Cycling Old La Honda

Old La Honda Road doesn’t have much traffic on the way from Portola Valley to Skyline Boulevard. This advantage and the fact that it’s close to Palo Alto makes it the premiere gateway for bicyclists heading to Skyline. It climbs steeply enough to make it a pleasantly memorable experience, especially if you’re an active rider.

Many bicyclists start their rides in Woodside, a forested community known for its stately mansions and horse ranches. The town dates back to the mid-1800s, when logging was the main industry. The town’s stores and hotels served wagon masters carrying logs to the port of Redwood City. Today’s roads through Woodside carry cars, bicycles, and equestrians on busy weekends.

Cycling is so popular here bicyclists outnumber cars on most weekends. Ride carefully, and obey all traffic laws.

Old La Honda Road, one of the oldest logging roads in the area, was extended to La Honda in 1876. Like many early roads in the Coast Range, it became a toll road — the Redwood City and Pescadero Turnpike.

Leave Woodside and ride south on Mountain Home Road, where you’ll pass palatial estates hidden behind tan oak, eucalyptus, scotch broom, and redwoods. The road was built in 1872 to link Woodside with the town of Searsville. In the late 1880s, Searsville was abandoned and flooded out with the damming of San Francisquito Creek. Portola Road cuts across the reservoir’s marshy backwaters.

Some historical landmarks are located at the beginning of Old La Honda Road. On the right, Preston Road, named for wealthy San Francisco attorney Edgar Preston, was formerly Portola Road. Preston built a mansion here in the 1870s, along with a pond, hiking trails, flower gardens, and other amenities on a 300-acre estate. He tried to raise wine grapes, but parasites claimed them. All that remains of the mansion -- torn down in 1953 -- is the original guest house and a stairway on the right just after crossing Dennis Martin Creek. Spice mogul August Schilling later purchased the Preston estate.

At the first hairpin, crossing Dennis Martin Creek, the driveway straight ahead is the former Dennis Martin Road, the site for some of the earliest logging in the Coast Range. On the right, the trail following a branch of Dennis Martin Creek goes to the Schilling pond, owned by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District.

About two miles into the climb there’s a steep right bend in the road where, in the stagecoach days, passengers had to disembark and walk — or push the wagon — until they reached more level ground. Near the summit, the redwood forest turns even the sunniest days into a twilight ride.

Cross Skyline Boulevard, called "Wonder Way" when it was conceived in 1917. The road, built from 1920 to 1929, extends 47 miles south from San Francisco. Skyline was widened and given its present alignment in the 1950s and 1960s.

Begin a descent on Old La Honda Road, which was paved for the first time in 1987. Turn left on Highway 84 at the stop sign, where there’s a blind corner. Listen carefully for cars coming up the hill. Hot weekends bring out sun worshipers, who occasionally clog the wide two-lane highway. The descent into the town of La Honda can be marked by a sudden and dramatic drop in temperature entering the redwoods.

Turn left on Pescadero Road after riding through La Honda, and continue straight onto Alpine Road at the bridge over Alpine Creek. Shortly, you’ll pass Heritage Grove, saved from logging in the late 1960s and added to Sam McDonald County Park. The redwoods marked for cutting still have their blue paint.

Alpine Road climbs like a staircase, with steep sections between eight and 10 percent. You’ll have impressive views of the Pacific Coast, the Coast Range, and Mindego Hill to the north.

Cross Skyline Boulevard at the summit, and proceed on Page Mill Road. Parts of Page Mill were built by William Page, a gold miner who turned woodsman. He built the road in 1866 to get to his mill, located in Portola State Park.

At the time it was built, the road was called the Mayfield and Pescadero Road. Mill was interested in the most direct route, and damn the horses. Some grades rise as steeply as 17 percent. Passengers taking the stagecoach to Pescadero must have had a thrilling journey.

Page Mill’s steepest section begins midway down, at a hairpin, Shotgun Bend, so-called because it used to be a popular shooting area. Turn left on Arastradero Road at the bottom of Page Mill, and return to Woodside through Portola Valley on Alpine, Portola, and Mountain Home roads.

How to get there: To reach Woodside, take the Woodside exit from Interstate 280 and go about a mile. From Highway 101 take the Highway 84 exit going west.

Mileage Log

0.0 Start mileage at Woodside School on Highway 84, 0.2 miles west of Cañada Road intersection. Ride east on Highway 84.

0.2 Right on Mountain Home Road at four-way stop.

0.6 Manzanita Road on left.

2.2 Left on Portola Road at stop sign.

2.4 Right at stop sign, staying on Portola Road.

2.8 Right on Old La Honda Road. Begin 3.4-mile climb.

6.2 Skyline Boulevard. Cross road and continue on Old La Honda Road. Begin descent.

8.8 Left on Highway 84 at stop sign. Stop, look, and listen before crossing at blind corner.

12.0 La Honda. Grocery store and restaurant on right in shopping center.

12.7 Left on Pescadero Road.

13.8 Continue straight onto Alpine Road in the redwoods. (Pescadero Road veers right here.) 5.6-mile climb begins in 1 mile.

17.5 Entrance to honor camp and Pescadero Creek Park on right.

17.9 Left at stop sign. Right goes to Portola State Park.

21.3 Skyline Boulevard. Cross and continue on Page Mill Road.

22.0 Alpine Road junction on left, behind green gate. Dirt road for 2.6 miles connects with paved Alpine Road.

27.1 Keep left at junction with Moody Road.

27.3 Entrance to Foothills Park. Drinking fountain outside gate.

29.6 Left on Arastradero Road.

31.6 Left on Alpine Road at stop sign.

32.8 Right on Portola Road at stop sign.

36.1 Portola Road on left. Continue straight. Road name changes to Sand Hill Road, unmarked.

36.8 Left on Manzanita Way near bottom of hill.

38.1 Right on Mountain Home Road at stop sign.

38.5 Left on Highway 84 at stop sign.

38.7 End of ride at Woodside School.