After two weeks of rain we were itching to get out of the house and hit the trails. Anywhere outside with sun would be a welcome relief from all this incessant rain. It’s beginning to feel like the Pacific Northwest and not sunny California. All that aside the weathermen were calling for a chilly but sunny day. With the weather report in hand I had to find a new hiking location.
We’ve pretty much visited every park on the peninsula and South Bay that has any long distance hiking options (5-10 miles). I’ve driven by Uvas Reservoir and I knew there was a county park up in the hills behind it but I didn’t know how big it was other than it had ‘some’ waterfalls. The park is small by South Bay standards but its really pretty and green out around the area this time of year. I figured with all the rain the waterfalls would be up. The park is actually about 5 miles off Uvas Road and is really tucked back up in the canyon. It’s amazing that its so close to my parents house but yet feels so remote.
After parking and a quick use of the facilities we were off on are way to check out all the waterfalls the park had to offer. The park was surprisingly busy, did I mention that it began to start pouring rain right as we started? I was cursing myself for not packing my rain layer before leaving the house. We made a beeline south on the Alec Canyon trail. It’s quite steep and wide but well shaded which was a plus with the weather. After a 1/2 mile we made a turn onto the Contour Trail which roughly follows the topographical contour of the hillside (hence its well named). It was really pretty and unbelievably green. As it was cold and wet I didn’t really bother to bust out the camera.
After 1.4 miles you cross Swanson Creek which was beautiful, it had these gently cascading waterfalls over some small boulders. You end up crossing the creek again over a set of slippery boulders. Thankfully neither of us fell into the abyss and we made it down the trail to Upper Falls. It’s about a 20-30 drop over a rocky cliff, you can’t ever really get a great view of it because of the terrain. Starting to get the theme here, there are a whole lot of waterfalls in this park. Black Rock Falls is a small detour off the main trail. This one was cool because you could basically hike right into the waterfall, there was a little nook to hand out in the spray of the falls. At this point I was getting really cold in my gear so I suggested we hike up the nearest hill to warm back up :D.
We made the hike up Knobcone Point, the map says “steep” and they are not lying at all. It’s a short and steep .4 miles with some good views of the surrounding area. What it doesn’t have is a rewarding view at the end. You end up at Knobcone Point with a wet picnic table and trees and some burning quads. Oh well we were both much warmer at this point but decided to make a mad dash for the car as the weather was beginning to take a turn for the worse.
Pros: many scenic waterfalls, fun creek crossings
Cons: not many trails, quite busy, limited parking
Distance: 3.8 miles
Elevation: 2100 feet
Time: 2 hours and 10 min