Peninsula Bike Rides - In 2001,
we went "bike crazy" and put a few thousand miles on our new bikes.
The SF Peninsula is a road biker's mecca, with thousands of miles of
bike-friendly roads. You've got speed runs, classic hill climbs, and
to top it off, almost always great views and weather.
Castle Rock SP Rock Climbing -
Most weekends in the summer of 2002, we headed up from Saratoga to
escape the valley heat in Castle Rock State Park, 3000 feet above
sea level. While it isn't Yosemite, CRSP offers a wide variety of
interesting sport climbs on decent sandstone.
Purisma Creek Redwoods Open Space -
Thanks to some county agencies, well-funded by Silicon Valley's
wealth, a majority of the high terrain along the crest of the
Coast Range in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties is publicly
accessible. This place doesn't have old-growth Redwood trees,
but after 100+ years of growth, the replanted trees have gotten
quite large.
Rancho San Antonio Open Space -
This is an interesting fall-spring area near Cupertino, CA. It is
popular for hiking and trail running and boasts surprisingly diverse
populations of flora and fauna.
Sweeney Ridge -
When we lived in San Bruno, CA, Sweeney Ridge was my favorite quick
escape from the city. With a short drive and a little effort, you
can hike to a place with great views of San Francisco Bay, as well
as the Pacific coast. Often, if it doesn't envelop the 1200-foot-high
ridge, the afternoon fog puts on a spectacular show.
Windy Hill Open Space Preserve -
This interesting parcel of land is probably the closest open space
preserve to Stanford. From the parking area in the town of Portola
Valley, you can climb 1300 feet up a few strikingly different trails.
We included Windy Hill in some of our long runs when we were training
for the 2002 Big Sur International Marathon.
...And some other stuff below...
Click on small images to start "slide show"
black_mtn.jpg (186 KB) Looking south, down the San An...
coyote_pt.jpg (104 KB) Looking directly into the sun,...