WEEKLY

WALKER

By Tom Davids

A Walk On The Cool Side

Lower Crystal Springs Trail: Huddart County Park

Directions: West on Edgewood Road to Canada Road, then south to Runnymeade. Take Runnymeade to Raymundo Road and continue 1.2 miles to end. (30 minutes driving time from San Carlos, 8 miles from El Camino Real.)

Grade: Easy, 200-foot elevation.

Distance: Two miles.

Time: One hour.

This hike starts at the end of Raymundo Road and descends on a series of short switchbacks for .3 miles to West Union Creek. Cross on the footbridge and turn to the right. You will be walking on a service road that parallels West Union Creek for about a mile. West Union is a seasonal creek that will be dry until the first rains of winter. Come back in the spring, especially after a good rainstorm, to enjoy quite a different stream.

Lower Crystal Springs Trail is a fine hike for young and old alike. The trail serves as a service road, so it is hard-packed and level. It is wide enough for side-by-side conversation, but seems narrow as it winds through a corridor of stately redwood trees. The trees provide a shady canopy with shafts of sunlight pouring through. Summer heat and daily cares soon disappear as you meander through the redwoods. Watch for sword fern and redwood sorrel, which give ground cover to large banana slugs slowly making their way to some unknown destinations. Take a few hours and get reacquainted with the magnificent redwood forest. Take a friend along; it's a walk worth sharing.

If you want to extend your hike, continue up Crystal Springs Trail at its junction with Richards Road Trail. Crystal Springs Trail is beautifully graded with a series of switchbacks leading to Skyline Trail in four miles. A number of interesting trails (Dean, Canyon, and a service road to the Trail Camp) bring you back to the Zwierlein Picnic Area.) All trail junctions are well marked with mileage distances posted. The trails are wide and well maintained.