With help from Palo Alto friend Steve, we recruited 20 "FOS" (Friends of Steve) to hike, bike, camp and help shuttle cars and gear — a real community event. Fourteen of us walked on Day One, half that number on Days Two and Three, and Jane and I walked the full 45 miles to the sea.

Whether pacing the Cubberley Community Center track or trekking 11 miles from Palo Alto to the Santa Clara Train Station, walking is something that everyone can do. And, you don't have to wait to go to the Camino de Santiago in Spain when we have our own El Camino Real and many open spaces nearby.

Now, we had four reasons to do it: (1) We needed to prepare for a 60-mile walk on the Camino de Santiago in Spain with friends this September. (2) As a Palo Alto Parks and Rec Commissioner, I hoped to test a goal of the new 20-year Parks Master Plan to publicize connections between our open spaces and others nearby. (3) Our son had motivated us after hiking from Palo Alto's Arastradero Preserve to the top of Black Mountain, all on public land. (4) We've been part of a quiet trend in Palo Alto augmenting our gym workouts by walking 10,000 steps a day with friends around town and in parks several days a week.

For my birthday on July 1, I asked my wife, Jane, if we could walk from Palo Alto to the sea. Three days and 45 miles later, we did it! For us — in our late 60s and newly retired — this was a crazy idea ... way over the top. But the truth is, we had been thinking about making the trek ever since the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, when I dreamed of walking our family to the sea for safety.

Butano Fire Road led to Olmo Fire Road an extremely steep sandy ridge with a panoramic view of heavily forested Big Basin State Park to the south, so remote. Another hour and a 2,000-foot descent found us at gentler Doe Ridge Trail. Three miles of stunningly beautiful curves of forest and steep ravines brought us to cool Butano Creek and Ben Ries Campground by 4 p.m., a 16-mile day ... so far.

Day Three began with a robin's dawn song, and by 8 a.m. three intrepid hikers were on the trail for what would be the longest day. Ascending steep Portola Trail into San Mateo's Pescadero Creek County Park, we hit two miles of switchbacks on Butano Ridge Trail to Butano Ridge. Using Basin Easement Trail up through private forests, we touched Big Basin State Park and turned sharp right at USGS benchmark (2268' elevation) onto Butano Fire Road past Cutter Scout Ranch for two miles through another private forest that dripped with fog from towering redwoods and into Butano State Park.

Day Two started with an 8:30 a.m. departure to the parking lot to exchange backpacks for daypacks, fill water bottles, add newcomers and head down Stevens Creek. We connected with Skid Road to Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve (OSP), then south on Tree Farm Trail (part of the Bay Ridge Trail). At the Chestnut Tree Farm, we used the Chestnut Trail to Peters Creek Trail in Long Ridge OSP and lunched at flowing Peters Creek. We headed to Portola Redwoods State Park via Ward Road/Trail to Slate Creek Trail, dropping 1,000 feet. As we consulted the sixth map (of 11!), mileage estimates diverged from the actual distance. Instead of two more miles, the weary group did four long miles to the campground (reserved ahead) by 4:30 p.m. Total distance for Day Two was 16 miles. We met new arrivals, nursed our feet, cooked our meals and crashed.

After our backpacking gear arrived by van, 11 of us ascended the last two hot miles to the first campsite atop the 2,800-foot Black Mountain. We walked a total of 10 miles our first day. The backpackers' camp ($2 per person, reservations required) is delightful. With water, filtered and UV purified, highlights included birthday brownies for me and a spectacular sunset from the summit through Clear Lake Fire smoke. It was a warm, breezy night, Venus and Jupiter above and thick fog over the ocean below seemingly so far away.

On Day One, with temperatures in the 80s, 10 people met at Arastradero Preserve with lunch and lots of water and hiked seven steep miles up 1,800 feet in elevation through Foothills Park and Los Trancos Open Space, sidestepping a Pacific rattlesnake and elusive king snake, to Montebello Ridge on Page Mill Road.

Of course, it's about the journey, inches from Silicon Valley but a world away ... spectacular forests, deep silences, amazing vistas, gorgeous sunsets, pungent grassy hillsides and cold clear creeks. Sadly, we met no other hikers on these public trails. Hopefully, this adventure encourages others to hike their dreams, in beautifully preserved and freely available public open spaces.

Just two of us remaining, we decided to go the last 3.5 miles. A fellow camper helped shuttle our car to the beach and back. At 6 p.m. — with two hours until sunset and Swainson's thrush songs filling the air — we powered down Cloverdale and Gazos Creek roads past POST's new Cloverdale Ranch (future trail) reaching the beach in one hour. We flung off boots and waded in ... celebrating this longest day (20 miles) and the end of our journey. It had required the use of 11 maps and trekking across 10 parks (operated by six agencies) and two private forests to complete.

Guest Opinion: A case for exploring Silicon Valley's 'other world'

Parks and Recreation commissioner recounts four-day hike from Palo Alto to sea