This was a spring return visit to Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve. The last time that I visited, my GPS routed me to the wrong entrance point of the park; this time my husband and I did manage to find the correct entrance, where there is ample parking for this extremely popular park (Take the Foothill Boulevard exit from I-280 and proceed south on Foothill Boulevard approximately 0.2-mile to Cristo Rey Drive, then follow the signs). We went on one of the first fine weekend days in spring, and there was a pretty big rush of people there; however, it was mostly families with young children who were walking to the historic Deer Hollow Farm to see the newborn goat kids. It was very sweet to see both the cute goat kids and the adorable human kids having so much fun. So while it was not a hike filled with natural wonder and solitude, it was still a very enjoyable hike to celebrate the arrival of spring! This is a great, flat hike for families with young children, but adult hikers can also push beyond the crowd at Deer Hollow Farm to explore deeper into the park. Last time I visited, I made the 4-mile Wildcat Loop; this time we just hiked up the Rogue Valley Trail until we got tired. I am actually 7 months pregnant right now, so we didn't make it as far as I would have liked, only about 3 miles total on our in-and-out trail. However, it was really nice to hike in the flat valley next to the creek without having to haul a big pregnant belly uphill. We did see lots of wildflowers, including some pretty spectacular Cow's Parsnip (Heracleum lanatum), a flower in the carrot family that grows to be 8 ft tall!
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