I began the day with a quickie drive and short hike to the Santa Clara County highpoint, Copernicus Peak, which is on the east side of San Jose. Crossing through San Jose, I started up the west side of the city to into the Santa Cruz Mountains. My route took me along state routes CA-17 to CA-9 through the town of Saratoga (very nice place, by the way), then up the road to the main ridge of the hills and the junction with Skyline Drive (also known as CA-35).

My plan was to do the San Mateo County highpoint first ("Long Ridge"), then backtrack south and do the Santa Cruz County highpoint second. However, I failed on my bid on Long Ridge, although the hike was very nice. I almost was involved in a wreck with another car along the highway as I pulled out to do a U-turn. I thought I had room, but a blind curve and a speeding Jeep made it a close call. I accept responsibility as I should have been more careful. As for the hike, it was a two-mile one-way hike through some very nice trees to the highpoint. I made it to within 50 feet of the top before an electric fence surrounding the summit stopped me. I surveyed the fence and found one place where I had about 10 inches of space where I could have wriggled under and through, but the thought of touching the fence, even by accident, was not compelling. Plus, there were dogs in the area, so I figured I'd just have to accept defeat and head back to my truck; San Mateo would have to wait another year (report).

Mount McPherson, the Santa Cruz County highpoint, is apparently off-limits for much of the year, being on private property. However, it is a Christmas tree farm, where people can go in and cut one down on their own, so access is opened for a few days and weekends prior to Christmas every year. This worked well for me since Christmas was just a week away; my presence would not be construed as anything suspicious. However, when I drove to the access road it was gated and signs along the road proscribed parking, so I backtracked a mile north to the Castle Rock State Park, where I parked. From here I followed some trails that went south but eventually fed me right back onto the highway, so I walked along the highway to the Mount McPherson access road. Up this road shortly, and I was at the Christmas tree farm. There was no activity evident; there was a camper there but no one was in. Nobody was cutting down any trees. This being so close to Christmas, where was everyone? Actually, it worked well for me so I could go about my nefarious activities without being hassled by the man. The actual highpoint is a bit past the farm in the forest, a flattish summit that required some pacing here and there to be sure I "got" it. And that was that. I egressed the way I came in and was back to my truck in less than an hour.

The peak's nomenclature is a bit confusing. I take it that Mount McPherson is the name of the mountain, while Mount Bielewski is the name of the actual tippy top.

From here I worked my way back down into the San Jose suburbs and then north up the main highways into San Francisco for my last highpoint of the day, San Francisco's Mount Davidson and its iconic 100-foot tall cross.