A Hike in the Fog

Today we hiked for 4 hours in El Corte de Madera Creek Open Space Preserve, off of Skyline Drive just 4 miles north of La Honda. We met at the parking lot near Skeggs Point at our usual time of 7:45 am. The weather was a thick "pea soup" fog. The sun never did shine and it was more like hiking in the rain, as it was very cold, wet and muddy.

We hiked through redwood forests, the earth below thick with loam and the hills dotted with woodwardia ferns. The trail was very rocky, similar to the trails in Castle Rock State Park, but with lots of sandstone formations. We hiked the Tafoni trail to the Resolution trail, which is named for the DC-6 airplane that crashed into the mountain side in 1953. The Resolution trail passes right next to the wreckage, some of which is still visible from the trail. Hikers are now restricted to the trail, but photos of the crash site are available online.


The Resolution, a British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines DC-6, Flight No. 304-44, was approaching San Francisco airport on its way from Sydney, Australia via Honolulu, Hawaii. The plane was carrying 11 passengers and 8 crew. Shortly after crossing over the California coastline, while flying in fog much like today, the airplane crashed into the shoulder of King’s Mountain at an altitude of 1,950 feet and broke up, scattering burning wreckage over a half-mile area in Corte Madera Canyon. All 19 people on board died in the crash, including 31 year old American pianist William Kapell, and it remains the worst aviation disaster in San Mateo County's history. The accident was attributed to human error: The flight crew failed to follow the appropriate procedures for an instrument approach to the airport.


We hiked back on the Fir trail and, since we arrived at the end an hour early, chose to do another loop down the Fir Trail to the Methuselah trail and back up the Sierra Morena trail to Skeggs Point and the parking lot. The uphill hiking is definitely getting easier!