Beyond

Spring in the Santa Cruz Mountains brings a rebirth of native flowers in the grasslands and wooded hills. In some areas, wildflowers are blooming more profusely as a result of the Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space District’s resource conservation efforts, aimed to ensure long-term protection of natural and cultural resources on District preserves. Prescribed burns, like the one implemented at Russian …

Pulgas Ridge is a small park, part of the Mid-Peninsula Open Space District, off of I-280 near Edgewood Road, just north of Edgewood County Park. There are about 6 miles of trails in the park with some great climbs and descents with amazing peninsula views. Most trails are single-track with a few paved road sections. The weather is usually mild. …

Burleigh H. Murray Ranch is a valley ranch located in San Mateo County inland from Half Moon Bay. The ranch was established in 1857 and became a California state park in 1983. There is only one trail and it parallels the creek running from the parking lot at the West end of the park back up the valley that fills …

Forty minutes from Sunnyvale is the Sunol Wilderness. The Sunol Wilderness is one in a chain of regional widerness parks in southern Alameda County. This remote and beautiful land is the domain of abundant wildlife, including eagels, red-tailed hawks, turkey vultures, deer, coyote, bobcats, and mountain lions. The land is studded with oak and bay, carpeted with springtime wildflowers, and …

The Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve is known for its showy display of wildflowers in spring. In summer, the hills turn to gold with the late evening sunlight. Autumn, when the fog recedes, is the ideal time to enjoy the ridge views of San Francisco Bay, the Santa Cruz Mountains, and the Pacific Ocean through the crisp, clean air. Winter …

Calero County Park is a large park in southern Santa Clara County. It is in a string of parks and open-space-preserves that stretch for 50 miles from San Francisco down to Gilroy. The 4,000 acre park is in the eastern foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, and is comprised of the Pueblo lands of San Jose, the Rancho Canada de …

The Trail of the Ancient Oaks in the Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve is full of panoramic views; close-up wonders; and, of course, the magnificent canyon oaks.

For twenty-five years I drove every summer up to Seattle for a bicycle vacation. And every year I would pass the road signs to Oregon Gardens. This year I visited them. They are 20 miles off the interstate in the small town of Silverton. You travel on scenic country roads to get there. The Oregon Gardens is similar to Butchart …

Año Nuevo Point was named on January 3, 1603, over 400 years ago, by Father Antonio de la Ascension, chaplain for the Spanish maritime explorer Don Sebastian Vizcaíno. The Quiroste, a group of Ohlone Indians, lived here at least on a seasonal basis in order to hunt, fish, and gather abalone and other shellfish from the sea. The Quiroste were …

The Methuselah Tree. Over the years, I have bicycled and drove on Skyline Blvd a couple hundred times and I never saw this tree that is right off the road. It’s 14 feet in diameter, 44 feet in circumference, and 137 feet tall. It is 1800 years old.