Near Palo Alto, Earthquake Country Offers No-Fault Views

My first hikes along the San Andreas fault were motivated by a kind of fatalistic curiosity. But after a while, I began to enjoy the sheer beauty of earthquake country: the crushed and uplifted rocks, the jagged stream beds and the long gashes through sweeping grasslands.

For Californians, it’s a shaky common ground. Those of us who live on the coastal side of the state are on the Pacific Plate, which drifts north until it hits the North American Plate, thus creating the San Andreas fault.

The two plates creep past each other an average of 2 inches a year. The movement isn’t consistent, though. The plates often lock together, and stress builds until--whammo! Energy is released in the form of earthquakes.

Hikers get a fine introduction to the world of plate tectonics and continental drift in the hills above Palo Alto. This week I’ll explore several trails in Los Trancos Open Space Preserve and neighboring Monte Bello Open Space Preserve.

In Los Trancos, nine trailside educational stations are keyed to an interpretive pamphlet at the trail head. Looping paths also cross fern-lined Los Trancos Creek and pass old oaks, some of which lost limbs during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

On clear days, hikers can see downtown San Francisco to the north and Mt. Diablo across the bay to the east.

Directions to the trail head: Set out for Los Trancos first. Exit Interstate 280 at Page Mill Road in Palo Alto and wind seven miles west to the preserve entrance. The parking lot, on your right, is one mile east of Skyline Boulevard. If you hit Skyline, you’ve gone too far.

The hike: Keep in mind that some signposts may not match trail maps. That’s because signs steer hikers toward end destinations rather than labeling trails. A sign that says San Andreas Fault Trail, for example, may not actually mark San Andreas Fault Trail but rather point hikers toward it.

That said, these trails are pretty well marked, so you’re unlikely to get lost. From the trail head, follow an unnamed connector trail north for a tenth of a mile to Franciscan Loop Trail. Take this trail right (east) as it descends into an oak woodland.

For a little detour, after about a quarter-mile turn left (northwest) and follow a connector trail to the San Andreas Fault Trail, a loop that’s about three-quarters of a mile.

Back on Franciscan Loop, the trail crosses a bridge over Los Trancos Creek and half a mile later rises to a junction with Lost Creek Loop Trail.

Join this loop heading northwest (at first) for slightly more than half a mile, passing a junction with northbound Page Mill Trail and briefly joining a segment of Lost Creek that also serves as southbound Page Mill Trail. Keep right (south) on Lost Creek, then turn right (west) back onto Franciscan Loop Trail. Travel past old oaks and into grassy meadows. Another right (south) turn onto a connector trail will lead back to the parking area.

Another good place to hike is neighboring Monte Bello Open Space Preserve, whose parking lot lies almost directly across the street from Los Trancos’ parking area. Monte Bello, which means “beautiful mountain” in Italian, is just that: a handsome, 2,700-foot-high ridge cut by creeks, green with grass and cloaked with oak and fir. It’s inspiring scenery.

The preserve’s main path is Stevens Creek Nature Trail, which starts by the parking lot. The trail tours a variety of landscapes: grassland, chaparral, evergreen forests. A close-up view of the San Andreas fault is particularly illuminating. Fault movement has produced two soil systems and thus two plant communities: woodland on one side, brush and grass on the other.

Stevens Creek Nature Trail also explores a cattail-lined sag pond, a topographic depression created by the fault. Interpretive stations discuss ladybugs, Douglas firs and California’s official state rock, bluish-gray serpentine.

The preserve also offers a couple of longer trails that go into upper Stevens Creek Canyon and ascend Monte Bello’s high ridge.

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For more of John McKinney’s tips, visit www.thetrailmaster.com.