Windy Hill

Overview

Windy Hill is a nice, grassy knoll located above the nestled towns of Atherton and Portola Valley, just off of Skyline Blvd. a few miles south of Sky Londa. It is located within the Windy Hill Open Space Preserve, and hosts great views of the San Francisco Bay, east to the Diablo Range, and north and south along the Skyline of the Peninsula. Though not a particularly hard hike, Windy Hill provides a great outing. There are several benchmarks on the summit and there is a geocache in the vicinity.

Getting There

There are two ways to get to the Windy Hill Open Space Preserve. The approach from Skyline Blvd. involves only 10 minutes of hiking to obtain the summit. From the town of Woodside, travel west on CA 84 into the mountains. When you reach CA 35 (Skyline Blvd.) in Sky Londa, turn left and travel five miles to a small dirt pullout on the left side of the road, next to a gate. You'll know the parking area by the open view it has. Park and head through the gate and up the small trail that travels up the hill just to the right of the information and map of the preserve. This will take you up to the summit.

A longer hike involves about 1,200 feet of climbing in 1.8 miles. This is the Spring Ridge Trail. To get to the trailhead, exit Alpine Road from I-280 and head west, toward the hills. Go south on Alpine Road about 2.9 miles to Portola Road (the first stop sign). Turn right on Portola Road and travel 0.8 miles to the parking lot on the left side of the road. The trailhead is on the right side of the road, you can't miss it. This is the beginning of the Spring Ridge Trail.

Red Tape

Hamms Gulch and Razorback Trails do close due to weather conditions frequently, so check the Open Space Trail Conditions Page. Other than that, no red tape.

Camping

Camping is not allowed in the Windy Hill Open Space Preserve.

External Links

Here is the open space page for the Windy Hill Preserve".

Images

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