In a state as beautiful as California, many residents, even those in large urban cities like San Francisco, don’t have to travel very far to find amazing wild and natural spaces to enjoy. Even amazing National Park sites are within a short drive from the city center, though you’ll likely be faced with crowds. While there are plenty of great places to choose from, one that’s worth a visit — and is far less crowded than popular parks like Golden Gate National Recreation Area or the nearby state beaches — is Saratoga Gap Preserve.
Saratoga Gap Open Space Preserve is 1,600 acres of rolling hills and woodlands located just under an hour from downtown San Francisco. It’s a prime location for epic hiking and outdoor recreation, and a respite from the fast-paced metro area. The rolling hills are speckled by mixed oak and evergreen forests, offering stunning vistas, lichen and moss-covered trees and boulders, and expansive grasslands lining the ridge of this preserve. One of the highlights, and the best way to explore, is the scenic multi-use trail that winds through the preserve.
Hiking to Turtle Rock via the Skyline Trail
As it’s described on AllTrails, the trailhead is located just outside of one of America’s most expensive places to retire, Saratoga, along State Highway 9. It is a 4.6-mile out-and-back trail that winds through moist evergreen forests, gently gaining in elevation until reaching Turtle Rock, where you’ll be greeted by panoramic mountain views and a large rock formation that looks like a turtle. The trail starts at the parking lot, and parallels Skyline Boulevard for 1.7 miles, before crossing the road and heading up towards the rock along the Turtle Rock Trail for another half mile.
The trail connects to others and travels into Long Ridge Open Space Preserve, another of California’s hilly nature preserves. In fact, it’s a link in the Bay Area Ridge Trail, which currently has over 400 miles of trails that circumnavigate San Francisco Bay. For a longer and more scenic hike, consider continuing on from Turtle Rock along the Peters Creek and Chestnut trails, through Long Ridge and Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserves. This series of connected trails continues onto Tree Farm Trail and leads to the Horseshoe Lake parking area, passing great views, creeks, and lakes along the way. This longer journey, starting from the Saratoga Gap and ending at Horseshoe Lake, is about 8 miles one way…