Coal Creek Open Space Preserve 2015-06-27

Coal Creek is the sixth Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (MROSD) preserve we've hiked, the other five being Pulgas Ridge, Windy Hill, Fremont Older, St. Joseph's Hill and Sierra Azul. A compact preserve offering about 5 miles of trails, Coal Creek Open Preserve is located off Skyline Blvd, about a mile north of the Skyline Blvd & Page Mill Rd. 

Skyline Blvd entrance

It is very easy to miss the preserve entrance! My recommendation is to park in the vista point parking lot and start your hike from Cloud's Rest Trail. We parked a little ahead, close to 20000 Skyline Blvd, near Crazy Pete's Rd. 

Crazy Pete's Rd trail

Passing by a handful of private residences, about a half mile walk by Crazy Pete's Rd will get you to Gate CC05 and into the preserve. We continued straight ahead on the trail until we reached Alpine Rd. The nearly one-mile stretch single-track trail to Alpine Rd is through a heavily wooded area that offers plenty of shade.

Alpine Rd - Mtn bike hwy!

Alpine Rd is right at the boundary of the preserve - and it felt very much like a mountain bike highway! We had several bikers cross us in both directions in this narrow dirt road through the hills. 

We turned right onto Meadow Trail after about three-fourths of a mile on Alpine Rd. As with all other trails in this preserve, this is also a narrow dirt trail through the woods for a while before it opened up for some great views towards the west. Meadow Trail meets Cloud's Rest Trail. Turning left would have taken us to Skyline Blvd near the vista point parking lot. We turned right to Alpine Rd and retraced a small portion of our walk earlier.

On the return, we took the slightly longer Coal Road to the entrance at gate CC05. On this stretch, I got to meet a ranger and engage in a great conversation about the preserves, specifically their policy around dog friendliness while my daughter, Sanjana, attended to Apollo. Another half mile walk by Crazy Pete's Rd got us back to Skyline Rd where we'd parked the car.

The 5 mile hike through the preserve took us nearly an hour and forty five minutes involving a couple of descents and climbs. It isn't too strenuous, with probably about 900 feet of gentle climbing overall.

More pictures from our hike today.
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