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San Pedro Valley County Park - Near Pacifica, CA

March 8th, 2008

Park Fee: $5

Dogs allowed: No

Bikes: Apparently yes, but I didn’t see any.

Would I go back?: Absolutely.

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This has been my favorite hike so far in California. It’s located about 20 minutes south of San Francisco and the drive there is a bit windy. The drive also have views of the ocean, I didn’t drive there so I sat back and enjoyed the scenery.

We only had an hour or two to hike so we kept it brief but in that short time we were treated to (small) waterfall and a beautiful view of the pennisula and the Bay Bridge. I wish I would have had my camera to take pictures. I’m sure we’ll go back and I’ll take pictures next time.

When you start the hike there are several trails. We took the Brooke trail which heads up the mountain. This trail heads up the mountain and takes hikers to a waterfull view and the aforementioned city view. The trail starts out steep and if you’re out of shape like I am it’s a pretty good work out. Don’t worry though because the incline levels out and the hike becomes less intense. The water fall was rather unimpressive. In fact calling it a waterfall is a bit of a stretch, but it was fun to see none the less. You’ll encounter the “waterfall” about 20 minutes into your hike.

Continuing up the trail you come to a bench and the view of the Bay Bridge, San Francisco and South San Francisco.

The trails were easy to follow, but very narrow. The narrow trails weren’t a problem until you encounter hikers heading in the opposite direction. Passing each other on the trail was tricky in spots and made trickier by the poison oak that you don’t want to mess with on the edge of the trail.

We did see some wildlife including soaring hawks and a tiny snake on the way down. And there were some flowers in bloom. I’m not a flower guy so I can’t tell you what they were. There is a ranger station when you pull in that has information on the flora and fauna that you will encounter. The trees are huge and for a guy from Arizona it was pretty impressive.

All in all this was a great hike. Reasonably easy to get, good scenery, not a lot of people and where else can you entertain a group of people for an entire afternoon on a $5 budget.

Entry Filed under: Random Stuff