I am kicking myself that I never discovered Baylands Nature Preserve back when we lived in Palo Alto (map here). This park used to be so close to where we lived, but we never noticed it because it is not labeled as a green space on Google Maps. Alas!
0 Comments
Redwood Regional Park is both a great place to bring young children and a welcome (and rare) redwood preserve in the East Bay. There are lots of great places to see redwoods in the far north-western portion of the state, all over Santa Cruz, and on the peninsula, but it's harder to find these beautiful trees in the warmer climates of the East Bay. I've been missing the redwoods since we moved to Livermore, and I am so glad to find this park, which is only about half an hour's drive from me.
Ardenwood Historic Farm in Freemont continues to be an amazing place to bring kids of all ages. The last time we went (in winter) we feed the sheep, and this time (in spring) we feed the goats and even saw more animals. I am sure that we will be back again once the train starts running in April, so that we can have even more adventures!
I visited Vargas Plateau earlier this month for the first time ever, and it's amazing how much of a difference a couple of weeks can make. It really felt like late winter then, but only a short while later and spring had definitely sprung. There was a gorgeous profusion of poppies blooming all up and down the hillside near the entrance gate. It is not quite like the super bloom happening now in southern California, but it is pretty spectacular nonetheless!
I am featuring a guest photographer for this blog post: my brother, Will, who joined me on my hike at Almaden Quicksilver County Park in Santa Clara County south of downtown San Jose. Click "read more" to see his photos!
The 3.75-mile "lollipop" trail that I took this afternoon at Vargas Plateau Regional Park offered gorgeous views of both San Francisco Bay and Niles Canyon. I think that spring might be a better time to go than late winter--although the hills were a stunning emerald green, I can tell that this park will be even prettier when the wildflowers really get going, and it will definitely be easier to walk when the mud dries out a little. I was very glad to have worn my impermeable rain boots!
Ardenwood Historic Farm is an amazing park run by the East Bay Regional Park District in Fremont. It is a great place to visit with your kids, especially if you time your visit to coincide with one of their educational activities. We were able to learn about wool and to feed some of their sheep in addition to walking around the farm to enjoy the cows, chickens, goats, and bunnies. I definitely think that we will be back here when the weather warm up a bit.
Mount Umunhum is part of the Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve, run by Midpen. This part of the park was opened to the public in September of 2017 after a long period of restoration; it had been closed to the public since the 1950s when it was used as an air force station and radar surveillance post. There are lots of trails of various levels of difficulty, but I had my baby with me in a stroller when I went, so I drove to the summit and just did the ADA accessible trail around the summit. It was really cool to be so high up (3,486 feet), because the ecosystems up there are just different from the lower elevations. This makes it "an island in the sky."
Sanborn County Park is near the charming town of Saratoga, off of Highway 9 (the road to Big Basin). It may be the quickest way for the majority of Silicon Valley residents to get to the redwoods; however, its location on Highway 9 probably means that many people are planning to bypass it for the famous state park. The park today was really quiet except for a group of very happy school children enjoying summer camp at the Youth Science Institute.
Sierra Azul is the largest preserve in the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (MROSD). Here is the blurb on the park from their website:
Just south of the Town of Los Gatos, on the east side of the Lexington Reservoir, sits Sierra Azul, the District's southernmost open space preserve. Translated Sierra Azul means "Blue Range." Encompassing more than 18,000 acres, this is the District's largest Preserve. Sierra Azul Preserve is a true wilderness area, yet surprisingly close to the urban areas of the South Bay, making it a popular destination. Because of its size, Sierra Azul is divided into four areas: Kennedy-Limekiln, Mount Umunhum, Cathedral Oaks, and Rancho do Guadalupe. Today, I visited the Kennedy-Limekiln area for the first time. I took a loop that is just over 5 miles, and I was treated to a bay laurel forest, a mixed forest of oak and madrone, a chaparral ecosystem with manzanita and chamise (and 360-degree views of mountains), eucalyptus trees, and views of the Lexington Reservoir. |
Archives
December 2020
Categories
All
|