Trail Transporter

Trail Transporter
            I love a good tree tunnel, no matter the type of trees. I also love mountain views and ocean views. Here in the Bay Area, it’s remarkable how many hikes offer all three in a few minutes of walking on the same trail.
            Sometimes a hike will transport me to another place, even locations I’ve never actually been to. Fans of director Werner Herzog may remember the haunting, misty scenes of the mountains of Peru in Aguirre, the Wrath of God. There was something entrancing about the way tendrils of mist wove through the cracks of the mountains in a gray, mystical haze.
            The first time I hiked the Brooks Creek Trail after breaking off the Montara Mountain Trail in Pacifica—on a gray, overcast day—I felt like I was walking in the mountains of Peru as shown in that Herzog film. It was the tendrils of fog accenting the lines between peaks that moved me. Next time I hiked there, the mystical mist was there again, bringing the same feeling.
            I recently hiked that trail after not being there for three or four years. Sure enough, at a particular turn of the trail facing a certain angle of the mountains, I felt as if I’d been transported again. White clouds melted down with the same effect even on a blue sky day.
            Have you been to a place near home that makes you feel like you’re somewhere far away? We don’t need a sci-fi transporter machine to be carried somewhere else. Keep putting one foot forward!
            This week’s Hike Notes from the archives, San Pedro Valley Montara Mountain-Brooks Creek Loop, leads readers on a climb through eucalyptus, manzanita and coyote brush, with a combination of ocean and mountain views.
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This week’s hike from the archives:
Hike Notes 127: San Pedro Valley Montara Mountain-Brooks Creek Loop