Recently in Bay Area Category

I almost forgot to post my photos from last weekend! Before it gets too hot, I wanted to visit a new East Bay park. I settled on Pleasanton Ridge and met a couple of others there for a day of hiking and geocaching. It was a good place for wildflowers, but I wouldn't want to hike there in the heat of summer - 80 degrees was warm enough. Pictures available by clicking on the photo.

Russ, the famous winehiker, invited us for a Tax Day night hike of Mission Peak. It was a training hike for some people planning a Shasta climb over Memorial Day, so it was no slow stroll in the park - the intent was a good workout, and a good workout is what we got. I managed to snap a few photos before the sun set, leaving us hiking by moonlight and headlamp.

The funniest part of the hike was a group of turkeys harassing a cow. The turkeys would sneak up behind the cow and start tapping at her back legs. The cow would then turn around and chase the turkeys, who would respond with a loud 'gobble gobble gobble'. Satisfied that the turkeys had been taught a lesson, the cow would go back to nibbling on the grass, unaware of them wandering back into her space, starting the process all over again. Entertainment like that on the trail is hard to come by!

Anyone from the Bay Area is familiar with that cone-shaped peak just outside of Morgan Hill. You know - that one just west of 101. As a hiker, this peak has been calling to me for years, just asking for me to stand on top of it. Unfortunately, this peak (El Toro) is on private property and the only legal way to climb it is to participate in the once-annual Morgan Hill Historical Society sponsored hike. At 1,420.3 feet, it's a Bay Area 'Fourteener'.

We met Tom and Russ, fellow hiking bloggers, before 8 am and joined the throng of people just itching to summit El Toro. After a brief lecture from a geologist the hike began, and hundreds of people swarmed towards the peak.

Gaining about 1000 feet in a mile, this isn't an easy hike by most people's standards. It's steep, gravelly, and has poison oak just waiting for you to make a mistake. There's no warm up stretch - it's just straight up and then straight down, no time for breathers unless you stop. I'm glad I just got back from a good strenuous backpacking trip - made this hike seem a lot easier than it would have been if I was in my normal sluggish winter form. They even have ropes up for the last gravelly stretch to assist people on the slick gravel.

My pictures here: El Toro, Morgan Hill

Tom's report of the harrowing El Toro Ascent here: The Fourteener of Morgan Hill

It has been four years since the Northern California Hikers formed and met for the first time. Dave and I had been backpacking in California for a few years but hadn't connected with any other people who enjoyed it like we did, and I was looking for other people who shared our interest. A post on the backpacker forums about forming a hiking group for people in Northern California caught my attention, and I joined up with the group right at the beginning.

Our first meeting was for a dayhike in Henry Coe, and a short time later we did an overnight backpack in the same park to Los Cruzeros. I knew right away that we had connected with a great group of people, and the rest, as they say, is history. The initial small core of people has grown over the past four years and we've gotten to meet many incredible people. We've made great friends, shared amazing adventures, and created hundreds of fantastic memories. Thanks, guys!

This weekend Paige managed to pull off a dayhike plan that would get eighteen of us together in one place - a near impossibility. Maria, Theresa, and Heidi were camping at Coast Camp, so Paige asked if anyone wanted to do a nice long dayhike loop through the park to visit them in camp on Saturday. There ended up being fifteen dayhikers and it was great to see several people that I haven't seen in a while - it was kind of like a high school reunion.

While it rained and was ugly inland, the sun was shining in Point Reyes and we had perfect hiking weather. The rain started to fall only at mile 12.6 of a 12.7 mile hike - within sight of the cars. Pictures of the hike are here: Point Reyes Dayhike Paige's Photos Theresa's Photos Karen's Photos Maria's Photos Frank's Photos

Dave and I spent the weekend at Pinnacles National Monument. The park recently acquired a large parcel of new land and this land includes the old campground that used to be just outside the East entrance. The land needs a lot work since it has missed out on the preservation done within the park, and we were happy to be a part of a volunteer crew that contributed a few hours to the park through a Geocaching CITO event.

There were two tasks that our group contributed to: the first was to pull out invasive horehound plants from the old ranch lands that are now part of the park. Thousands of plants were cleaned out by the crew - great job! The second task was to build a fence and work on trail re-vegitation in the campground. There was a big open meadow that had been stomped down by people over the years. We built a rustic wooden fence around it while others mulched up the old trails to prepare for re-vegitation. It was hard but fun work. It was quite interesting to learn about the park's expansion, and also get some education about the park's condor program (we watched them soaring far above us near a roost on a ridge).

After the work was done we hiked up into the Bear Gulch caves. This cave is only open a couple of weeks a year due to bats, and it's the only part of the park we had not yet hiked. It was nice to finally crawl through this cave and do the small loop by the reservoir.

As part of the CITO event we camped out at one of the group camps in the campground. We had a great time and got to meet a lot of new faces - thanks everyone for the great night. Lots of wildlife was out in the campground - we had a bobcat wander through camp on Saturday evening, and on Sunday morning we followed a herd of feral pigs through the campground.

On Sunday morning we all parted ways and a few of us headed into the park for a longer hike through the High Peaks. This hike provided more opportunities for wildlife sightings by bringing us up close and personal with the condors, for which Pinnacles has an extensive program.

Pictures from the event are here: Pinnacles CITO

Yesterday David and I headed to Calero for a geocaching dayhike (err, Death March). It was a perfect day for a bay area hike - not hot, not cold, and the sun came out pretty quickly. Wildflowers are starting to bloom and the star lilies are plentiful. We saw a small cluster of poppies, so it will only be a few days before they start exploding everywhere. And the newts are having wild orgies in every pond available.

Pictures are here: Calero Reservoir

Finally! It's been way too long since I've been able to get out on a simple local dayhike, but today was the day. After last week's nasty storms it felt great to get out under the clear blue sky and bright sun. Today's destination was Almaden Quicksilver County Park, a unique park with as much for the history buff as the hiking enthusiast.

Almaden Quicksilver contains the remnants of mining sites and structures that were active (and very profitable) during the California Gold Rush. These mines didn't mine gold, however; they mined the mercury needed for extracting the gold that was being mined in the Sierra and southern mountain ranges.

Now, the park has several entrances and a large selection of trails to choose from. This was my third visit to the park, and I haven't had to retrace any steps from a previous visit. There are still many parts of the park I still have to explore, but its close proximity means I'll be back.

Today's hike included visits to the remains of the Senador and Enciendas mines, along with a walk along the Almaden Reservoir. Click on the above photo for a few more.

Dave and I spent the morning visiting the molting elephant seals over at Ano Nuevo. I was taking some short videos on my camera and this little guy was kind enough to startle me with a sneeze. If you've ever thought to yourself that your life wouldn't be complete until you heard a seal sneeze, I'm happy to provide the following video.

A few weeks ago I took on a Bay Area beast, Mt Sizer in Henry Coe State Park. Like all hikes in Henry Coe, it's a long slog up and down dirt roads, but at this time of year there are a lot of reasons to do it. The weather was perfect for a long day, a little overcast and cool, and the wildflowers were blooming. My GPS track told me I hiked 17 miles with 6000 feet of up and down, and my legs certainly wouldn't disagree with that! I took my time to enjoy the wildflowers, have a few picnics along the way, and even picked up a few geocaches planted around the park.

I have to say that I was happy to finally see what the fuss about the 'Hobbs Road Shortcut' was all about. Reputed to be the steepest trail in the Bay Area, I can now add my vote to the tally. Due to the direction I took the loop, I ended up coming down the thing, and if I hadn't had my trekking poles along I might have turned around and gone the long way back to Headquarters.

All in all, it was a long but enjoyable day. I certainly wouldn't choose it as a quick 'hike in the park', but I'd do it again. Pictures: Mount Sizer, Henry Coe

We did a short dayhike on Saturday morning at San Bruno Mountian. I'd never been up here before - it is an interesting piece of nature surrounded by urban area. As the airplanes took off overhead from the nearby San Francisco International Airport, we enjoyed a spring walk through the wildflowers and views of the city and surrounding area. Most of the photos from the day are of the colorful wildflowers.

Pictures here: San Bruno Mountain