The Board of Supervisors has authorized a Portolá Trail Committee to support designation of the Portolá Trail as a National Historic Trail and promote completion of the California Coastal Trail through San Mateo County. Designation as a National Historic Trail would bring federal resources to help complete and manage the trail.

The 250th anniversary of the Portolá Expedition is coming up in 2019.  On behalf of the King of Spain in 1769, Don Gaspar de Portolá led a land expedition from Baja California to colonize San Diego and Monterey. Not recognizing Monterey Bay, they passed it by and ended up stumbling on the sight of San Francisco Bay from Sweeney Ridge in Pacifica. The discovery led to the Spanish colonization of the San Francisco Bay region.

The trail route through San Mateo County coincides with about half of the Coastal Trail alignment, and traverses existing trails or sidewalks, and lands of POST, MPROSD, State Parks, GGNRA, and about 3 miles of private property. The 6 expedition campsites in San Mateo County could become backcountry camping destinations (i.e. hut to hut). 

Board of Supervisors 8/4/2015 staff report
Maps (1 & 2) of “best guess” Portolá Expedition route, which followed Native American trails from village to village.