Hiking Redwood City

For all the familiarity many of us have with Edgewood Park, I find it interesting that its neighbor just across Edgewood Road is much less familiar. The 366-acre Pulgas Ridge Open Space Preserve may lack some of Edgewood Park’s amenities, but its 6 miles of excellent, well-marked hiking trails come with another bonus: a 17.5-acre off-leash dog area. From the parking lot off Edmonds Road trails wander up the sides and across the back of the box canyon that makes up the preserve, not only providing the hiker with some great exercise but also allowing them to explore multiple different ecosystems. Plus, along with all that exercise the hiker gets another nice reward: The vistas from the top of Pulgas Ridge are excellent.

This week I elected to hike through yet another of the area’s natural parks: Eaton Park, which has one of its five entrances at the western end of Eaton Avenue. This 57-acre park has multiple trails, including the milelong Eaton Trail, which traverses the park and ends up at Brittan Avenue across from the entrance to Big Canyon Park. On this visit I elected to follow the Hawk Hill trail to the park’s highest point: Upper View, at 600 feet above sea level.

Although there are some great views of the Bay as you hike along the trail, the panorama you are presented with at Upper View is unsurpassed. With all of Redwood City and San Carlos spread out before me, I sat on one of the viewpoint’s two benches, taking pictures and identifying the larger development projects in our area. I marveled at just how many trees share our residential areas, and found myself wishing that the mostly brown East Bay hills were equally green.

Upper View is also a great spot from which to get a feel for the sheer size of Cargill’s enormous salt ponds — both in Redwood City and in Newark.

I ended my hike at Upper View, but not my walk — I still had some exploring to do. There is a short dirt path connecting Upper View to Loma Road, making it easily accessible even to those not willing or able to make the milelong uphill trek. Simply park on Loma Road and walk the 10th of a mile to the viewpoint (The entrance to the path is immediately adjacent to the house at 94 Loma Road, and is marked by a trash can). I should note that although this path is fairly short, it slopes at the beginning and is not well groomed. Thus, it is likely to be somewhat challenging for the mobility impaired.

Any of Eaton Park’s trails make for a great hike, but unlike at Edgewood Park and Pulgas Ridge there are no signs where the trails branch off from one another. Fortunately, there is a good park map posted at the Eaton Avenue end of the park, and there are paper trail maps there as well. I highly recommend taking a map and consulting it regularly. Note that the park has dirt roads that aren’t marked on the map, which can be confusing if you aren’t paying attention.

For those who just need to get away for a short while, our area has a number of parks that allow one to get back to nature, whether it be for an hour or for an entire day. Even for those who cannot take a long hike, consider taking a break from the stresses of the day and spending some time in one of the area’s natural parks. It is amazing what a little time with Mother Nature can do for your mind, your body and your soul.

Greg Wilson is the creator of Walking Redwood City, a blog inspired by his walks throughout Redwood City and adjacent communities. He can be reached at greg@walkingRedwoodCity.com. Follow Greg on Twitter @walkingRWC.