Down Low on Windy Hill

 

Windy Hill Open Space Preserve

 

"I choose the road from here to there

When I’ve a scandalous tale to bear.

Tools to return or books to lend

To someone at the other end." – W.H. Auden, “Walks”

 

Directions: From Highway 280, exit at Alpine Road/Portola Valley. Go south on Alpine Road about 2.9 miles to Portola Road. Turn right on Portola Road, and drive one mile to the Windy Hill parking lot on the west side of the road. The lot is adjacent to and north of The Sequoias retirement community.

Grade: Easy, elevation gain of 300 feet.

Distance: 2.5 miles.

Time: One hour.

Special Conditions: Dogs allowed on leash. A restroom is available at the parking lot. The preserve is managed by Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (650-691-1200).

 

Open Space Web Site: www.openspace.org

 

            This walk is a combination of trails on the lower eastern side of Windy Hill. You will find good views across the valley to the east, wildflowers in the spring, good picnic sites, and a variety of grassy hillside and oak tree terrain.

            From the parking lot, walk a few hundred feet west to the first junction. Turn right, then left through a green livestock gate that is the start of the Betsy Crowder Trail. Continue through the grassy meadow, and go pass by a large eucalyptus tree that seems a bit out of place in this native environment. Below you will see glimpses of Sausal Pond surrounded by an area closed for resource protection. The pond fills in winter, dumping excess water down a concrete spillway and continuing as Sausal Creek.

The trail continues through an oak and madrone forest and then levels out as it crosses along the upper edge of a grassy hillside. Ahead is a bench in memory of Betsy Crowder—a fine place to stop for a picnic. There are good views across the valley and south to Coal Mine Ridge Reserve.

Beyond the hillside is a seasonal gate—hikers are always welcome, but horses are restricted in wet weather—and a short distance beyond is a “T” junction at the Spring Valley Trail. Turn right on this wide, fire road, and walk through three switchbacks and a pleasant evergreen forest area to the junction with Meadow Trail. Turn left on Meadow Trail, and start a gradual half-mile descent over grassy hillside and oak forest. Toward the end of Meadow Trail, you will cross a driveway to a private residence, and in a few feet another junction at Hamms Gulch Trail. Turn left and continue a few feet past the trail leading to Alpine Road. Walk another few feet to the next junction and turn left.

Once again, the trail is an old ranch road that, in a mile, takes you back to the parking lot. Along the way you will see a couple of sag ponds, an old chute used to load livestock and the back side of The Sequoias Retirement Village.

 

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