 Wild Cucumber at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve is a field station for environmental research and it's part of Stanford University. It's not widely open to the public, but you can make a reservation for a docent-led tour. Because the docent will want to stop to talk about all the flora and fauna of the preserve, you won't be hiking for a long distance; however, you will learn a lot about what you're seeing. For example, our outstanding docent, Debi, led us on a hike around the Searsville Reservoir. The distance we walked was only 1.3 miles; however, the tour lasted 3 hours because she showed us so many cool plants, flowers, butterflies, and birds and she answered all our questions. It was really cool to have an expert there to tell us what we were seeing!
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 This 14-16 mile hike (one way) passed from Pogonip Park (map) in Santa Cruz, through UC Santa Cruz and possibly parts of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, into Wilder Ranch State Park through to the sea. It was a beautiful hike that went through chaparral, riparian, dense redwood, and open grassy hills that winded down to the Pacific.
 The last time I went to Pinnacles National Park, it was in January earlier this year. For my return trip I tried a different hike, and I was rewarded with a spectacular display of wildflowers. This 5.3-mile "lollipop" hike (taking Old Pinnacles Trail out and back and then making a small loop with the Balconies Cave Trail and the Balconies Cliff Trail) is mostly flat out along the West Fork of the Chalone Creek. Here, I saw lots and lots of clarkia, yarrow, and bush poppies. In Balconies Cave, you must have a flashlight to navigate through the dark talus cave, and you get to scramble over the rocks (which is really, really fun!). Up along the Balconies Cliff Trail, you get to see spectacular views of both Machete Ridge and the Balconies Cliffs. While I was there today, I saw mariposa lilies, clarkia, and more. It was so beautiful!
 This was a return visit to Monte Bello Open Space Preserve, which I visited last in January. I took a 6-mile variation of the same hike, although I by-passed the Stevens Creek Nature Trail in order to cut out some of the down hill portion of the hike. It was the same distance, but taking the Canyon Trail all the way back was a little easier on my knees. Spring is an excellent time to visit Monte Bello because the wildflowers are spectacular! I also loved seeing the hills with the lush, green grass. It won't be long until the grass turns to the golden brown that we get in the summer.
 This trail is named after a radiotelescope that is still in use for research at Stanford University. The land around the telescope offers beautiful views of the hills all around, with the Santa Cruz mountains to the west and the Diablo mountains across the bay to the east. This 4-mile hike is free to the public. Check Stanford's website for times when the trail is open. There is almost no shade on this hike, so make sure you wear sunscreen and/or a hat and bring lots of water. There is one water fountain, but you will find yourself wanting more than that when you are climbing up the gentle, rolling hills!
 The last time that I took this 4-mile hike was in the summer. I went back to Memorial Park in Loma Mar today to see if there would be an abundance of spring wildflowers, and it did not disappoint. It's been a fairly wet spring, and the dew on all the flowers just made everything really beautiful. This just transformed the hike into a totally new experience compared to what I had last summer.
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