WEEKLY

WALKER

By Tom Davids

Thanksgiving Feast on the Ridge

Ridge Trail - Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve

"For me there is only traveling on paths that have heart."

-Ted Norton's Rock

Directions: Take Highway 92 west to Skyline Boulevard, then go 16.8 miles south to the intersection with Rapley Ranch Road. Park on the west side of Skyline north of Rapley Ranch Road.

Grade: Moderate.

Distance: Three miles round trip.

Time: Two hours including a picnic stop.

Special Conditions: No drinking water or toilet facilities at trailhead. The trail is marked, but maps may not be available. No dogs. The trail is quite new and not well traveled. Weed encroachment tends to narrow trail width. No poison oak on trail. Dress for wind and late afternoon fog. Watch for ticks. Preserve is managed by Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. (650-691-1200.)

This is a short hike (one-hour round trip) ending at a great place for a Thanksgiving picnic. Along the way you can view and reflect on two pieces of environmental art, and at the end is a large wooden platform, the ideal spot for a trail snack or a more elaborate late afternoon picnic.

This hike is in the north portion of the 1,580-acre Russian Ridge Preserve, part of the Midpeninsula Open Space District and named for a Russian immigrant who lived on the east side of the ridge from the early 1920s to about 1950. Another link with Russian culture and tradition was a Russian Orthodox convent that operated on the property for a short time. During earlier history, James Rolph Jr., who served as mayor of San Francisco before becoming governor of California in 1930, owned the property. He died in office in 1934. The highest part of this preserve is 2,572--foot Borel Hill, located a couple miles south of our destination. This hill was named for Antoine Borel, a former owner of the property and a San Francisco banker.

Our hike starts at the Skyline Boulevard/Rapley Ranch intersection, 16.8 miles south of Highway 92, or 4.4 miles south of Highway 84--La Honda Road. This intersection is also marked by a sign to the Yerba Buena Nursery, specializing in native California plants and ferns, and a sign to the Langley Hill Quarry. The Thomas Fogarty Winery is on the east side of Skyline a short distance north.

Proceed down Rapley Ranch Road a short distance to the first intersecting road on your left. The gate marked RR07 is usually closed, but you can walk around the gatepost, and then you will see the small metal Russian Ridge Preserve sign listing the rules of use. On your right is an old barn in an advanced state of decay and posted "Keep Out." Adjacent to the barn is a newly built storage area for equipment and old farm implements, presumably used on the property many years ago.

Continue past the barn a few hundred feet, and watch for a wooden sign marked "Ridge Trail" on your right. Take this trail, which quickly drops below road level and into a cool and refreshing grove of bay and oak trees. Passing through this shady ravine, the trail contours along the face of a grassy hill toward a line of electric transmission towers. In the near distance you will see a geodesic shaped house with a windmill beyond. Two homes on private property are at the top of the hill along the ridgeline.

The grass along this stretch is shoulder high in the spring, but is now dry, brown and mostly flat. On the uphill side of the trail are clumps of bracken fern, one fern type that grows on open, dry slopes.

Watch for the trail to switchback. As you make the turn, notice a large rock off the trail: Near by is a monument to "Ted Norton's Rock." The rock was placed by Sam Richardson, artist, in memory of Edward Polka Norton, 1959-1984, with the inscription, "For me there is only traveling on paths that have heart." My wife commented that the rock has a heart-like shape when viewed from various angles.

A short distance farther is another art form: four platforms with alternating dark and light tile fronts with four vertical poles lined up to some distant point. It looks like an unfinished structure, but I have a hunch that this is the final product.

Continuing on, the trail crosses an asphalt road that serves private property downhill and then climbs up the hillside through stone outcroppings etched with lichen and crosses another old ranch road, disappearing along the ridgeline into an oak forest.

In just a few minutes you will see the wooden platform on your right--the destination for a Thanksgiving picnic. The views from the platform to the west and north are great. Views to the east into Silicon Valley are filtered through the oak forest. On the late afternoon we arrived, the fog was starting to roll in, but the air was warm, the sky above was blue, and the breeze was mild. The bench seating is perfect, and a built-in corner table is just right for a small feast--consider a nice chardonnay, and maybe pita bread filled with turkey and cranberry salad.

Make this a memorable feast--a Thanksgiving you'll never forget.

Your comments and hiking suggestions are always welcome. Fax to the Independent at (650) 692-7587 or e-mail to: trekertom@aol.com. Check out our Web site at www weeklywalker.com