As soon as I woke up on Saturday, I felt antsy. I needed a good hike (a euphemism for a walk in the woods). I had hoped to escape in the morning, but the morning had other ideas.

By the time I was able to break free, it was two in the afternoon. I didn't want to lose the day, so I decided to hike in nearby Calero County Park. It had only been two months since my last visit, but the park had plenty of trails left to explore.

To reach the those trails faster, I drove to Calero's southern entrance, on Casa Loma Road, just west of McKean Road.

As I pulled into the parking lot, I was confused by the sign. Instead of saying "Calero County Park", like I expected, it said "Rancho Cañada del Oro Open Space Preserve". Unbeknown to me, the park and the preserve bordered one another.

The funny thing is that I had heard of Rancho Cañada del Oro before. I just didn't realize it was so close or so easy to reach. I blame Google Maps for my geographical ignorance. (Note the lack of labels in the vicinity of the blue marker.)

Given that I only had a few hours of daylight, I abandoned my plan to hike in Calero and chose to explore the preserve instead.

According to the trail map, the preserve is only five years old. I think a small part of me hoped the trails would still have that "new park" smell.

I started up the Mayfair Ranch Trail, climbing a series of switchbacks to the top of the hill. The trail leveled off as it followed the ridge line and provided some nice views.

The trail resumed its climb as it turned north. I stopped a number of times to take photos of the surrounding terrain, which was a stunning shade of green.

The trail peaked at a conveniently located picnic table before descending quickly to Baldy Ryan Creek.

A few minutes later, I reached the Longwall Canyon Trail. At the junction, I took the left branch and began the steep climb to Bald Peaks Trail. I found this part of the park particularly serene.

Two miles later, I was standing at an elevation of 1,800 feet (the trail had started at 1,000 feet) and had a spectacular panaromic view of the mountains and valley.

After pausing to snack at another conveniently located picnic table, I continued east along Bald Peaks Trail. Without trees to offer protection, I was buffeted by the wind.

Along the way, I noticed I was being watched. There seemed to be paranoid deer on every hillside. As soon as I was in sight, they stopped doing whatever it is deer do (grazing, prancing, taking antler-enhancing drugs) and stared. Luckily, they left me alone, so I was able to enjoy the view of Calero Reservoir.

At the next junction, I took the Catamount Trail, which wound its way down, first east, then south, until it connected with a short access trail into Calero.

I followed the trail and was soon trudging along an extremely flat and extremely muddy segment of Calero's Serpentine Loop Trail. By this time, the moon was beginning to appear in the darkening sky.

I picked up the pace and was soon back at parking lot. After a few minutes of scraping mud from my boots, I was on my way home.

All told, it took roughly 2.5 hours to cover the 8.5-mile loop. It was just the walk in the woods I needed.

You can read other Rancho Cañada del Oro hiking trips on Yelp and Southbay Ramblers.

You can also see a few more photos from my hike on Flickr.