Santa Teresa County Park—Night Hike
Hike Review
I hiked the Ohlone Trail, Hidden Springs Trail, Coyote Peak Trail, Rocky Ridge Trail, then walked down on Bernal Road. I’ve hiked all these trails on a previous hike, but Rocky Ridge Trail was a new one for me.
I found Rocky Ridge Trail to be one of the best trails at Santa Teresa due to the beautiful views and the single track, which I always prefer to double track or fire roads. There wasn’t much trees around, so this trail might be a bit too exposed for summer hiking.
What I Learned
I would have hiked without a headlamp, but it came in handy in avoiding stepping on frogs.
The last image above was captured by Gene.
Friends
Gene hiked this trail with me and the hike was 100% better for it.
What Happened?
6.5 miles, 2 hrs 22 mins, 1199 ft of ascent
Gene was in the south bay for the day so he proposed a late day hike. I had been wanting to do a night hike up to Coyote Peak, so I countered with that suggestion, and he accepted.
We arrived and parked in the neighborhood streets (where there was plenty of parking) and started hiking. We kept a pretty steady pace throughout the hike, and the conversation flowed like waves—there were various points of excitement and calm, but it was constant. We enjoyed the view from the peak, and then headed to the Rocky Ridge Trail, which is one that I had wanted to hike for a while now.
Throughout the night hike, I used my headlamp at various times, but had it on for the entire duration of the Rocky Ridge Trail and Bernal Road. The latter to be more visible to the few cars that passed us, and the former as without it, we would have possibly tripped. Gene didn’t have a headlamp, so he used his phone light, which worked pretty well.
I loved this night hike and we planned on a few more for the summer. It should be fun.