Villages Hiking Club

Animal Trails Hike

Richard Bainbridge led a hike on our hills along animal trails he has discovered on Saturday, May 19th. They started at Foothill Center at 8:45, The hike went from Rawhide to Sky to Oak up to Buffalo down Bay and over to Meadow and back to Foothill.

Shoreline Outing

Al Girolami led a hike at Mountain View’s Shoreline Park. Located on San Francisco Bay, it offers flat and mostly paved trails where many types of waterfowl were seen. The hike was about 4 miles including checking out the Rengstorff Ranch House.

Spring 2018 Outing

This year’s outing was another resounding success with over fifty people attending the Carmel event. Tuesday evening there was a meet and greet social on the patio. On Wednesday, May 9, Al Girolami, led 18 Village Hikers on a 3 mile loop in Carmel Valley’s Garland Regional Park. Hike’s goal was to see a Waterfall, but that was not possible as a tree had fallen the previous day blocking the trail. There were four hikes in all and a dinner at a local restaurant

Rancho Canada Del Oro Open Space

Nancy Rumple led hikers on an 8-9 mile hilly hike in Rancho Canada Del Oro Open Space following the Mayfair Ranch, Longwall, and Bald Peaks trail loop with a 1000 ft. elevation gain.They saw wild flowers and great views.

Brothel and Speak-easy outing

Brad Hinckley led a historical hike into a mansion that was a brothel and speak-easy place during the depression which the mafia ran for a number of years. The private tour of this very interesting home in Mt. View is very difficult to get into since people are still living in it and at one time was on a 5 acre mansion ground. The upper level consisted of madam rooms inter-connected by secret passages that all could hide in if the police showed up. There was a card room on that upper floor that housed a look-out window to watch for police. The basement consisted of several rooms that the speak-easy was operated in. At one time they grew their own barley and operated a still in a separate building in the back.

Russian Ridge Hikes

Johanna Bakker led a 4-5 mile hike in the Russian Ridge. Wate Bakker led a 7-8 mile hike. Both hikes visited areas on Russian Ridge known for beautiful wild flower displays.

Silver Creek Valley Country Club Hike

Gary Holmquist led a “lunch hike” to the Silver Creek Valley Country Club House.This was a hilly 6-7 mile hike (roundtrip) The group wove through the exclusive mansion neighborhoods.

Hill Hike

On Saturday, April 21st. Rich and Wendy led a hike up our hill to the Mail Box, starting at the upper garden. The leisurely hike included lunch at the picnic tables at the top of the hill. 

Coyote Hills Regional Park,

Sandy and John Petrin led a hike to Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont. It was mostly a level paved path along Bayview Trail and curved around Red Hill and back to the park entrance for about 3.6 miles. There was a small museum depicting the lifestyle of the indigenous peoples that lived in the area.

Egret

Red Winged Blackbird

Trail Maintenance Day 2018

Volunteers and hiking club members met at the Foothill parking lot yesterday at 8.30 AM for a morning of work to maintain and upgrade the trails in our hill lands. This is an annual event of the club and helps keep the switchbacks and narrow trails in good hiking order.