An ammo box along the Mindego Trail in the Russian Ridge Open Space
Preserve (OSP). I placed this cache on Christmas Day as a gift to
my hiking partner extraordinaire and cache-hide mentor, catomcat.
Catomcat mentioned that, although Russian Ridge OSP was beautiful,
he had already found all of the caches there. Well, this one's for
you catomcat!
Russian Ridge OSP is located near Skyline Blvd. (Highway 35)
& Page Mill / Alpine Road and has eight miles of trails.
Russian Ridge provides breathtaking views of both the Pacific Ocean
and the San Francisco Bay. Be sure to bring a camera. You can also
go up to Borel Hill (elevation 2572 feet), the highest named point
in San Mateo County. On clear days Borel Hill offers a 360-degree
view from the ocean to the entire Bay Area. It is often quite windy
on Borel Hill, a jacket might be needed. Russian Ridge OSP is also
one of the five best places in the Bay Area to see wildflowers,
they are especially beautiful in the spring.
The closest parking is a small pullout on Alpine Road located
next to cache #GCR8H2, at N37 18.887 W122 11.826. This parking area
is small and can fill up early. If it is full there is parking at
the main parking area which is located on the northwest corner of
the Skyline Boulevard (Highway 35) and Page Mill / Alpine Road
intersection (across Skyline Boulevard, on the right). Additional
parking is located at the Caltrans vista point opposite Russian
Preserve gate #RR01 on Skyline Boulevard.
Russian Ridge OSP is open from dawn until one-half hour after
sunset. Please only cache during park hours.
More information on this park, as well as downloadable maps, can
be found at:
http://www.openspace.org/preserves/pr_russian_ridge.asp
My favorite trail map can be found at:
http://boulter.com/geocaching/maps/maps/us/ca/SkylineSouth.jpg
For the FTF there is a $10 REI Gift Card. Happy Trails and Good
Hunting!!