Autumn afternoons: eight great ways to savor the season in the Bay Area - Travel

Sunset, Oct, 2003 by Amy Marr

For some, autumn is the season of leisurely vacations minus the crowds. For many others, that's still a distant dream. There's school, fall sports, overflowing gutters--you're lucky if you can grab half a Saturday for a getaway. We're here to give you a few ideas. There's plenty to do in an autumn afternoon in the Bay Area. Stomp grapes, find your way out of a corn maze, or slurp flesh oysters after kayaking around Tomales Bay. The gutters can wait one more day.

Be amazed by a maze

LATHROP. With 40 acres of cornfields, pyramids made of hay bales, and pumpkin patches galore, Dell'Osso Farms is a fall harvest cornucopia. You can take a hay ride, get lost in the 14-foot-tall corn maze, wander through the giant pumpkin patch and pick the perfect one to take home, or use the Pumpkin Blaster to shoot miniature pumpkins at targets 200 yards away. 10-8 daily in Oct; free admission, fees for some activities. From I-5 just north of the junction with I-205, take the Mossdale Rd. exit and cross under the freeway. 26 W. Stewart Rd.; www.pumpkinmaze.com or (209) 982-0833.

Hike beneath the leaves

FELTON. For an amble among brilliant foliage, head to Fall Creek State Park, a 2,390-acre subunit of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. Here you'll find 20 miles of trails, a babbling creek with tumbling rapids, and an enormous grove of bigleaf maples. To see the best fall colors, head out along Fall Greek Trail for an easy 2-mile round-trip hike. From U.S. 101 in San Jose, take State 17 about 30 miles toward Santa Cruz.; get off on Mt. Hermon Rd. and turn right on Graham Hill Rd.; parking is on the right about 1 mile past intersection with State 9. Mountain Parks Foundation: www. mountainparks.org or (831) 335-3174.

NEAR MORGAN HILL. Tucked into the Mt. Hamilton Range, the unsung Henry W. Coe State Park--Northern California's largest state park--puts on a splendid fall color show. Some 250 miles of trails lace through 86,000 acres of high ridges, deep canyons, and hills cloaked with oak, pine, and madrone. Try the 3 1/2 mile Springs Forest Trail Loop, which cuts through the oaks flanking Pine Ridge before joining the manzanita-fringed Forest Trail. Another excellent choice is the 4 1/4-mile Frog Lake Loop, winding up to Pine Ridge before dropping down through bay laurel to Frog Lake. $4 day-use fee per vehicle. From San Jose, take U.S. 101 15 miles south to Morgan Hill and exit at E. Dunne Ave. www. coeparks.org or (408) 779-2728.

SUNOL. In the East Bay, head to the Sunol-Ohlone Regional Wilderness, where fall colors tint the bigleaf maples (in late September), then the willows, and finally the sycamores (in early November). The trails that parallel Alameda Greek are particularly lovely, lined with golden alder and willows that shimmer resplendently in contrast with the bluish boulders in the water. The best moderate fall hikes are Indian Joe Creek Trail, jutting through a wooded canyon, aid Canyon View Trail, which rises up the ridge for a valley vista, then winds into Little. Yosemite gorge; both are about 3 miles round trip. $4 per vehicle. Take I-680 south from Pleasanton, exit at Calaveras Rd./Dumbarton Bridge, turn left onto Calaveras Rd., and go about 4 miles t Geary Rd.; turn left and follow Geary to the end. (925) 862-2601.

Pick through produce

BERKELEY. The next-best thing to having your own farm is making a trip to Berkeley Bowl Produce, featuring a selection second to none in Northern California. In October you can, rummage through more than 40 varieties of apples and select from 20 types o hard-shelled squash, such as French pumpkins or cheese squash. Then move on to the 15 varieties of Asian apple pears. Don't miss the trove of wild mushrooms. From I-880 in Berkeley take the Ashby Ave. exit, turn left on Shattuck Ave., then left on Oregon St. 2020 Oregon St., Berkeley; www.berkeleybowl.com or (510) 843-6929.

Paddle and slurp

INVERNESS AND MARSHALL. Lots of fish and cooling temperatures make October a prime bird-watching month at Tomales Bay, located right on the south migratory path. On a golden day, rent a kayak and glide in the company of egrets, loons, white pelicans cormorants, seals, and bat rays; or join a half-day "Birder's Paddle" ($69) with Blue Waters Kayaking. October is also good month for oysters, so scoot ore to Marshall after kayaking for baker's dozen at Hog Island Oyster Company. The velvety sweetwaters are particularly tasty in fall. Blue Waters Kayaking: 129.38 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., near the intersection with State 1, Inverness; www.bwkayak.com or (415) 669-2600 Hog Island Oyster Company: Closed Mon-Tue; 20215 State 1, Marshall; www. hogislandoyster.com or (415) 663-9218.

Stomp grapes

SONOMA. Lasso a friend and decide who will be the stomper (jumping in the barrel and flattening the grapes and who will be the swabby (catching the juice below the barrel). Together you make a team ready to enter Sonoma's annual World Champion ship Grape Stomp at the Sonoma County Harvest Fair. The grand prize is $1,000, but even if you don't win, you can always learn some cowgirl tricks dance to live music, or enter a grape-spitting contest. 10-8 Oct 3, 10-7 Oct 4-5; $6 general admission, $25 per stomping team. At the Sonoma County Fairgrounds From U.S. 101 in Santa Rosa, take State 12 east to the Bennett Valley Rd. exit. www. harvestfair.org or (707) 545-4200.