The new Ancient Oaks trail extension at Russian Ridge OSP connects a previously isolated entrance point to the rest of the preserve.
May 12, 2015—Rain or shine, Russian Ridge supporters were determined to celebrate the scheduled Ancient Oaks trail opening. Dozens of Midpeninsula Open Space District (MPOSD) staff and public braved the cold, wet weather to attend the Ancient Oaks Trail Extension Opening at Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve on Thursday.
The new extension connects the Mindego parking lot to the rest of Russian Ridge. The Mindego lot, located south of the main Russian Ridge parking lot on Alpine Road, is named for Mindego Ranch, a 1,000-acre ranch near Russian Ridge that was acquired by Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) in 2008. MPOSD then began managing the ranch.
Audrey Rust, after whom the new paved path Audrey’s Way at the Mindego Gateway area is named, reminded listeners at a brief ceremony that “it’s connection to the Earth that gives us meaning in our lives” and that the trail serves as “a place to re-visit that thought.”
MPOSD has been working on this project since 2010 with the help of POST, according to Lisa Bankosh, Mindego Gateway Project planner. The planning and design took 18 months and the trail was constructed over the course of a summer.
The extension has been open to the public for about a month. Thursday’s event was a celebration and commemoration of the project.
Bankosh says she has already heard lots of positive feedback.
“Everyone is just super impressed with how well it’s built and how interesting the hike is,” she said. “They’ve designed the trail to feature some of the natural attributes like the old oaks and some old boulders. Rather than just blowing a pathway through the forest, they’ve really designed (the trail) for the user experience.”
On the new extension, there’s little reason to watch your feet while walking (or wheels while biking). The trail has the best of both worlds—edgy slopes and curves without many sticks and rocks to worry about tripping over. Most of the trek takes place under a canopy of trees and ferns and then goes into a beautiful open grassland area.
The Ancient Oaks trail was built in the late 1990s. According to Bankosh, it was built to protect the roots of ancient oak trees. The trail lives up to its name—much of it is surrounded by old oak trees.
“(The trail) basically provided a place for people to walk around the oaks because before, there wasn’t really an established trail. So all the use was damaging the oaks,” she said.
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