coyote Trail. Amid the families
and baby strollers, we hiked higher and higher. The Coyote Trail
is set pleasantly amidst a dense covering of trees. Green vegetation
surrounded us.
Soon we broke out into the open and took the fork off to the left,
continuing on the Coyote Trail. At this point the trail descends
down to Deer Hollow Farm. Along the way we could see private residences
and other buildings off to our right. We could see parking lots
and hear the sound of children's voices.
The trails in this hike are generally hiking/equestrian trails.
However, after reaching Deer Hollow Farm we took a left onto Wildcat
Canyon Trail, which is for hiking only. And a beautiful hiking
trail it is. It follows a creek and reminded me in places of Soberanes Canyon. As we started to emerge from amongst the trees we spotted 3
deer about 20 feet off the trail to our right. But they scampered
away as I focused my camera on them.
Wildcat Canyon
We then made a brief left onto Upper Wildcat Canyon before heading
right up the PG&E trail. This trail climbs and climbs from about
600 feet elevation to 1600 feet. During this time we could see
the Upper High Meadow trail the entire time, to our right, across
the canyon. We were, yet again, racing against the sunset. But
every time we neared a corner where we thought we would bridge
to the other side, we met yet another false summit.
Along the way we were met with some nice views of the Santa Clara
Valley. But when we finally did make it to the vista point at
the end of the PG&E trail (underneath the gentle hum of a transformer,
of course), we had views of much of the Bay Area. Mt. Diablo and
Mt. Hamilton were clearly visible. After a brief stop here, we
continued along the Upper High Meadow trail, downhill all the
way.
View from the top
The sky looking west near the top just before sunset, April 15,
1999
When we reached the intersection of Upper High Meadow and Wildcat
Loop, we saw a group of people waiting on a hill, presumably waiting
to watch the sun set over the valley. We, however, continued on
into the forest. After continuing our descent down the High Meadow
trail, we reached the intersection of Wildcat Canyon and Coyote,
we retraced our steps along the Coyote Trail back to the parking
lot.
As we were walking back along the Permanente Creek trail, we spotted
two deer silhouetted against the darkening sky. And then we were
back. A tidy 7.5 miles, 1600 feet of climbing in just 3 hours,
14 minutes. On the drive back we even spotted a rabbit pointing
its ears up at us. And then it was back to civilization, with
the realization that tomorrow we'd have to be at work again.
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