Rancho San Antonio Hike (8-27-2011)

Rancho San Antonio Hike
Los Altos Hill, California

Hike: Coyote Trail &
Lower Meadow Trail

Saturday, August 27, 2011

By Peter Y. Chou
WisdomPortal.com

Preface: On Saturday, August 27, 2011, Al Guzman invited me hiking at Rancho San Antonio. My friend Rudy and Al's friend Felix also came along. Rudy has joined me on many Stanford lectures and films at Stanford Theatre, but this is the first time we went hiking together. The Fall 2011 issue of Midpeninsula Regional Open Space has a Visitor Survey for 2008-2010 (p. 16). Using infrared trail counters, the average visitation/day at Rancho San Antonio (1348) exceeded the total of the next three Preserves— Fremont Older (522), St. Joseph's Hill (422), and Windy Hill (341). I've hiked here more often than any other trails, the last time in 2003. So it was refreshing to come here again. We began our hike near 2 pm at Coyote Trail and into the Wildcat Loop Trail. When Al decided to go for pizza, we turned back and went on the Lower Meadow Trail. Stopping by Deer Hollow Farm's Phoebe's Garden, had a sniff of the peppermint and spearmint leaves. Then took photos of pigs and goats in the farm. Spotted some wild turkeys on the Lower Meadow Trail. Rudy noticed branches shooting vertically up from a tree, and we discussed phototropism on plants bending toward sunlight. Then I told Rudy about Rumi's remark that the sun in our sky is not real, though it provides us with warmth, light, and life. Al wants to hear this version, so I repeated the rationale to him as well as to Felix later in the car. We finished hiking at 3:30 pm and went to Bogey's Pizza (5039 Almaden Expressway) in San Jose, that's Al's favorite near his home. It's my first time here, and the decor and ambience were great as well as the combo pizza and drinks that Felix treated all of us. After pizza, Al wanted to go to the movies to watch Captain America and Felix invited us to visit his new house in San Pablo near Berkeley. However, I wished to go to my regular Saturday ballroom dancing at Cubberley Pavilion, so they dropped me off at my apartment. It was a wonderful afternoon hiking at Rancho San Antonio and eating tasty pizza with good friends.