Montara Mountain
Directions: From Highway 1 through Pacifica, turn south east onto Linda Mar Blvd. Take Linda Mar to the end turn right at Oddstad Blvd and the entrance to San Pedro Valley Park will be right there.
Parking Fee: Normally $5 or $6 but was free on this particular day
Facilities: park restrooms
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National Geographic TOPO! software website:
GPS Stats
Distance hiked: 13.1 miles
Total ascent: 2993 ft
Trailhead Elevation: 183 ft
Max Elevation: 1897 ft
Moving time: 4 hrs 40 min
Moving Average: 2.8 mph
Overall average: 2.0 mph
Time stopped: 1 hrs 20 min
Personal stats
Dates Hiked:
29-Sep-2007
Start time: 10:00 AM
Weather: Clear, sunny, cool and comfortable
Water consumed: 2.3 liters
plus 600 ml Gatorade
Finish time: 4:00 PM
Total time: 6 hours 0 min
Beauty: Montara Mountain offers some of the best views in the Bay Area, north, west, east and south. This hike also offered considerable plant diversity. Some of the hike was plain, and some of it was plain beautiful!
Wildlife seen: lizards and birds, a flash of a snake.
Difficulty: For anyone looking for a workout, this hike will give you one as the slopes were pretty steep.
Rather than spend a lot of words writing about this hike, I’ll make it brief. I met up with the Stanford Outing Club group at the San Pedro Valley Park parking lot and we got stared up Montara Mountain Trail.
This trail initially climbs through a stand of eucalyptus trees but soon reaches open areas where the switch backs offer great views north of Pacifica and beyond.
After a good climb up it connects with the North Peak Access Road which goes from Montara State Beach up to Montara Mountain. We took the leg up to Montara Mountain and after enjoying the view, we hiked on down to Montara State Beach for a leisurely lunch among the sounds of crashing waves and sea birds.
After lunch we headed on back up taking San Pedro Mountain Road up the hill, looping around to where it connects back up with the North Peak Access Road.
From there we caught the Montara Mountain Trail headed back down towards San Pedro Valley Park but then took the Brooks Creek Trail for the remainder of the hike. This trail offered additional plant diversity with both open and shady areas.
Overall, while not my favorite hike, this is still a must for anyone wanting to hike the Bay Area. It’s a good work out and some of the views are to die for. Now lets see the pictures.
