Alex Bovee

Amazing weather in San Francisco and the peninsula compelled me to drag the family to Montara state beach for the McNee Ranch hike up to the North Peak.  We got the gear ready and the car loaded so we could just grab the “Oof” from her crib, put her in the carseat, and head out with hopefully minimal interruption of her nap.  That actually went incredibly smoothly.  The drive there was about 20 minutes from San Francisco taking the 280 West/South and then jumping onto the 1 to head South towards Pacific.  It was also relatively un-trafficky at 2PM on a Sunday, which I was pretty happy about.

Parking at the McNee Ranch entrance is a bit of pain in the ass and was not as easy as I had hoped.  There’s space for a solid 5 (maybe 6) cars, which makes it tough.  The best bet is to go just past the entrance to Montara Beach parking and grab a spot there or along the road.  The only challenge from there is a walk along 1 for about 150 meters.  Which, normally isn’t much of an issue unless you’ve got a little one with you.

The hike was pretty awesome with great views along the trail.  The hardest part by far was the initial stretch which was a solid incline for about a half mile.  Once you get past that, the rest (for at least a mile or so) is pretty smooth sailing and a gentle uphill slope.  Unfortunately we didn’t make it to the top.  Lilly hurt her a leg a little and was not particularly interested in getting back into the backpack.  So, we carried her down and called it a day.  We probably made it about half way up before turning around, and the views we did catch were amazing.  We’ll definitely be back to finish it off when the weather is right again.