Rays of morning sunlight cut through the mist at Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Labor Day’s the ideal time to get out and enjoy nature. Of course, that’s harder to do in a heat wave the National Weather Service is calling a “marathon and not a sprint,” with temperatures in parts of the Bay rising to 108 degrees from Sunday to Tuesday.
Choose the wrong hike in these conditions and you will soon feel like R2-D2 and C-3PO melting down in the Tatooine desert. Robots presumably don’t succumb to dehydration and heat exhaustion, however, whereas humans do. Here are a three not-very-strenuous hikes in the area with plenty of shade and cooler geography, with suggestions of where to eat and drink afterward. As always, dress appropriately, wear sunscreen and carry plenty of water. (NOTE: The East Bay Regional Park District has announced that, due to high fire risk, Tilden Nature Area and many other East Bay parks will be closed on Sunday and Labor Day.)
Point Reyes National Seashore
The hike: Point Reyes can seem transported from a different world, with its moody atmosphere and magical creatures like tule elk and glowing sea life. A beautiful way to explore this rugged area is to begin at the Palomarin Trailhead at the south end of the park. It guides you through a forested area with trees of interesting shapes and then pops out onto a cliff-adjacent trail with stunning ocean vistas. There’s not much shade here, but fortunately the coastal breeze acts like an open refrigerator. Hikers can choose how far they travel on the trail — Bass Lake is about 5 miles north and Alamere Falls a punishing 13 miles — but sometimes it’s best just to enjoy the view and turn back when you’re ready.
The bite: In nearby Bolinas there’s Smiley’s saloon in a delightfully weathered building dating from the 1800s. It has good beer and stiff cocktails (served at the bar or to-go) and a kitchen with Mexican-inspired cuisine like tortas and pozole, plus live music on weekends (41 Wharf Road, Bolinas; smileyssaloon.com). If you don’t mind driving 45 minutes up scenic Highway 1 there’s also the Marshall Store, an open-air eatery on the water with delightful seafood like chowder, smoked fish and grilled oysters (19225 Highway 1, Marshall; themarshallstore.com).
Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve
The hike: Banana slugs know where the cool spots are. One of those is Purisima, in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Half Moon Bay, which maintains a pleasant climate due to its exposure to the Pacific weather and massive, sound-dampening redwoods. There are several ways to explore the preserve: The North Ridge Trailhead off Skyline Boulevard leads you downhill through both forested and open-sun areas, with spectacular views of the ocean horizon and hills below. The Purisima Creek/Higgins Road Trailhead takes you on a pleasant walk along a stream with much less elevation change and more shade. It’s easy to find peace here among the dark ferns and moss and delicate wildflowers. (Note that the trailhead parking lots, especially Purisima Creek, are small and fill up quick.)
The bite: Many good restaurants around Half Moon Bay are right to the west. If you want to make an occasion of it, consider making an advance reservation at the cliffside Moss Beach Distillery, with legendary views of the setting sun and coastal cuisine like crab cakes and seared yellowfin (140 Beach Way, Moss Beach; mossbeachdistillery.com). For a less-grand but just as satisfying seafood meal head to Barbara’s Fishtrap for its plates of big, juicy fried scallops and shrimp with fries and tartar (281 Capistrano Road, Half Moon Bay; barbarasfishtrap.com).
Tilden Nature Area
The hike: This family-friendly East Bay park has shady trails of varying difficulties, from ones that take you up hills and along canyons to flat jaunts along a creek. (NOTE: The East Bay Regional Park District has announced that, due to high fire risk, Tilden Nature Area and many other East Bay parks will be closed on Sunday and Labor Day.)
Here’s an itinerary that won’t have you sweating. After parking in the lot near the environmental education center, it’s pretty much obligatory to head up to the Little Farm and say “Hi” to the sheep, ducks and zeppelin-shaped pigs (you can feed them, too, if you bring your own lettuce). From there it’s easy to chart a short-ish loop beneath cooling trees in Tilden’s southwest region — one suggestion is to follow the Sylvan Trail to one of the Packrat trails, with detours leading you along a stream bed and over a winding boardwalk curtained with tall vegetation.
The bite: If you can get there before they sell out or close at 3, Delirama is a new brick-and-mortar Berkeley eatery from the chefs behind the pop-up Pyro’s Pastrami; it’s getting raves for its pastrami sandos served on fresh-baked rye, as well as other Jewish bites like potato pancakes and bialys (1746 Solano Ave., Berkeley; delirama.com). For folks who like to regulate their body temperature by quaffing cold beer there’s Westbrae Biergarten farther into Berkeley. Its open-air patio has picnic tables with umbrellas to block the sun, where you can enjoy refreshing summer brews like Hefeweizen and pineapple cider and munch on tri-tip from a Brazilian food truck (1280 Gilman St, Berkeley; westbraebiergarten.com).
Originally published at John Metcalfe