Quick NorCal trail tips
Local threads flagged NorCal golf‑hike mixes and day hikes worth checking: Goose Creek ($$), Oak Quarry ($$$), Hidden Valley ($$) and Los Serranos — plus Sanborn County Park as a recommended route toward Big Basin viewpoints. Posters also tossed out longer trip ideas (Valley Fire Park, Zion/Bryce, Potash Road and Valley of the Gods) if you’re planning an extended adventure. (x.com) (x.com) (x.com)
The social thread mixed short NorCal day‑hikes with long Southwest drives: Oak Quarry is located in Riverside County (Riverside, CA), Los Serranos is in Chino Hills (San Bernardino County, CA), Valley of Fire is a Nevada state park outside Las Vegas, and Potash Road plus Valley of the Gods are scenic routes in Utah. (oakquarry.com) Oak Quarry referenced in the posts is an 18‑hole championship course carved into the historic Jensen Quarry in Riverside, listed at 7,002 yards (par 72) and often showing green fees around $175 for 18 holes on aggregator sites. (oakquarry.com) “Los Serranos” in those picks refers to Los Serranos Golf & Country Club in Chino Hills, which operates two 18‑hole championship courses and publishes tee‑time bookings and course details from its Chino Hills address. (losserranosgolfclub.com) Hidden Valley likely points to the Hidden Valley Nature Trail in Joshua Tree National Park — a well‑signed, roughly 1‑mile interpretive loop near Hidden Valley Campground with minimal elevation gain and easy access from the park road. (hikespeak.com) The longer trip ideas line up with classic Southwest routes: Potash Road (UT‑279) runs about 16–17 miles along the Colorado River from Moab and gives access to petroglyphs, dinosaur tracks and the Corona Arch trailhead, while Valley of the Gods is a 17‑mile BLM gravel loop near Mexican Hat typically driven in 1–2 hours. (moabadventurecenter.com) Valley of Fire State Park is a separate Nevada destination with day‑use fees (commonly quoted $15 per out‑of‑state vehicle, $10 for Nevada residents) and well‑known photo spots such as Fire Wave and petroglyph panels about an hour from the Las Vegas Strip. (tworoamingsouls.com) Sanborn County Park — recommended in the thread as a route toward Big Basin viewpoints — is a 3,400+‑acre Santa Clara County park above Saratoga with more than 22 miles of trails, a $6 vehicle day‑use fee at the main entrance, and formal connections to Quarry Park via the Saratoga‑to‑the‑Sea project and the Bay Area Ridge Trail. (parks.santaclaracounty.gov) Finally, “Goose Creek” is a common trail name: one Goose Creek in Northern California is a tributary of the South Fork Smith River noted by whitewater guides, while other Goose Creek trails (and trailheads named Goose Creek) exist in Colorado’s Lost Creek/Wilderness areas — the forum entry is ambiguous without a location pin. (oregonkayaking.net)
