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Hike: Whittemore Gulch, North Ridge, Craig Britton and Purisima Creek
Where: Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve
Trailhead: Higgins-Purisima Road
Level: Moderate
Duration: 4 hours
Length: 9.9 miles
Gear: Outdoor Research Ignitor Tee, Outdoor Research Women’s Turbine Short, Farm to Feet Boulder sock, REI Flash 18 Pack , Black Diamond Ultra Distance Trekking Poles – Pair , and Ahnu Sugarpine Waterproof Boot
Cost of Parking: Free

I am super happy and excited to announce that I’m joining this year’s Hell Hike and Raft crew! I’ll be heading off to Idaho and Hell’s Canyon early September for three days of backpacking and three days of rafting with some stellar folks.

It just so happens that two of my teammates, Russ Beebe the Winehiker and Annie Yearout the OutdoorsyMama, are located in the Bay Area! We decided to have a little tweetup to get to know each other and do some mild training for the trip.

Our adventure began at the Higgins-Purisima Road, and we took off on the Whittemore Gulch trail to start climbing up the hills of the Santa Cruz Mountains listening to Annie exclaiming about the size and height of the redwoods.

After Whittemore Gulch ended, we turned right onto North Ridge Trail down to where it meets Harkins Ridge. From there, we hopped onto the Bay Area Ridge Trail which turned into Craig Britton Trail until we reached a picnic area. We split from the Craig Britton Trail and took the Purisima Creek Trail next to a tiny babbling Purisima Creek back to the trailhead.

It was lots of fun meeting up with some of the Hell Hike and Raft crew! Say hi to Russ on Twitter, and stop by Annie’s blog!

Hike: Bay Area Ridge Trail to Ancient Oaks Trail to Charquin Trail to Borel Hill
Where: Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve
Trailhead: Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve
Level: Moderate
Duration: 3 hours
Length: 8 miles
Gear: Icebreaker Women’s Tech T Lite T-Shirt, Outlier Women’s Daily Riding Pants, REI Flash 18 Pack, Triple Aught Design Artemis Hoodie, and Ahnu Sugarpine Waterproof Hiking Boots
Cost of Parking: Free

Met up with Russ the Wine Hiker & Karl from Alpha Roaming this past Sunday for a quick hike off of Skyline Blvd at Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve. The Bay Area is chock-full of these Open Space Preserves, open to hikers, bikers and equestrians. They tend to get very busy and are quite open and unprotected, so I tend to avoid them. But they all offer miles of gorgeous trails and amazing views.

We’ve been getting a wee bit of rain in the Bay Area, so the hills are currently lush, green and dotted with wildflowers. It was the perfect time to hike an open space preserve.

We started off at the parking lot off of Alpine Road and hopped onto the Bay Area Ridge Trail. Enjoyed sweeping views of Silicon Valley beginning to wake up under a cloud of fog, and then made our way over to the Ancient Oaks Trail. Hiked beneath the shade of some gorgeous oak trees and then dropped down onto Charquin Trail until it hit Mindego Hill Trail.

From there, we retraced our steps back up Charquin and Ancient Oaks. We popped up to Borel Hill which was quite windy, and then took the Bay Area Ridge Trail back to the parking lot.

open space preserve

Purisima Creek Redwoods OSP: #HellHikeAndRaft Tweetup

Russian Ridge OSP: Ancient Oaks, Charquin, Borel Hill