Purisma Creek Trail

A few weeks ago, I decided to work off some Thanksgiving meals with a vigorous hike. This time, instead of hiking my usual Rancho San Antonio trail, I decided to try another trail that I had hiked once before - the Purisma Creek Trail near Half Moon Bay. It was cold, with drizzle at the start and rain at the end. Just my kind of weather. And, the fall colors were in full display, as you can see in this picture.

Purisma Creek Trail is a scenic, steep trail, nestled in the Purisma Creek Redwood forrest and can be accessed from Skyline road. The trail follows a fire road down alongside Purisma Creek for about 4 miles, where it ends in another parking lot. It's open to mountain bikers as well - I saw 2 yesterday.

The scenery on this trail is stunning. Hikers are surrounded by tall redwood trees providing lots of shade, and every 30 minutes or so you cross a bridge over the Purisma Creek. Every now and then, the trail leads to point where hikers get a peak of the hills. Given the elevation, clouds move quickly and it creates an eerily beautiful and variable scene. The recent rain had cleared out the stale air and with each breath I was rewarded by clean, crisp, mountain air. Could it be that air in these forests has a higher percentage oxygen than elsewhere? It sure feels like it. Or, maybe the lack of pollutants makes the air better to breathe. Or, maybe it's the scents of pine, eucalyptus, and the like. Here's an interesting article on the benefits of spending time in the mountains: https://monq.com/eo/forest-bathing/why-mountain-air-so-good-you/

I started my hike at around 3pm, and hiked 3 miles downhill before turning around. This hike should be started earlier in the day since the trees prevent a lot of the light from coming in. One more mile and I would have reached the next parking lot, but it would have been too dark to return. As I turned around, the drizzle turned into rain. Fortunately, I was nice and warm with pants, gloves, a hoodie and a vest. It was dark when I ascended, and I was the last hiker to exit the trail. A forrest ranger parked at the trail head had his truck lights on for the final hikers to find their way out of the trail.

I usually like my hikes to start by going uphill, and then rewarding myself by a nice downhill jog to the parking lot. This hike is the opposite, but it can be down differently if I park in the Higgins Creek lot. However, that's a much longer drive from the Peninsula.

Now that winter is approaching, it's a great time to hike (if you're like me and like cooler weather and rain). I hope to explore new trails in the Peninsula and north. If I get a mountain bike, I may try this trail from the bottom.

In college, I took a class on music from the romantic era, which is the 1800s. In that class, we studied a song called Erlkonig by Franz Schubert. In tells the story of a rider with a child who is rushing through the forrest trying to escape an evil king. Returning to my car in the late evening reminded me of this song:

https://youtu.be/JS91p-vmSf0