In the spirit of the East Bay Skyline National Recreation Trail, this south bay route gives a taste of the best of the San Francisco Peninsula.
For the 2020 Battle of the Bay and after the CZU Lightning Complex fires, this route was selected as the replacement for the Skyline to Sea trail as the South Bay/Peninsula long course. And it is one that will particularly whet the appetite of the ultrarunners around. We came across the South Bay Skyline route when Jordi Moncada ran it a few years back (Jordi’s Strava) - still the only evidence found of a finish on the route is his 2018 finish in 6:38. Running from the Sunnyvale Mountain TH (south end) to the Purisima Creek Redwoods entrance (north end), this 34 mile route follows trails crossing over and back along Skyline Boulevard (Highway 35). You're barely a half mile from the highway at any one time, but still allows for beautiful stillness running through these open spaces. The route hits classic trails like the Skyline Trail, Saratoga Gap Trail and the Bay Area Ridge Trail, and runs through State Parks and Open Space Preserves such as Castle Rock, Long Ridge, Skyline Ridge, Russian Ridge, Windy Hill, Wunderlich and others. Though it does have two road sections, the longest one being from mile 23-25, the route overall seems to be a great mix of fireroad, single track and road. With supposedly 5000ft of climbing and almost 6000 of descent, it is a doozy.
Parking is available at the start in Sanborn County Park, and at the finish line at the Purisma Creek South Parking Lot.
See South Bay Skyline on Gaia.
