The Oracle of Apollo Snippets from the life of Apollo Lee

Sanborn-Skyline County Park

Today, Oz and I went for another hike. At first, we were going to head over to Fremont Older Open Space Preserve, but all the trails there are paved and full of mountain bikes. So, after cruising around Stevens Creek Reservoir, we ended up at Sanborn-Skyline County Park.

First of all, this park has an entrance fee of $6. Apparently, so many throngs of tourists and picnic people wander through that such a cover charge is warranted. True to form, we ran into a large group of tourists chattering in some other language near the rest rooms next to my car — outfitted completely in the cheapest Target garbage nickels could buy. After consulting with the map, we raced up the mountain to get away from all the people.

Sanborn Trail winds toward Skyline and threatens in a couple of places, but never quite delivers, a jaw-dropping view of the Silicon Valley. The redwood forest, all orange and brown with the fall colors, was the same as we saw recently at Purisima Creek Redwoods, Big Basin Redwoods, and Castle Rock (which lies about 3 miles away from the top of our trail). The climb was steep and fun and the descent on San Andreas Trail windy and gradual, with no vistas to speak of. I liked the hike much more than Oz did, but now that I’ve come to this park, I don’t have to come back. There’s just not enough interesting scenery here to warrant the large parking lot fee.

My results: 2:26:27 (56:24 basic zone); HR: 114 avg, 159 max; 1088 cal
Distance: 4.73 miles. Elevation start: 1325 ft. Elevation max: 2525 ft.

Fremont Older is lovely, and just up the street from my old house. I used to go up there all the time. The main trail leading to the other trails is indeed paved, but that’s the only one. It gets busy with neighborhood people walking their dogs, and cyclists who sometimes go at break-neck speeds, but I’ve also been there when it’s quiet and lovely. If you go the day after a rain, you can see all the way to SF at some points, and it’s a lovely view over San Jose. You should give it another chance.

I will definitely give it another shot. I was just far too grumpy to deal with lame mountain bike riders on Sunday.

But, mountain bikers are so much more interesting than tourists in Chinatown shoes.

Thanks for the tip, Mace.