El Corte de Madera: Mountains, Madronas & Manzanita

Last couple of weeks I had the chance to hike at El Corte De Madera Creek Preserve. I did a short five miler last week and a much longer twelve mile hike this week, I must say it is one of the crown jewels of the Mid peninsula Open Space ecosystem.

I typically like to start the hike in the early morning when it is still dark. Everything looks so beautifully still & poised in the early morning light. The preserve is very typical of the area, full of Coastal redwood and Oak trees. However I also noticed a lot of Pacific Madrone trees and Manzanita shrubs. The Madrone is one of my favorite trees, when the morning light hits their tan trunk, it brings out a beautiful glow! Also I noticed a lot of huge Madrone trees similar to the large Oaks we see in the area, this was new for me, had never seen such large Madrone trees before.

The preserve had a lot fewer hikers than I expected. It was just sporadic hikers here and there. However the reserve is a staple with the mountain bikers and there were a lot of them. All the ones we met were friendly and very considerate of the hikers - no complaints here.

For a large part of the hike, things were so quiet that you can hear the acorns fall. In the beginning I was not quite sure where the noise was coming from, but when you stand still and observe, you can see the acorns falling through the canopy, making crackling noises as they brush the branches on their way down and hit the ground softly!

El Corte De Madera has many longer hikes, so if you are looking for a 10+ mile hike on the peninsula, this is the place I would recommend.