With finals approaching, many students seek ways to destress and connect with nature. Spending time outdoors by exploring hiking trails could be a viable option for students.
In San Mateo, there are various hiking trails to choose from, including the likes of Sawyer Camp Trail and Waterdog Lake & Open Space. In a further radius to San Mateo, popular trails include Montara Mountain Trail in Pacifica and various trails in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
“The most enjoyable part about hiking for me is that you are pretty isolated,” said junior Luca Mangano. “You have a really nice view while you are hiking as well … it’s also [refreshing] to get out and get closer to nature.”
One of the most local and most popular hikes in the area is Sawyer Camp Trail. Sawyer Camp Trail is a scenic hike that traces the Crystal Springs Reservoir.
It consists of a windy and paved 11.6-mile trail that extends from San Mateo to Millbrae. Sawyer Camp Trail also features 456 feet of elevation change, and the trail takes around three-and-a-half hours to complete.
Established in 1978, Sawyer Camp Trail is one of the most popular in the area, with around 300,000 hikers visiting each year. Many people like to walk on this trail mainly for its views, consisting of a view of the Santa Cruz Mountains and even sights of the peninsula as a whole.
Overall, Sawyer Camp Trail provides a positive experience, consisting of an easy hike, all the while providing excellent views as well. At times, the trail gets close to the bank of the reservoir.
Another local hiking trail is the Waterdog Lake and Open Space, located in Belmont. The space preserve consists of five trails that lead to a freshwater lake. The trails are surrounded by many trees and are made accessible for bikes with various wooden bridges that go over creeks.
“I like how you feel like you’re deep in a forest when you’re there, even though you’re basically in someone’s backyard,” Mangano said. “There’s also a lake at the bottom that I see a lot of dogs swim in, it’s a fun place to go for an afternoon.”
The space preserve is open from sunrise to sunset, seven days a week. The venue’s most popular trail, John S Brooks Memorial Trail Loop, consists of five-and-a-half miles of unpaved landscape. The trail also has 941 feet of elevation change, which makes it a little more challenging than Sawyer Camp Trail.
John S Brooks Memorial Trail Loop starts off with an open landscape, and then descends down into a vast landscape of trees and shrubs. Along the trail is a lake, which is safe for dogs and sometimes houses a family of ducks. Waterdog’s four other trails are also popular among hikers and provide a similar experience to John S Brooks Memorial Trail Loop.
Lastly, a trail that is further out is Montara Mountain Trail in Pacifica.
“[At Montara Mountain], you can see the ocean on one side and the Bay on the other and if you have decent enough vision, you can see the Golden Gate Bridge,” said avid hiker and math teacher Denise Morones. “And then you can eat at Taco Bell after [the hike].”
Montara Mountain Trail hosts various unique aspects, like the many wildflowers found along the trail. Furthermore, Montara Mountain Trail is known to have some of the best views on the peninsula, proving the hike to be worth the challenge.
The trail is mostly unpaved and stretches around seven miles, which takes almost four hours to complete. This makes the trail moderately difficult, mainly due to the 1,748 feet in elevation change.
Some of the more notable parts of the trail consist of the North Peak, where there is an unobstructed view of the ocean. Another enjoyable sector is the part scaling up the initial hill, where a lot of [beautiful?] wildflowers are present.
Montara Mountain Trail also holds historical significance: the area of the trail marked the final stretch of the Portola Expedition, the first European group to see San Francisco, which was completed at Sweeney Ridge just a couple of miles north of Montara Mountain Trail.
Overall, the San Mateo Peninsula is home to many great hiking trails. In the heat of Advanced Placement testing and finals, spending time in nature, whether in forests or near the ocean, can be relaxing and beneficial, making it a worthy shot to visit Sawyer Camp Trail, Waterdog Lake & Open Space or Montara Mountain Trail.
