Bay Area Ridge Trail, Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve, San Mateo County, CA, 6/27/2014
Fog often rolls inland from the Pacific Ocean onto the San Francisco Peninsula in early summer, especially during the cooling conditions of late afternoon and sunset. The Santa Cruz Mountains, which run along the peninsula act as a natural barrier where warm sunny weather to the east meets cool foggy air to the west. On an afternoon in late June I visited Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve, located on the mountain ridge, hoping to encounter the fog as it advanced over the dry grassy hills. In this photograph I captured a moment shortly after the fog’s arrival at the Bay Area Ridge Trail. What isn’t shown is how the scene appeared only a minute earlier when the fog was down the hill in front of me and the sky was perfectly clear and blue. A minute after this photo, partially obscured Langley Hill (at left) completely vanished from sight.
