Quarry Road Trail: Mount Sutro

12/8/2011

Today’s hike started at the Crestline stairway trail up to Twin Peaks Blvd. Around to the west side, climbed over the auto barrier to the trail that descends alongside Twin Peaks Reservoir (first pic – but seen today with most of the water drained from it) to Marview in the Midtown Terrace neighborhood.

This is an invigorating hike that's a good connector between Twin Peaks Park and Mount Sutro Openspace Reserve.

Second photo: Taken from Twin Peaks Park with Midtown Terrace below. Above to the right is Sutro Tower. Beyond is Mount Sutro’s Forest Knolls neighborhood with the forest above. Third pic: the Forest Knolls ‘hood on the south side of Mount Sutro. In the center, part of the Oakhurst stairway is visible.

A right turn on Marview and over to Palo Alto’s dead-end for vehicles. Here the walker can step out onto La Avanzada, the curvy, forested road to Sutro Tower. Continue on La Avanzada down to Dellbrook and out to Clarendon.

Crossing Clarendon, climbed steeply uphill on Behr, past the Aldea Community Center and some residences. Noticed a stairway down to what looked like it might be the beginning of a community garden and/or a nursery. Hadn’t taken this route for some time.

Continuing up, soon reached the new Quarry Road Trail. It’s short, with the Forest Knolls neighborhood below through the trees. There aren’t any trail markers yet, but the trail’s very easy to see at either end. Enjoying the fresh, woodsy smell, I had the trail all to myself.

At the end is the trail marker for the (upper) Historic Trail and the short trail that’ll take you down to Christopher St. Hadn’t done the Historic in a while either (fourth photo).

After reaching the foot of the Historic Trail at Medical Center Way, curved all the way around to walk next to the new research building and past the foot of the long stairway that climbs from Medical Center Way to the Surge Parking Lot.