Pleasant walk through green rolling hills with panoramic valley views.

Location: Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve

» Official Trail Map: Good quality map showing various trails.

» South Skyline Regional Map by MROSD: Awesome map showing many parks managed by MROSD (Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space Destrict). Long, interesting routes going through multiple parks can be chalked out using this map.

» Redwoodhikes Trail Map: Great map showing many parks like Purisima Creek, Huddart, Wunderlich, El Corte De Madera, Foothills, Hidden Villa and Rancho San Antonio. Trail maps for individual parks are available online for free. However, the RedwoodHikes map shows the big picture and is helpful for planning hikes that go through multiple parks.

Route in brief: Ipiwa Trail (Bay Area Ridge Trail) (1.5 miles) to reach a second parking lot on Highway 35 (see trail map). Return by Sunny Jim Trail (1.6 miles) to Alpine Pond. Finally, follow Old Page Mill Trail (1.7 miles) to reach a creek. Return by same trail (1.7 miles) to Alpine Pond.

Notes: Old Page Mill Trail continues beyond the creek (not shown on trail map). We did not follow it further.

Location: Intersection of Page Mill Road and Alpine Road, La Honda, CA 94020 . Parking area is visible in Google Maps if you zoom in sufficiently.

Directions: From Interstate 280, exit on Page Mill Road. Drive west on Page Mill about 8–9 miles until it hits Skyline Blvd (also known as Highway 35). Russian Ridge and Skyline Ridge are both at the intersection of Page mill and Skyline Blvd (Highway 35). Hikes to both parks start from the same parking lot.

Google Maps:

Parking Fees: None (last visited: April 2010)

Capacity: About 20 cars may be parked in the parking lot.

Latitude: 37.314817     Longitude: -122.187109