The Montara area, north of Half Moon Bay and south of Pacifica, has long had special significance for me. My oldest brother Eric Soares lived there from about 1996 until this summer, and I have spent many, many days in that beautiful area. We would often hike in the surrounding hills and take long walks on the beautiful beaches.
So here’s the December hike of the month, the bracing climb up the trail to the top of North Peak Montara Mountain, near Montara State Beach. It’s Hike 95 from 100 Classic Hikes in Northern California, third edition. You can download it as a PDF file (with a trail map) from the Articles page of the main Northern California Hiking Trails website. The main trail information is here:
North Peak Montara Mountain
Length: 6 miles round-trip
Hiking time: 4 hours
High point: 1,898 feet
Total elevation gain: 2,200 feet
Difficulty: strenuous
Season: year-round
Water: none; bring your own
Map: USGS 7.5′ Montara Mountain
Information: Half Moon Bay State Beaches
This hike offers an impressive array of wildflowers and chaparral plants, as well as a superb top-of-the-world panorama of the San Francisco Bay area and the Pacific Ocean, including the Farralon Islands.
Watch for a signed entrance gate on the east side of Highway 1 several yards north of the access road to Montara State Beach (10 miles north of Half Moon Bay). If this small lot is packed, you may have to park farther north at the Gray Whale Cove parking area on the east side of the highway or at the Montara State Beach parking lot.
The path initially travels east and parallels a grove of tall cypress trees. Bear sharply left onto Old San Pedro Road at 0.2 mile, just in front of the ranger’s residence. Fortunately, this dirt path is wide, because poison oak, identifiable by its three-leafed branchlets, dominates trailside to 0.4 mile.
At 0.5 mile walk past a shady grove of Scotch broom and pampas grass, both hardy, exotic plants. The path now climbs relentlessly, with improving views of the towns of Half Moon Bay behind you and Pacifica northward.
Bear right at 1.4 miles onto the Montara Mountain Trail, a fire road. The steepest climbing occurs from 1.6 to 1.9 miles, accompanied by California poppy and lupine. Blue-blossom California lilac dominates trailside from 2 to 2.5 miles as monumental rock outcrops attract attention in the distance.
You may be tempted to stray off the beaten path to climb a number of small peaks from 2.7 to 2.9 miles, but remain on the main dirt road and reward yourself with a 360-degree view from the microwave/weather station atop 1,898-foot North Peak Montara Mountain at 3 miles. Look for Mount Diablo to the east and Scarpers Peak and the Santa Cruz Mountains to the southeast. Half Moon Bay and its neighboring beaches stretch below to the southwest, and mighty Mount Tamalpais hovers to the north above San Francisco’s skyscrapers. To the west, beyond the coastline, stretches the vast blue of the Pacific Ocean, with the Farralon Islands visible on exceptionally clear days.
Montara State Beach sunset. (Photo by Marc Soares)
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow! Gotta love that in your backyard, so to speak! So, John, you just recently moved up to the Shasta area?
Twitter: @TheJohnSoares
Actually, Montara was my brother Eric’s backyard. I’ve lived in the Mount Shasta area for three-and-a-half years this time around, and I moved here from rural Del Norte County.