Beautiful fall canopy

Now that fall has officially arrived in California (oh, you can tell! Temperatures drop to the 60′s and sometimes it rains), I find hiking on our local trails is a nice activity for any time of day. All you need is a comfortable pair of shoes, a bottle of water and a snack, and a sense of adventure!

Wunderlich Park is up Woodside Road, just outside the town of Woodside, California. Coming off highway 280 at 84, drive 3 miles west, until you see the small sign on the right announcing the park. The park is part of the larger San Mateo County Department of Parks, which operates 17 separate parks from Ana Nuevo to Coyote Point, all quite diverse and unique.

After parking, make your way up to one of the two trailheads. Because

Bear Gulch Trailhead

the park shares space with the Folger Estate Stable Historic District, some of the trails allow horses, while others are just for hikers. In fact, you might start your visit to Wunderlich with a walking tour of the historic Folger Estate, originally owned by the coffee magnate James Folger II. With a stable and other historic buildings, you can get a feel for how the Peninsula grew once train travel arrived in San Francisco. The City dwellers would escape to Woodside in the summer, to avoid cold and foggy San Francisco. The buildings on the Folger property were designed by Arthur Brown, who also designed some of the more important buildings in San Francisco, including the Ferry Building and Coit Tower.

From Wunderlich Park, you may choose to hike out to Skyline, about a 10 mile roundtrip. When I take my kids, we chose something a little shorter, out to Salamader or Redwood Flats, about 2.5 miles. The trails are well maintained and welcoming, and in the fall, you can enjoy the gorgeous autumn landscape of the Bay Area.