Today we only had a few hours, so Roya suggested a hike she had done before with her mom, but driving closer, so we would get the "fun" part. So, off to Santa Teresa County Park we went. We took Almaden Expressway to the end, took a right at Harry, then a quick left on McClean. After about a half mile, we turned left on Fortini - it's a small residential street, blink and you'll miss it. Fortini dead-ends at the base of the hills, and there's a small parking area at the trailhead.

We got the beasts to stop wrassling in the back seat long enough to leash them up, and got started. The trail is all uphill at first, a rocky switchback path between bunches of bright orange poppies and other grassy plants. By the time you get to the top, you realize that it's not really the top (dammit!) and you keep going a bit more. The view is totally worth it:


 It was really a beautiful day - and we started early enough that it wasn't scorching. We kept on going, Roya quicker downhill than me:


Around this area, we briefly heard a rattlesnake - let's just say that properly motivated, we can BOOK.

At the bottom of this downhill section, there is a small wood bridge that goes over an even smaller stream - and right under the bridge, it's only a few inches of water, and a whole lot of mud. Of course Elliott started it - hops right off the bridge and starts nibbling on some plants. Then Koda decides to one-up Elliott, and hops right into the muddiest, wettest section, and LAYS DOWN. Roya and I were trying vainly to get both of them to get out of the mud, while hordes of bicyclists came hurdling down the hill toward the bridge. Luckily, they stopped to reminisce. (Or, you know, mock us from where they had a better view).

Ahem.

After the bridge, we went back uphill, then back down another hill, and the trail started heading to the right, then back in the general direction of where we parked. We stopped at pretty much the only shady section to see if the dogs would rinse themselves off, and sure enough, they were game:

 
We took a few minutes for the dogs to cool off, then got back on the trail. Just after this point, we actually saw two horses - Elliott was convinced they were giant dogs, and barked at them. Luckily, the horses were mellow and the riders were amused. A few minutes later, past a few rural yards and barking dogs, and we were back at the trailhead and civilization.

Ah, a sunny Friday! By law, you must leave work early, and so I did. Drove home, changed, grabbed the dog, and headed off to pick up Roya. We made it to the trail by 5:00, which gave us at least 2 hours of sunlight, and so decided to take the longer trail that had been closed until recently.

Phew.

I had forgotten just how much longer that trail is - and as the one who suggested it, I was not allowed to bitch (those are the rules). Roya however, had no such restriction, and there was quite a few "are we there yet?"s. I was right there with her.

For those of you who would like to follow our path, here's the trail map, with our path marked in red: 


On the way up, we took the Cora Older Trail until it connects to the Seven Springs Loop (Zero springs were seen by these hikers, although we were a bit loopy toward the end of the hike) We followed the Seven Springs Loop down the side of one hill, then back up the other, running into a fair amount of mountain bikers. We saw a good number of indicators that horses had also taken the same route, but I have yet to actually see a horse on any of the trails.

Since it's still spring, almost all the plant life is full and green, and there are wildflowers everywhere:


One of these days, I'll bring my Audubon wildlife book, and see what I can identify.

We came out from the Loop right below Hunter's Point, but neither me, Roya, or the dogs felt like scaling that hill. We decided to head downhill:


We made it back to the car by 6:30 - which, considering our fairly leisurely pace, was pretty damn good time.