Byrne Preserve
Byrne Preserve
Today D. and I visited a park in nearby Los Altos Hills called Byrne Preserve, which used to be a horse ranch and is now open to the public with hiking and equestrian trails. We took a trail called the Artemas Ginzton Pathway that followed a little stream through peaceful and shady oak woodlands. It was so pleasant to be in a tranquil place where the loudest thing we heard the whole time was the alarm calls of the forest birds when a couple of hawks flew over a clearing.
On our way there we had a picnic lunch at Los Trancos Open Space Preserve and went up Skyline Blvd. to the vista point. D. took all the pics except where noted.
View from Skyline Blvd. east over San Francisco Bay toward Mt Diablo, with the Dumbarton Bridge in the lower left.
View from Skyline Blvd. toward Monte Bello and Los Trancos Open Space Preserves,
showing the tinder-dry grassy hillsides.
At Byrne Preserve, we saw a vineyard at the trailhead. There were roses planted at the end of each row of grapes.
Grapes ripening on the vine.
A little cat-head sculpture in the vineyard, whose purpose I can only assume is to be a bird-scarer.
The shaded pathway through oak forest.
Foliage of a young redwood seedling.
Some kind of pea vine blossoming in a clearing.
Wild plums near a spring-fed stream.
Signs help point us in the right direction.
Plenty of poison oak here; and colorful, too.
We also saw this strange sight where 2 trails intersected in the woods (my pic).
.
Today D. and I visited a park in nearby Los Altos Hills called Byrne Preserve, which used to be a horse ranch and is now open to the public with hiking and equestrian trails. We took a trail called the Artemas Ginzton Pathway that followed a little stream through peaceful and shady oak woodlands. It was so pleasant to be in a tranquil place where the loudest thing we heard the whole time was the alarm calls of the forest birds when a couple of hawks flew over a clearing.
On our way there we had a picnic lunch at Los Trancos Open Space Preserve and went up Skyline Blvd. to the vista point. D. took all the pics except where noted.
View from Skyline Blvd. east over San Francisco Bay toward Mt Diablo, with the Dumbarton Bridge in the lower left.
View from Skyline Blvd. toward Monte Bello and Los Trancos Open Space Preserves,
showing the tinder-dry grassy hillsides.
At Byrne Preserve, we saw a vineyard at the trailhead. There were roses planted at the end of each row of grapes.
Grapes ripening on the vine.
A little cat-head sculpture in the vineyard, whose purpose I can only assume is to be a bird-scarer.
The shaded pathway through oak forest.
Foliage of a young redwood seedling.
Some kind of pea vine blossoming in a clearing.
Wild plums near a spring-fed stream.
Signs help point us in the right direction.
Plenty of poison oak here; and colorful, too.
We also saw this strange sight where 2 trails intersected in the woods (my pic).
.