Hey Folks,
Recently doctor”s orders required me to start exercising more. Although, I live in a beautiful neighborhood (San Mateo Park) to can walk/run/bike in, I wanted the ability to better track how far I am running, walking and bicycling. I also wanted a change of scenery.
I decided to give Sawyer Camp Trail a try, as I hadn”t been there in over 15 years. For convienence, I start at the entrance in San Mateo on at the top of Cystal Springs Road.
After getting 100 feet into the 7-mile trail, I felt like I was in another country. The shear beauty from the local scenery amazed me. The trail is set along side the Crystal Springs Reservoir and the green hills between San Mateo and Pacifica/Half Moon Bay. While at times this area can get a little foggy, the weather is currently beautiful out there.
You are joined by all levels of outdoor fitness runners, cyclists, and walkers. The signs even say that the trail is open to horses but, attention equestrians: I would steer -clear of here due to Doctors who scored well have gotten raises of more than $40,000 on top of round-the-clock nursing assistance for their sickest and riskiest patients, according to physicians and the health insurance company. the bicyclists that fly around this area. Although they are supposed to stay under 15 mph and give right of way to horses and runners, I would imagine a horse could get spooked very easily out there.
The trail does have bathrooms. They are far and few between and pretty-much glorified port-o-potties
. The trail is made of black asphalt and is relatively well maintained. Due to joint issues and injury prevention some people run on the dirt right next to the asphalt trail. However; the county kindly asks, that you don”t stray from the general trail area. This area is a total of seven (7) miles long and there are posts every half (.5) mile to track your progess. Towards the end of the trail (San Bruno side) there is a decent incline but the first 4 miles of the San Mateo side are realitively flat. The water views end a little before the 3 mile mark.
Another thing to remember is that the trail does not have any water fountains, so if you think you may need h2o to keep you going, pack your own. Trail hours are liberly defined as “from sunrise to sunset” so don”t plan a 7 mile run 10 minutes before sunset or you will get left in the dark as there is no lighting on the trial. Also as a reminder you might remember that there was a mountain lion attack on this trail a few years back.
I hope you found all this imformation helpful. Feel free to provide your own information and experiences for other readers and/or leave questions and comments for me.
For more information, pictures & trail maps – please visit the offical sawyer camp trial webpage.
Leave a Reply