03/14/15: Windy Hill

we spent the whole way up trying to figure out if it was win-dy or wine-dy. there were a ton of switchbacks on the way up and no breeze at all so i was leaning towards wine-dy but when we got to the top, it was definitely win-dy.

why did we start the hike at 2pm, the hottest time of the day?!?!

hike description

http://www.bahiker.com/southbayhikes/whsrhg.html

route

it's a loop

-> spring ridge trail
-> hamms gulch loop
-> lost trail
-> anniversary trail
-> spring ridge trail
-> betsy crowder trail

elevation and distance

start = 565 ft; max = 1891 ft; gain = 1464 ft  

the hike was about 7.4 miles and may ended the hike early by accident so the elevation drops more at the end. it took us just a little under four hours.

our experience

there were a ton of different wildflowers on the hike and also poison oak! i think that's why this trail only allows dogs on leash only. also saw lots of bikers.

poison oak! three leaves together and they look like pillowy clouds

haha i thought i saw some marijuana plants but they were pretty close to the trail so probably not? though this sign shows that it's obviously a problem

yeeeeeeaaaaaah, starting the hike at 2 pm during the hottest time of the day on like the hottest day of march since the bay area started keeping track was a bad idea. at least the way we went up was mostly covered? but still dying the whole way

creek, where it was a little cooler

we passed a ton of entrances into the preserve along the way, which was nice b/c there was a bathroom where we started and another one near the top! and that means lots of options for starting points if you want to do something a little different.

someone we passed said they had seen a rattlesnake which totally freaked us out. not really sure what you're supposed to do if you see one but i figured we would just slowly back away and then walk the way we came. luckily we didn't see one but we did see this guy! may stepped over it and didn't even notice! wasn't able to get a clearer picture before it slithered off the trail.

little snake we saw. no idea what kind

i also saw this guy and screamed when i saw it b/c i thought it was a snake. may got excited but was disappointed that it was only a lizard.

benches! we sat here to enjoy the view and to eat our snack

we didn't see signs for the actual hill but luckily we doubled back in time? there was another side trail that we missed. i think the one we took (circled in red below) is actually windy hill, since it seemed higher up than the other one.

from here: http://www.openspace.org/preserves/maps/pr_windy_hill.pdf

the view of the other hill

the view of highway 35

picture at the top!

no panorama of the view this time since my phone kept crapping out while it was trying to save it and we forgot to charge the battery for the real camera.

pretty flowers!

i loved this one in the middle of the trail

this one had interesting leaves and we liked the color of the flowers