Hike at Rancho San Antonio -Los Altos
Set off to get to the park at 6 in the morning and then realizing that we had no energy bars left. After a hasty little detour to a 24 hours Safeway, we were back on our way to Los Altos. Having reached the park by 6:30AM, I somehow unnecessarily parked about a mile away from the trail head, perceiving a lack of parking space. Bad mistake!, if you're there that early park right opposite to the trail head.
After the mile hike to the trail head we were on the actual trail to Deer Hollow farm on the path shown in the adjacent picture. A couple of miles later we were at the farm. Continue about 0.4mi to the split in 'Rogue valley Trail'.
At this junction, we saw a few spotted deer. After spotting these deer, we got onto the "Wildcat loop trail". We hiked about 0.9mi on this trail, at the end of which was a very nice outlook with some wildflowers in bloom. The vista overlooked the NASA Ames facility and US-101.
From the lookout at the end of the wildcat loop trail we got onto the "Upper High Meadow Trail". This trail offers some nice views towards the bay and you can see the PGE trail from here. The trail is known as the PGE trail for somewhat inane obvious reason of the utility having their transmission towers right alongside the trail. This trail is a tough one to hike downhill due to the steep gradient but we did it nonetheless. We ended up with sore feet but had a great time doing it. It is about 1.9mi to get back to the wildcat loop trail and a further 0.5mi to deer hollow farm and about 1.1mi to the parking lot.
Things to keep in mind:
1. Bring a lot of sunscreen, a vast majority of this park has no overhead tree cover.
2. Be prepared to share the trails with horses, bikes and a ton of hikers.
Have fun at Rancho San Antonio.
Set off to get to the park at 6 in the morning and then realizing that we had no energy bars left. After a hasty little detour to a 24 hours Safeway, we were back on our way to Los Altos. Having reached the park by 6:30AM, I somehow unnecessarily parked about a mile away from the trail head, perceiving a lack of parking space. Bad mistake!, if you're there that early park right opposite to the trail head.
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| Trail to Deer Hollow farm |
After the mile hike to the trail head we were on the actual trail to Deer Hollow farm on the path shown in the adjacent picture. A couple of miles later we were at the farm. Continue about 0.4mi to the split in 'Rogue valley Trail'.
 |
| Spotted deer |
At this junction, we saw a few spotted deer. After spotting these deer, we got onto the "Wildcat loop trail". We hiked about 0.9mi on this trail, at the end of which was a very nice outlook with some wildflowers in bloom. The vista overlooked the NASA Ames facility and US-101.
 |
| Looking at the PGE trail from the Meadow trail |
Things to keep in mind:
1. Bring a lot of sunscreen, a vast majority of this park has no overhead tree cover.
2. Be prepared to share the trails with horses, bikes and a ton of hikers.
Have fun at Rancho San Antonio.
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