Sanborn County Park (Skyline Trail) 2015-08-18

Sanborn County Park is located in the city of Saratoga. Apollo and I hiked the Skyline Trail that runs by the Skyline Blvd. I'd parked at the Indian Rock entrance that is directly across Castle Rock State Park on Hwy 35 / Skyline Blvd 2.5 miles south of its junction with Hwy 9 from Saratoga.

Right at this entrance, there is a short loop around various rock formations in Indian Rock area. Set amidst coast redwood, madrone and oak, the unusual rock formations were quite something. Sometimes, the rocks and trees were so close to each other that it would seem like the trees and rocks were fused together! You will find one such unusual rock/tree near the Indian Rock entrance. 

Apollo was eager to check out as many of them as possible, showing no hesitation if I encouraged him to climb some rocks that were easy and safe. 

We took the Skyline Trail, traveling south. The trail is set on a ridge, is fairly level with occasional gentle grade. The trail winds parallel to Skyline Blvd and has more access points from Skyline Blvd. It was a warm summer day; yet, the trail was completely shaded making it an easy morning hike. 

We walked until the Sanborn trail junction, nearly 2 miles from where we started and turned around. The sign said dogs are not allowed in Sanborn trail. Given how warm it was going to get, I decided not to go into the newly opened John Nicholas trail today. Instead, I decided to go north of the where we started to check out Summit rock. 

We made our way back to the entrance and continued north on Skyline Trail. Unfortunately, dogs are not allowed on the Summit loop trail; nor are they allowed 1/2 a mile north of the Indian Rock entrance. We had to turn around and make our way to the trail head. 

Still, this was a respectable 5 mile hike which we completed in about 100 minutes. Sanborn park has several more miles of trails, and I intend to check out more of it over time. And the next time, I will definitely have a bug repellent - this hike takes the honors for "bugging" me the most!

More pictures from our hike today.
#Hiking #HikingWithDogs #SanbornCountyPark #SanbornPark #SkylineTrail #IndianRock