Chris True: Mindego's Last Mountain Man

"I've always loved trucks and tractors, anything mechanical," says Chris True in a deep, gravelly voice. Bundled in heavy bib overalls, layers of shirts and a red plaid hunting cap, he looks more like the truck driver he sometimes is than the cowboy he has been since age 13. 

That’s how old he was when his family bought Mindego Hill, 1,047 acres of scenic hillsides west of Skyline Boulevard near La Honda. POST purchased the ranch in October with the hope of transferring the land to the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (MROSD) later this year. Chris leases the grazing rights and lives there as he prepares for life at his next retreat, a 2,500-acre ranch located 22 miles outside Midvale, Idaho (population 182). 

In a conversation with POST, Chris tells us what it was like growing up on Mindego Hill.

 

Q: What are some of your earliest memories?  

A: My parents bought the ranch in 1954. There wasn't any phone service until 1958, and we didn't get electricity until 1960. My parents and brother had a house in Palo Alto where they stayed during the week. The state granted me a hardship driver's license when I was 13.

Q: What were some of the fun aspects of life on the ranch?

A: Remoteness and beauty. Very few neighbors. We could hunt deer, ducks, quail, mountian lion. Now it's illegal. In 1955, when I started at Pescadero High School, I rode horseback three miles to La Honda. It was still about a 40-mile bus trip to pick up kids from all around. In the morning the horseback ride took 25 or 30 minutes. In the afternoon, because it was uphill, it took at least an hour. There were chores before and after school. We milked a Jersey and a Golden Gurnsey. The rest of the cows were Angus.