Russian Ridge

At Jen's party yesterday someone said something nice (which I didn't quite entirely catch, but I think I got the gist of) about my Pictures of Apple entry from last year (which gets a lot of hits from people entering "Pictures of Apple Trees" into search engines), being a nice photojournalistic entry, so in the tradition of that and my San Francisco Zoo entry, here are some photos of the Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve.

Russian Ridge is up in the Santa Cruz hills; you have to drive about 7 miles up the windy road that is Page Mill Road to get to it, and it takes about 30 minutes. Not for people prone to carsickness! It's part of a larger open space preserve, and includes part of the Bay Area Ridge Trail, which is a trail which circumnavigates the mountains which surround the Bay Area. I don't think the entire trail is finished yet, but an awful lot of it exists already.

Most of the preserve is grassland, with some forested areas. Since it's up in the hills, if you go early enough in the year you'll see a number of streams flowing down the slopes, as I did today. You'll also see a variety of trees, get some nice views of the surrounding region, and see signs warning you to beware of mountain lions. (I haven't yet seen one, much less bewared of one.) The main fauna you will see are birds, beetles, and small lizards.

It was warm again today, probably over 80 degrees. I parked in the middle of the preserve, which is right at the intersection of Page Mill and Skyline. Parking was filling up quickly, which is deceptive since the region is so large you can walk for some time and only see other people at a distance, if you choose the right trails.

A woman who apparently worked in the region was biking up the same hill that I started climbing, and I was pretty easily keeping ahead of her. Never underestimate the power of leverage!

Here are some of the things I saw. Click on an image to see a larger copy:

	Some trees along the "Ancient Oaks Trail" (120k). My digital camera doesn't provide the greatest resolution for distance shots; probably just a limit of its technology. The trees along here are strange-looking, with the leaves in little tufts at the end of a branch, and bright green with interesting shading. I have no idea what they are; they certainly aren't oaks.
	A shot of the landscape to the northwest of the mountains (52k). It was a hazy day, additionally reducing the quality of the distance shots. You can just see the Pacific Ocean in the distance.
	Three shots of Silicon Valley to the east of the hills (48k, 32k, and 48k). The first shot is to the northeast, and I think covers Redwood City and points north. The second shows Palo Alto and Mountain View. You can see Stanford University in the form of the reddish buildings with the tower right in the center of the picture. Mountain View is to the right. The third photo is the north end of the Valley proper, including Sunnyvale. The big white blotch to the right of center is the big hanger at Moffett Field, which I think is the largest hanger in the world. It's really quite huge, easily seen if you drive along Highway 101.
	Another shot of the hanger, from Borel Hill (52k). Whew, glad I didn't walk the whole way up here!
	Lots of yellow flowers (100k). Yes, it's the flowering season.
	Pretty but less common orange flowers (120k).
	Lovely purple flowers, with rare white flowers at the front (144k). Sure is pretty out there, huh?
	Two shots of Alpine Pond (116k and 96k). At the end of my hike I stopped here and read for a while. The lake is pretty, but quiet. There's a nice nature center right on the lake which I was too pooped to thoroughly examine. Next time!

Total hiking distance on the day: A little over 3 miles. Took me a bit over an hour and a half, but I admittedly took my time.

I was actually listening to an Oakland Athletics spring training game on my walkman while I was hiking, and I noticed that the camera interfered with reception of the signal on the radio, so I wonder if some of the sharpness problems in the pictures above are the result of interference from the radio? I dunno.

It was nice to get out for an afternoon like this. The hiking is really one of the best things about the Bay Area, and I need to make sure to take advantage of it this summer.

Afterwards I dropped by Lucy's and gave her some books I was planning to sell which she was interested in. Actually, she wouldn't let me just give them to her, she wanted to pay me, so I came up with a number that seemed reasonable, though I didn't really care. Anyway, she also invited me for dinner, which she was just started to cook. Nice! She told me about being freaked out about packing, but seemed fairly calm on this evening, at least. I didn't hang around too long but left her and John to their packing.

By the way, the book I finished reading on my hike was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second volume of the series of childrens books. It is not as good as the first one, mainly because I found the portrayal of the adults to be a bit too ridiculous. But it's still enjoyable. (My Mom says she thinks it has a little too much bathroom humor, too, which I agree with, but probably wouldn't have thought about it too much if she hadn't mentioned it. She says she likes the third book more.)