Clarkia, Serpentine & Ridgeview trails

April 1, 2019

Edgewood Park & Natural Preserve is a highly popular location in San Mateo for wildflower viewing. Last time I hiked here was late spring in 2017. This year, I chose an early spring visit the preserve on what was a heavily overcast day with light drizzle. 

The park is located right off Hwy 280 and can be reached by taking Edgewood Road exit. Instead of going to the main parking lot, I chose to hike from Clarkia trail head located at the southern end of the preserve. Clarkia trail head can be accessed from Canada Road, with road side parking for a dozen or so cars.

Clarkia trail offers an easy grade as it makes its way into the preserve. Right away, I was treated to a hillside that was filled with Sky Lupine flowers. As I made my way in, I could also spot some Johnny Jump-up and Cream Cup flowers. The trail also offers a glimpse of the expansive hillside that this preserve offers to hikers that was sporting a lush green grass cover after an excellent rainy season. 

Where Clarkia trail meets Sunset trail (at trail post #22) is a hot spot for California Poppy flowers. Continuing further, I took the single track Clarkia trail for a short distance before bearing left on Serpentine trail.

Serpentine trail is little more than a mile and traverses the park in an east-west direction, between trail posts #20 and #9. The south-eastern section of the preserve not only has a colorful display of wildflowers in abundance, but some outstanding views of the bay on the east. 

I covered the entire Serpentine trail today, a short segment of which goes through nicely shaded oak woodlands. 

Turning south by Edgewood trail, I quickly connected to Ridgeview trail, heading westward. Ridgeview offers the dual advantage of some scenic views of the hillsides as well as its own share of wildflowers along the way. Sky Lupine, Jewel flower and more can be spotted in this trail. At the west end, there is a short hilltop that is worth stopping by for an outstanding 360 view of the entire preserve.

A short stint by Live Oak trail got me back to trail post #20. From here, I took Sunset trail and retraced the more than 1/2 mile segment by Clarkia trail to where I started the hike from.

This section of the preserve has some fine display of California Poppy & Buttercup flowers dotting the trails. Since 2017, while my ability to identify wildflowers has improved, I have not been able to name several kinds I spotted today. Perhaps that is a reminder for me to take up a docent led wildflower walk that Edgewood Park offers on spring weekends.

Today’s hike, focused on wildflower viewing, was a relatively easy 4.2 mile loop covering Clarkia, Serpentine & Ridgeview trails with a modest elevation gain of about 500 feet.

Here is the complete album of photographs from my third documented outing at Edgewood Park.