A Bay Area Peak to Love: Hiking Montara Mountain

Date: September 29, 2022

Place: Montara Mountain, Montara, California

Coordinates: 37.545357, -122.506286

Length: 6.5 miles

Level: strenuous

Last fall I had the opportunity to hike up another prominent Bay Area peak - that of Montara Mountain. I hiked the vicinity Montara Mountain many times, but never made it all the way up to the summit. When my friend asked me about going on a hike with her I suggested Montara Mountain and she was happy to come along. As it was, my car broke down and my friend had to pick me up at the shop so we arrived at the trailhead much later than we planned. We knew we would be pressed in time, so we chose a shorter loop than would have hiked otherwise. 

The trailhead parking is a tiny pullout at the end of an alley, and it isn't marked very well. Thankfully the path through the trees was easy to see. The first part was shaded by large cypress and pine trees.  

It didn't take long before we were out of the shade. We hiked under the direct sun for most of the rest of the hike. Out of the trees we were having a very nice view of the coastline. 

Up ahead of us loomed Montara Mountain. It is not all that high but it is the most prominent peak in that area of the Peninsula. As the trail was shown on my navigator there were hardly any switchbacks, indicting a steep ascend.

For the time being however, we were approaching the mountain at a fairly mild grade and a good, brisk pace. Occasionally we entered a patch of trees only to leave the nice shade all too soon.

Montara Mountain Trail

I didn't expect to see many flowers blooming so late in fall but there were some. As is typical for this area, most were of the aster family. 

Pacific Aster

We reached the first serious uphill stretch. It was very narrow, overgrown with vegetation, and going strait uphill. According to my navigator it was the correct trail but there was possibly a better alternative. We did go up this one though, struggling not to slip and getting scratched by the tall vegetation. It did lead us to a wide, traverse trail and we were relieved to get there. I announced to my friend that I don't want to go downhill on that trail and she agreed with me. 

Going uphill

Near the trail junction were large bushes laden with ripe, red berries. These weren't toyon but something I'm not familiar with, possibly a non-native species that was brought over for landscaping and escaped to the wild. 

For another stretch of trail we had respite from the ascend. We also had the pleasure of hiking in the shade of the pine trees, a welcomed luxury in a growingly hot day. This part of the trail was adorned by another plant that was introduced in California for landscaping and had since became a serious problem because of its agrassive, invasive nature - the Pampas Grass. 

Montara Mountain Trail

I admit that I understand why the pampas grass was brought over for landscaping, though. It is a very pretty plant.

Pampas Grass

Further up the trail we found another blooming wildflower, the sticky monkeyflower bush. My friend was very happy to see it, it's one of the plant names that she remembered after hiking enough times with me. 

Sticky Monkeyflower, Diplacus aurantiacus

The easy, mild grade uphill slope was over all too soon. The trail curved and once again we were ascending a steep slope. It was clear of vegetation thankfully, but it was also fully exposed to the sun. 

Montara Mountain Trail

My friend chugged along but I had to pause at times to catch my breath and to wipe my braw. I turned around to appreciate the height that we'd gained so far. The ocean seemed far below. 

Ocean View

We still had quite a lot of uphill walk to do. Thankfully I had good excuses to pause along the way. There were no blooming roses to smell, but the fragrance of the ceanothus was just as good. 

Blueblossom, Ceanothus thyrsiflorus

In some places the trail was steep enough to merit stairs. We were there last September and the trail looked run down. I wonder in what condition it is now, after the intense storms that passed through the area last winter.

Montara Mountain Trail

We approached the mountain and the trail leveled for some distance. We got a nice view into the deep creek and the saddle that separated the double peak domes. We were heading to the north peak.

Montara Mountain

We were walking north but when I turned to look behind me to the south I saw the white globe on top of Pillar Point. I also noticed how dirty the air was. Smoke from distant wildfires contaminated the sky. It was more than a month before the rains begun and cleared the air.

Pillar Point

Both my friend and I needed a break. It was hot and we were sweaty and tired. But we were just before the final ascent and decided to push through to the top. Once again we were going up a steep trail, but this one would be the last.

Montara Mountain Trail

We reached the summit and even taken a few moments to look around and take pictures before eventually sitting down for our anticipated break. One other person was just starting down when we arrived. and for our entire break we had the mountain all to ourselves.

Montara Mountain, North Peak Summit

From the height of the mountain it was all to clear how unclear the air was. With active fires in California still, even though they were not nearby, the air quality was awful, and visibility was poor.

Fading Coastline, South View

 

When we got up to start our way downhill my friend voiced her concerns about the time we had left to complete the hike. We used up any spare time we've had on the summit break and it was still questionable whether we'll be back on time. We needed to chose the way on which to hike down the mountain - the one we came up on, or to loop back from the north. After a bit of discussion we decided that looping back from the north would be within our time limits.

Montara Mountain Trail, the north route

We agreed not to make any more stops but I did brief pauses whenever there was something worth pausing for, such as wildflowers.

The trail down was a wide dirt road. Once we started down it we also started encountering other users, primarily mountain bikers. Most of them were on their way up and merely nodded at us as we crossed their paths. Some were going down, passing us at great speed and picking up dust.

Montara Mountain Trail

Around the north contour of the mountain side there was a great view of seaside neighborhoods of Pacifica, and Pacifica Beach. Far across the water I could barely make the faint line of the coastline of Marin Headlands.

Pacifica

We walked briskly, despite the heat of the day. The trail cut through tall chaparral, tall enough in places to cast nice, cooling shade.

In one place we needed to bypass a manzanita bush that was bent over the trail. Manzanita was the dominant chaparral species in that part of the mountain, on the heights of the northwest slopes.

Manzanita, Arctostaphylos sp.

There were wildflowers here and there still. To see anything blooming at the end of October, the coastal areas would be the best place to go. The fog moisture extends the bloom season there beyond that of any other region.

Silver bush Lupine, Lupinus albifrons

We kept going down at a steady, quick pace. At one point we stopped to drink water and I turned around and noticed the distance we've covered and how far down we have come. Once again, Montara Mountain was looming over us.

Montara Mountain

We still had a good distance to go though. Mountain bikers kept going up and down the trail and one of them managed to loop around and meet us a second time on our way down.

Montara Mountain Trail

A single turkey vulture circled above our heads, as if checking to see whether we're approaching death. Seeing our vigor, he continued gliding in widening circles until he disappeared from our sight.

Turkey Vulture

As we made our way down the slope the manzanita bushes were being replaced by other chaparral species, and the coyote brush became more dominant. The coyote brush were in fruit stage, looking like little fluffy clouds that came to rest on the ground

Coyote Brush, Bacharis pilularis

We even got to see a few California poppies in bloom. The end of September is definitely not their peak season, but there are always the odd few that would bloom at unusual times around the year.

California Poppy, Eschscholzia californica

From another view point we could see the old, now exposed, fortification south of Devil's Slide. South of the crumbling WWII building was the Gray Whale Cove State Beach, one of the nicer hidden beaches in the area. All the mountain slope area above the beach is part of the McNee Ranch State Park.

Gray Whale Cove

From a view point a bit further down the trail I saw the lonely tree at the upper area of McNee Ranch State Park. When I hiked with the 4H Hiking Project there, we had our break under that tree.Apparently I didn't write here about that hike, perhaps I should revisit it.

McNee Ranch

Montara Mountain looked more distant now. We had about less than a mile left to the parking area, but by now we were tired and sweaty, and that distance seemed twice as long. We decided that we could afford ourselves another short break and we took it when we got to a nice shady grove of pine trees.

Montara Mountain Trail

Manroot plants are also not a common sight in September. Under the pine trees I found this individual however, looking pretty in stressed-pink colors.

Manroot

We reached the bottom of the trail and had only a short, flat bit of trail to cover the distance to where my friend had parked her car. She wasn't sure if she had the time to drive me all the way to the car shop and I told her she could drop me off at the train station instead. On the drive however, she decided to drive me all the way there and the moment I was out of her car she waved me, and vanished around the corner at top speed.

Montara Mountain is beautiful, and the views from its heights are great. I hope to make it up there again in the near future, perhaps in spring time.