California's Soaring Hiking Area Near San Francisco Has Sweeping Ocean Views And Wildflower Walks

The area around the great city of San Francisco has more hiking spots than you can shake a West Coast sourdough at. Where else puts the stunning wildflowers of Northern California's largest state park within driving distance of the world's tallest tree species in Muir Woods? Meanwhile, the Santa Cruz Mountains claim the area to the southwest of the metropolis, offering an epic place to get on the trails. Famously cut-through by the ultra-scenic Route 35, the range is also home to a series of preserves and parks — including the aptly named Skyline Ridge Preserve.

A whopping 2,143 acres of terrain right in the heart of the Santa Cruz peaks, it spills across a patchwork of meadows filled with wildflowers and wind-tussled grasses and of forests of live oak and bay trees. There are hiking paths for all levels. You'll find them weaving through the whole space, and connecting to neighboring reserves in the same mountains, occasionally punctuated by craggy lookout points that offer seriously spectacular views of the fog-mantled California coastline in the distance to the west.

What's fantastic is that all the outdoorsy joys of the Skyline Ridge Preserve are on offer less than 40 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge. There's parking at the main entrance along Highway 35, accessible in roughly 45 minutes from San Francisco International Airport, and in just shy of 40 minutes from San Jose Airport. You can also drive up from Highway 1 on the ocean — the trip is about 40 minutes from the under-the-radar getaway of Pescadero.

If it's hiking you came for, the Skyline Ridge Preserve has you covered. AllTrails lists more than 10 individual paths in the domain — ranging from sub 1-miler lake loops to big day hikes through canyons and creeks that connect with other preserves in the Santa Cruz area.

The 3.1-mile Ipiwa Trail zigzags through the heart of the reserve. Starting at the main parking area on the west side, it bends around a high ridge to connect with the ponds on the eastern side. The trail involves some hamstring-pulsating ascents and descents that go through beautiful wildflower fields bursting with color from spring to fall. It emerges from thick forests of gnarled oaks to offer up front-facing views of the great blue ocean far to the west at various points.

For something a little easier on the legs, consider walking a circle around Alpine Pond. It's an all-access trail perfect for easygoing, meditative jaunts by the waterside, where reeds and brush burst from the banks. Look for the David C. Daniels Nature Center on the side of the path there, where you can get an intro into the unique flora and fauna of the area, and have an encounter with a live gopher snake.

The Skyline Ridge Preserve is one of many awesome stops along Highway 35 — a stretch of winding, wonderfully dramatic byway that's also known as Skyline Boulevard. It wiggles between Route 92 in the north and Route 17 in the south, linking up everything from wineries to historic stagecoach inns. It's also a chance to see the redwoods!

You can cruise north for 20 minutes to swap the Skyline Ridge for the hidden Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve. It's a corker of a forest park, spilling down the ocean-facing slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains along its namesake creek in a show of emerald fern thickets and colossal, second-growth coast redwoods. One of the top-rated treks there is the Whittemore Gulch and Harkins Ridge Loop Trail, a 6.5-mile circuit that has a taste of everything, from grassy fields to gigantic trees.

Go south from Skyline and you'll hit the Saratoga Gap in under 10 minutes, too. That's one of the starting points for the Saratoga Gap Trail, a route that links up with the Ridge Trail, to offer glimpses of Monterey Bay in the south. It's also packed with moss-caked oak woodlands, occasional redwoods, and strange sandstone formations.