Mostly open grassland on the top of Skyline, Russian Ridge is certainly a hike with a view. Most trails give great vistas of either the Pacific Ocean or the Bay or both. Access is either on Skyline at the Vista Point north of Page Mill (clearly marked), or from the parking lot at the corner of Skyline and Page Mill/Arastradero. If you want to hike in the trees, access to the Ancient Oaks Trail is down Arastradero.

Besides the grand scenic views, it may be 90 degrees on a summer day in the valley, but it is windy and/or foggy on Russian Ridge.

One of the simplest hikes starts from the parking lot at the corner of Skyline and Page Mill/Arastradero. You may need a map and fortunately the Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space District has a great one on their web site. The map requires the Adobe Acrobat reader. This hike starts along the a section of the Bay Area Ridge Trail and climbs gradually towards Borel Hill whose elevation is 2572 feet above sea level. Black Mountain is higher at 2800 feet. The trail heads down back to Skyline and the vista point along the road. From there if the weather is good, it is easy to see the skyscrapers of San Francisco.

I'm looking for a loop hike, so I continue on past the vista point to near the base of the next hill (unnamed). The trail splits here, I go to the left down the Hawk Trail. Going straight ahead takes you further along the Bay Area Ridge Trail and past Mt. Melville with the metal towers. The lead photo on this page was taken just past this junction. Fog rolling in is a spectacular sight.

Continuing along the Hawk Trail there are some oak trees and some interesting foliage. After this the Mindego Trail takes off and goes down the hill. It's kind of a dead-end and I am told the Mindego Trail is not very interesting.

After the junction with the Mindego Trail, the Hawk Trail becomes the Ancient Oaks Trail and heads back to Arastradero Road, which is great if you parked there. If you parked at the lot at Arastradero and Skyline, there are two connectors that return to the trail out of the parking lot.

One of the great joys of being at Russian Ridge when the fog is rolling in at the coast is watching the sunset. If the fog has made it to the park, you are in a chilly white-out. If it has not, well, let these photos speak for themselves:

At this point I had finished a roll of film and was hurrying back to the parking lot before it closed. I turned around and couldn't resist loading another roll:

Thanks, Kodachrome.

The other side of Russian Ridge is when you are there and the fog is in.