It’s Saturday morning and the sun is shining. Your thinking about taking a day hike, but your excitement starts waning as each hike you consider is met with “been there-done that.” Where can I go that I haven’t been before? Not just someplace new, but something with a little spectator value.
On a Saturday morning in early December, looking for something new, I rode out to Santa Clara County Open Space Authority’s Rancho Canˇada Del Oro Open Space Preserve with low expectations and returned dazzled.
The Santa Clara County Open Space Authority was formed in 1993 to protect special landscapes in our county much as the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District does further north. Rancho Canˇada Del Oro is the Authority’s first preserve, covering 3,882-acres adjacent to the south side of Calero County Park.
The preserve’s staging area is at the end of the public access portion of Casa Loma Road where Llagas Creek has carved a wide bright opening in the surrounding hills. It was magnificent this day – the streaking autumn sunlight brightened the newly greening hills and the yellow leaves still clinging to the large Sycamores along the creek. Best of all, no one else was there. My own private piece of the Coast Range. Perfect.
The Mayfair Ranch Trail climbs comfortably up the first of two ridges that comprise the preserve. Coe State Park boasts massive Manzanita “bushes,” but I have never seen any there larger than the 20-foot high specimens, beautifully in bloom, that I passed on this climb.
Once on top, the trail rolls comfortably along the crest of the ridge through open grasslands and large valley oaks that have yielded to the prevailing winds in the most elegant and artistic ways. To the south, green oak-dotted hills rise beyond Llagas Creek looking like some pastoral paradise. To my right the ridge slopes down to Baldy Ryan Creek that separates me from the Bald Peaks area where the day’s walk will take me.
The trail drops down to Baldy Ryan Creek where you have the option to turn right and follow the creek for a mile or so back to the car (4.3 mile loop in all), or turn left and summon your strength for the steeper climb up to Bald Peaks. The climb up this south-facing slope twists through changing habitats – tangled chaparral, open oak woodlands and darker forests of oak and laurel.
After a couple miles, I emerged from the forest and topped out at Bald Peaks. As their name implies these hills are a series of grass-covered knobs from which the world drops away offering vast jaw-dropping views. One thousand feet beneath my feet was Calero Reservoir; beyond that the high-rises of San Jose and the full sweep of the south bay. In the distance I could see Mt. Tam in Marin County, the skyline of San Francisco and Hoover Tower at Stanford to name a few. The impressive sweep included Loma Prieta on my left; Mt. Hamilton straight ahead; to the right the Hollister Hills. This viewpoint is world class – a perfect lunch spot.
Heading back, I dropped down Catamount Trail to the creek and followed it back to the staging area – about 8.5 miles in all. I was delighted to find such an ideal walk in a newfound place with all the attractions a day hiker could ask for; sweeping views and a variety of great landscapes just moments from home. Very sweet.
To learn more about the Santa Clara Open Space Authority and Rancho Canˇada Del Oro go to www.openspaceauthori-ty.org. Directions and a trail map are available there. Bring water because none is available at the preserve.
This will be a great springtime walk when the wildflowers are cooking, the creek is roaring and the view from Bald Peaks reveals all. See you there.
