La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve

Where: La Honda Open Space Preserve (410 Allen Rd, Redwood City, CA 94062)
When: All year, by appointment for guided walks. Good for spring wildflowers.
Who: All ages
Cost: Free

Back in May 2022, we were able to book a guided walk with Mid-Peninsula Open Space for our group. The booking process is fairly straightforward - email MidPeninsula with a list of places you would like to hike, available dates, and the demographics of your group (mixed ages from 5 years to 12 years in our case). Mid-Peninsula will attempt to match with volunteer docents. Given that it had been two years since they opened for group led hikes, we were very thankful to secure a spot.

La Honda Open Space Preserve is a bit of a drive. Due to the hilly roads, plan on 30 minutes even if distance-wise the Preserve seems close. However, its location also contributed toward its untrammeled feel - we felt like we were the only ones there! 

Docent Leslie began with a brief history of the area, and how it is currently used as a cattle ranch. She would point out hints along the way, such as this water tank and the fences. The cattle range freely within lots and are rotated between the lots during the day. Which led to an important reminder - remember to close the gates.

The hike itself was about a mile to the gate, and there was an option to go beyond the gate and down to a pond. However, we weren't sure if the younger ones would be able to handle the additional distance and declined. The trail up to this point had been stroller friendly, so part of the preserve is at least available for families with babies.

On the way back, we admired wildflowers and imagined what the preserve might have looked like a few weeks earlier with a profusion of California poppies.

We were also charmed by this tree. The docent drew our attention to the lines and shading across its bark  - can you guess why they formed?

Yes, this is a favorite cattle scratching spot!

We ended up our hike in the parking lot, so this is an to-and-back trail. There were no picnic tables, but one could picnic from the car and enjoy the glorious view, remembering Psalm 50 which says, "For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills". What a marvelous illustration of His care for us.