protected slopes on the park’s east side.
Distance: 1.4-mile loop
Time: Less than 1 hour
Elevation Change: 300’ gain
To the right of the park entrance find the signed beginning of the Quail Loop Trail. You start climbing immediately, with oak trees overhead and patches of bright flowers at your feet. Early in spring, false Solomon’s seal plants droop with clusters of small white flowers, which later form panicles of red-brown berries. Switchbacks take you up the mountain, first out into an open grassy slope where sun-loving orange poppies and yellow mule ears dot the hillside. At the next switchback you are under the cover of oaks and toyons with ferns and snowberry underneath.
Toward the top of the hill you encounter Monterey pines and a large grove of mature eucalyptuses. Here the trail crosses the picnic grounds to reach the wide meadow on an east-facing slope. On a clear day the brilliant Bay waters are set against the backdrop of East Bay cities and tree-topped hills. After taking in the sweep of Bay from north of San Francisco to its southern shores, continue on the Quail Loop Trail past the Crows Nest picnic shelter and bear left to descend across the meadow.
Pink owl’s clover brightens trailsides
At the first trail junction you could turn left to reach the visitor center at park headquarters, but instead stay on the Quail Loop Trail, which swings right. From the next trail junction the Quail Loop Trail goes left on a long traverse through woods of magnificent oaks back to the picnic areas near the park entrance.
If you would like to extend your trip, pass up the left Quail Loop Trail turnoff and continue down the hill for around two short zigzags to the next trail junction. Park signs offer the choice of going to San Bruno City Park or back to the park entrance on the Live Oak Nature Trail. If you take the San Bruno option, this trail, following El Zanjon Creek down to the park and back, adds 3 miles to this hike. When Native Americans, the Costanoans, lived in this area, they probably followed this trail along the creek to reach San Francisco Bay. Mollusks and fish were abundant and constituted a major part of their diet, along with herbs, bulbs, nuts, and berries. By means of snares and bow and arrows they hunted birds and small mammals to fill out a substantial diet.
If you ignore this side trip to San Bruno City Park, you will take the left turn to descend quickly on the Live Oak Nature Trail. In about 200 yards, take either leg of this trail to return to the meadows below.
TWO SHORT WALKS IN THE CANYON
The 0.5-mile Live Oak Nature Trail leaves the lower meadow parking area going left on the hillside just above El Zanjon Creek. The creek probably got its name from a Spanish word meaning “deep ditch’’ or “slough.” Through an oak glade follow the trail in the shade of live oaks. In fall, poison oak bushes put on a brilliant red-orange display in the understory. Now crossing open grasslands, you see east to Mt. Diablo, the main reference point for surveying in northern California. The trail circles back on the shady upper hillside, then drops down to return to its starting point.
Another short walk goes by the Willow Shelter to the right of the park entrance on a service road above El Zanjon Creek, past picnic tables in the shade of oak groves. From the end of this road it is just a third mile back to the park entrance.
Mills Canyon Nature Area—Burlingame
Under Mexican rule, Mills Canyon was part of Rancho Buri Buri, which included most of northeast San Mateo County, extending as far south as present-day San Mateo. In the early 1860s Darius Ogden Mills and his brother-in-law, Ansel Easton, each bought 1500 acres of Rancho Buri Buri. The division between their two holdings ran straight through this canyon. Most of Mills’ estate was in contemporary Millbrae, but this land, including the upper part of this canyon which takes his name, was eventually annexed to Burlingame.
The city acquired the canyon as a park and wildlife area, and in 1978 volunteers built a delightful, hikers-only, 1.75-mile loop called the Ed Taylor Trail, in honor of the man who built the trail and inspired the volunteers. Dedicated in September 1983, the trail is maintained by local volunteers, the Friends of Mill Canyon, with the help of the city of Burlingame. This group offers a variety of hikes from the Adeline Street entrance on the second Saturday of every month, featuring topics on wildlife, native plants, geology, and insects, and a yearly nature treasure hunt for children. Eagle Scouts built the steps from Adeline Drive and other Scouts put up information boards at the trail entrance.
The Nature Area is open from 8 A.M. to dusk. To get to the Adeline Drive entrance, from El Camino or Skyline Blvd. in Burlingame take Hillside Drive and turn northeast on Adeline Drive to off-street parking. For the Arguello Drive entrance from I-280 or El Camino Real in Burlingame, take Trousdale Drive, and turn south on Sebastian Drive. In two blocks, turn right on Arguello Drive and go to the park entrance on the south side of the 3000 block.
This 1.75-mile loop trail through a tight little canyon in suburban Burlingame traverses open northwest slopes, then dips down into deep woods beside Mills Creek. On a summer day this canyon is a cool, sheltered place for a leisurely walk along a little watercourse, relatively unchanged since the early settlers came here. On fair winter days the southern sun shining on the northwest hillside will warm you while you enjoy the views down the canyon.
As you enter the preserve from Arguello Drive, a large sign tells you to start your trip on the Ed Taylor Trail which begins to your right about 25 feet from the entrance. This path descends gently through willows, live oaks, coyote bushes, and toyons for about 20 yards to a trail junction, marked by a sign post with arrows pointing to the Creekside Trail. This trail turns off sharply to the right, while the North Trail continues straight ahead on the upper hillside. By beginning on the North Trail, you have a shady uphill return on the Creekside Trail—best for warm summer days.
For Bay views, take the North Trail first, returning on the trail by the creek. On the North Trail you follow a shady path under huge, high-branched live oaks, then emerge into mixed grassland interspersed with young oaks. Then, descending along the upper edge of a tributary to Mills Creek, you follow the north bank of Mills Creek upstream winding in and out of little ravines. When you come upon a plank bridge with chain handrails that crosses to the south side of the creek at Adeline Drive, pass it to reach two tall and picturesque outcrops of graywacke, a rock formation associated with the San Andreas Fault. Then continue on the path upstream past mossy rocks and lacy wood ferns to a succession of miniature cascades and small pools. Before long the path to the main entrance turns uphill, and you leave this little creek, which below the park flows beside homes and schools, under streets and finally into the Bay at Burlingame’s Shoreline Bird Sanctuary.
Trails on Northern San Francisco Watershed Lands
San Francisco Watershed— the Bay Area Ridge Trail Route
The 15-mile linear valley running through the Watershed was formed over the millennia by movements along the San Andreas Fault. For perhaps thousands of years before the coming of the Spanish this valley was the site of Native American villages. From then until the dams were built, it was a place of small, fertile farms and a few inns. The Crystal Springs Hotel, built in 1855, a popular spa of its day, gave the lakes their name.
In the northern Watershed between the San Francisco County line and Highway 92 there are two fine trails east of the San Andreas lakes and one long trail on the west side. Each of these trails is open to the public for hiking and horseback and bicycle riding. The Sawyer Camp Historic Trail and the San Andreas Trail on the east side of the lakes, longtime Peninsula favorites, are managed by San Mateo County
