Bald Knob P300
Kings Mountain

Bald Knob

My son was scheduled to run in a XC meet at Crystal Springs in San Mateo County just before 3p, so I set out around noon from San Jose to do a little trail running to tag a few peaks in the nearby Santa Cruz Mtns. Neither peak is particularly difficult and each features similarly poor views, but they are both on public lands which is a nice change after our outing in the Santa Lucia Range a few days earlier. Bald Knob is the highpoint of Purisma Creek Redwoods Opens Space Preserve located on the ocean side of the range's crest in San Mateo County. A 24-mile network of trails that are equally popular with hikers and mountain bikers is found in this good-sized park of more than 4,700 acres, mostly covered in second-growth redwood forest. It had been years since I was last to the park, more than 20 in fact, and was one of the first dates I went on with my then girlfriend, now wife. She was impressed that I could keep up with her regular mountain biking friends, particularly on the uphills. Her guy friends were laughing that my bike featured a kickstand, but after I beat all but one of them back to the parking lot, it didn't seem to matter so much.

The shortest route to the summit is about 2mi one-way starting at a small TH located on Tunitas Creek Rd. There is parking for about 4-5 cars here with signs for private property found on both sides of the road and around the TH access gate. I came across two signed trail junctions along the route, taking the left fork both times to end up on the Bald Knob Trail. This trail, one of the few not open to mountain bikes, eventually deadends in the SW corner of the park. Before that, it winds its way via several switchbacks up and along the east and south sides of Bald Knob before dropping in elevation to become the Irish Ridge Trail. There is a good use trail on the SW side of Bald Knob that reaches to the summit. Though no longer maintained, one can find old signs along its route indicating it used to be one of the park's trails. The newer trail with switchbacks has an easier grade, but no longer goes to the top. There's not much of a view, so it doesn't matter a whole lot. For fun, I followed the old trail NE off the summit. Though overgrown, its still usable and a somewhat faster route to and from the summit. I spent just about an hour covering the four miles roundtrip.

Kings Mountain

A few miles NE of Bald Knob is the highpoint of Kings Mountain which lies on the crest of the range. It is about as lame a summit as it gets. Highway 35 was built going right over the very flattish summit, such that the highpoint is found just off the sunken roadway on the SW side of the road. The NE side is part of Huddart County Park, and from the maps it would appear the highpoint should be just off the roadway on this side. In fact, the highpoint is found in a clump of redwoods on the other side, next to the road. Mountain homes grace this side of the road but there is an easement and trail found between the homes and the roadway making the highpoint publicly accessible. Yay. Not that it really matters... I spent probably 10min wandering around the area checking elevations with GPS to verify the highpoint before satisfying myself that I'd found it. And with that - it was time to head for the XC meet.

I had introduced my son to running (against his will) while he was in middle school, sometime around 7th grade. Because very few kids ever really run before high school, he had a leg up on his classmates when he started 9th grade. This got him into the upper running group when he started, allowing him to train with the faster upper classmen and motivating him to work hard. It also helped that his school has a very strong XC program and they have won most meets they enter. I never had to push or cajole him to run after that - he and his buddies motivated each other. As a senior he's now running on the varsity squad, finishing 4th today for his school, 9th overall. They are currently ranked #2 in Northern California and #6 in the state. I love watching them run their hearts out, virtually collapsing from exhaustion when they've finished the 3mi course in 16min. By comparison, a 10hr hike seems pretty tame. I'm looking forward to the state meet in Fresno at then end of the month...

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