Rancho Corral de Tierra 2015-08-27

The newest addition to Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA), Rancho Corral de Tierra in Half Moon Bay offers panoramic views of the coast, mountains and miles of hiking trails. This nearly 4,000 acre property transferred from Peninsula Open Space Trust into GGNRA recently and is maintained by multiple agencies, including National Park Service. 

The fact that it is in early stages of development means not all trails are named. I also didn't find a map of the park when I visited today. I believe one of the best places to start exploring Rancho is from the trailheads located at the end of Coral Reef Ave in Half Moon Bay (off Hwy 1, about 4 miles north of Hwy 92).

There are two trail heads at Coral Reef Ave. We took the one of the left. The single track dirt trail looked easy enough at the start, for the first 1/2 mile or so as it made its way through a wooded area. The trail offered couple of choices along the way; we kept left, making our way to the mountains ahead of us. 

Some of the segments were dead ends - I presume these are trail segments in development. However, it was quite easy to make our way back to the main trail in the foothills section of the park.

After 1/2 a mile, the trail starts ascending up the mountains. I could clearly see the Pillar Point Bluff that we hiked earlier this month as well as Sweeney Ridge that we hiked from Shelldance Orchid Gardens staging area last month. And much like the Sweeney Ridge hike, this one is on the same mountain range with similar characteristics - steady climb up the multiple hills with short stretches of walk on ridge tops. 

Over the next mile and a quarter, we ascended nearly 800 feet. And along the way, had some awesome views of the HMB beach, Pillar Point Bluff and Mavericks beach, HMB airport and the various trails in Sweeney Ridge park. Not having a good map was a handicap, especially on a first visit to a location. 

Faced with a choice of continuing ahead in the hope of completing a loop or returning, we decided to do the latter. We had a late start today and it was a hot day. Apollo clearly indicated that he wanted to hang out more in the shade rather than trudge along when the mercury was beginning to hit mid 70s. 

If you read the map carefully, what Apollo, my daughter Sanjana and I did today was start off in San Carlos trail, head left, connect to French trail and turned around about 1/4 ~ 1/2 mile shy of Clipper Ridge trail. Our 3.5 mile hike involving an ascend of 800 feet took us about 80 minutes. 

More pictures from our hike today.
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