Locomotoring

We had intended to hike the Alambique trail, but Wunderlich parking lot was full. So, we decided to hike the Skyline ridge and Alambique loop starting at the lower end of Skyline trail at the intersection of Ranch/Stadler Roads. The trailhead is in a residential area outside the boundaries of the park, so there was no formal parking lot, nor crowd. The first intersection is the crossroads from where we walked the skyline trail service road to the trailhead intersection on Highway 35 and then walked back on Alambique. It was about 5 miles with a gentle grade, perhaps 200-300 ft of climb.

The entire five miles is almost entirely shaded, and occasionally, the clearings through trees offer views of the Bay. The skyline portion of the trail has the aroma of bay leaves. Alambique nearer the skyline intersection catches fog drip and presents an understory of ferns. These portions of Skyline ridge and Alambique trails are service roads and therefore, wide and easy to walk on. A few sections on skyline offer hairpin switchbacks and steep mountain sides, adding to the visual interest. While there was a big crowd at the base of the park, the trails here were quiet. We came across no more than half a dozen hikers along the way. You do hear the traffic noise from Highway 35 from time to time.

Starting from Sunnyvale Mountain trailhead, this portion of Skyline trail goes to Indian Rock trail and back. Estimated length is approximately 6 miles. For most of the hike, the trail hugs Highway 35 but it wasn’t particularly noisy this particular weekend. We had just come off a major heat wave during the Labor Day weekend. The trail is almost entirely shaded and this particular day, it was rather windy. The treetops danced around creating a gush of sound, but the forest floor was not windy. The trail is mostly packed dirt but stretches of it are quite rocky. One does need to share the trail with bikers. The short Indian Rock trail portion is totally worth it and yes, it is an excellent spot to picnic while watching climbers. On our way back, heavy fog rolled in and we enjoyed the occasional fog drip, after the heat wave, it felt particularly soothing.