Kate Bradshaw

_{The Fifield-Cahill Ridge Trail, located entirely on property owned by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, offers stunning views of nearby reservoirs used to provide drinking water to Peninsula residents. Courtesy SFPUC/Robin Scheswohl.}

By Kate Bradshaw

May 20, 2021

Hidden off a dirt road in the Skylawn Memorial Cemetery in the hills between San Mateo and Half Moon Bay is a pristine trail that runs 10 miles through the Peninsula’s most protected open space.

You can’t go there alone — you’ve got to sign up to go with a trained docent — and you need a reservation. But the views from Fifield-Cahill Ridge Trail are worth the hassle.

The trail runs for 10 miles, starting at the Skyline Quarry off of State Route 92, between Half Moon Bay and San Mateo, and ending at the Portola Gate at Sweeney Ridge, an open space preserve between Pacifica and San Bruno. The forested ridge the trail runs along is owned by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC). The area is part of a 23,000-acre property the utility owns and manages as part of the watershed it controls.

All of the protections that surround the trail are there for good reason: It’s near four Peninsula watershed reservoirs that provide the drinking water for San Francisco and other communities, and there are a number of protected species found there, such as the California red-legged frog, San Francisco garter snake, Bay checkerspot butterfly, steelhead and the marbled murrelet. According to Tim Ramirez, land and resources management manager at the SFPUC, around 2002, the trail was opened up to the public using the docent-led approach. Docents are trained volunteers, and through their efforts, the trail can be accessed three days a week for up to three trips per day, on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Full story here.