Montini Open Space Preserve

We had heard that there was a new trail segment at Montini which had just opened up, so we swung by there to check it out today.  Technically, it's not an entirely new segment.  An unofficial trail leading down from Two Goat Point to the Holstein Hill Trail had long been in use making a loop out of the officially one way Valley of the Moon Trail.  Not only was it a rogue trail but it was steep in places and largely exposed, which would have been less than ideal on a hot day like today.

We started off at the Field of Dreams parking lot and headed up Spotted Fawn Trail.  We turned left onto the Holstein Hill Trail and ran into a problem.  A tree had fallen across the trail.  Normally, not a big deal.  But in this case a healthy poison oak vine found the top of the fallen tree trunk to be a great place to grow.  So hopping over the tree was not so easy.  We picked our way around the obstruction and continued on.

The right turn onto the new trail segment is not obvious.  At least not yet.  The signage at the intersection clearly marks the Holstein Hill Trail going roughly east-west.  But it makes no mention of the clear trail headed roughly north.  We turn in the hopes that things will become more clear later.  Not too long afterwards we see a sign indicating a right turn instead of what would have been a continuation of the old rogue trail.  We found it.

The new trail segment snakes its way uphill, mostly through a line of oaks.  The rapidly rising temperatures become far more bearable when in the shade.  This new segment is not just sanctioned, it is clearly superior to what was here before.  We're not sure what the new trail segment should be called, so we just went with Valley of the Moon Trail name in our track file.

At Two Goat Point we turn right and head downhill along the long established Valley of the Moon Trail.  We turned at the next junction with Spotted Fawn Trail and then headed back to our trailhead.  Even though we were on the trails for less than 2 miles, we achieved our goals.  We got the new trail segment mapped and we got out of the Sun before the temperatures were expected to rise to 100 degrees.

Coppertone and I walked past a large flock of sheep near the trailhead who were busy eating the yellowing high grass that hopefully would not be around the burn later in the year.  They were corraled into an area and closely watched by a nearby shepherd with a trailer.  We enjoy seeing these "wooly weeders" wherever they appear.

With COVID-19, most folks were wearing masks on the trail, but a few seem to refuse.  We steered clear of them as much as possible.