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Today was certainly a lesson in how to make even the simplest of county high point excursions into something interesting. I have yet to come across an easy, run-of-the-mill highpoint, but that’s the fun, right? The San Mateo (CA) county highpoint is located in the Santa Cruz Mountains, just outside of public property in the form of open reserves and Castle Rock State Park. A few years ago, one could take a trail near the highpoint, ignore any signs and then claim the county, as it were. Then, an electric fence popped up. Next, a concrete foundation was placed. Today, there is a beautiful house with a window wall facing west across the lower mountains and to the Pacific Ocean. Of course, I assume this, since we could barely even see the house from 30 ft away!
We arranged our visit with a park ranger from the adjacent open space and state park. She has volunteered to maintain a dialogue with the property owner and organize visits to the highpoint. Once or twice a year, when the requests reach critical mass, a group meets outside the property, drives in, parks, and stomps up the small hill only 100 ft from the house. We county highpointers appreciate the ranger’s effort, and also the landowner for willingly cooperating.
At 6 am, I struggled to get out of bed. Torrents of rain and wind were lashing the window only 12 inches above my sleeping head. If ever there was a morning to sleep in, this was it. As I sat up, Chari told me I was crazy. I understood. At least she made me take her car in the event of any flooding along the way. I picked up Jan in Daly City, getting blown around a bit in the downpour. As we drove south on 101 the traffic wasn’t bad at all, but what kind of idiot goes out this early in this weather? Well, us kind of idiots. As we drove on Skyline Drive along the spine of the peninsula mountains, any time we were exposed to the west the storm harassed us, and when we had shelter we could see the rain curling around the tops of the trees at the road break, powered by the storm. We stopped at Portola Heights road and waited for the group to assemble. This was a serious group to come out this early, in this storm. One of them, Mike, was a fellow Sierra Challenge hiker who I had gone through a storm with returning from Pilot Knob. As I chatted with the others, I was happy to test out my new raincoat and semi-new rain pants. Both worked wonderfully.
Finally, we reached the proper number of people and in we went, winding through narrow roads and through the landowners gate. We parked, and only one car got stuck in the mud. A quick push from fellow county highpointers and he was free. We staggered up the driveway, watching the house come out of the gloom. The window wall was facing directly into the storm. Nothing to see today, but what a show of nature to be curled up inside and watch the rain beat against the glass. The landowner poked his head out as we passed, but we only waved and offered our thanks, neither he nor us willing to engage in prolonged conversation outside.
Up on the hill we tried a few pictures, but the strength of the wind only increased on the exposed hillock, and the sheets of rain kept at us. It could have been a hose, and I wouldn’t have noticed. After about a minute, we came on down, got into the cars, and exited. Jan, Mike, his friend Bill, and I rejoined at Buck’s Cafe in Woodside, a delightfully weird spot with a good but expensive breakfast. By noon, it was time to go, and Jan and I retraced our path, passing numerous accidents on 280 and 101 as we made our way to Daly City.
We were only outside for 10 minutes, but it was some of the worst summit conditions Jan and I have been in, and he’s been on a Denali twice! Nearby areas got 4 in. of rain in 24 hours while we were outside. I regret not being able to chat with the ranger, landowner, and the other highpointers, but we did spend a good time at the cafe. Now, the closest county I have yet to do . . . YOLO!!
--msw
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