After a week of being cooped up in our Sydney office, I was really excited for the weekend. The weather forecast was perfect and I was ready to explore. On…
If there is one way to get me to visit touristy spots in the Bay Area, it's to get family to visit. I didn't visit Alcatraz, ride the Cable Cars,…
Growing up, I always learned that it was bad to give into peer pressure when it comes to drugs, smoking, etc. They didn’t warn me about hiking. Some friends have gotten it into their heads that they are going to complete the Bay Area Ridge Trail one way or another, and I’ve been mercilessly sucked into their evil plans for world domination again and again. Now I MUST complete the same challenge or risk becoming one of the uncool kids.
This past weekend’s segment was the Fifield-Cahill Ridge (and part of Sweeny Ridge), a thirteen mile stretch of the trail on the peninsula between San Bruno and Belmont. This segment presents a bit of a logistical challenge due to the fact that it passes through SFPUC (San Francisco Public Utilities Commission) land which does not allow public access except in very restricted ways.
Point Reyes
California desperately needs rain, but it’s so easy to appreciate the fact that we’re enjoying a wonderful spell of perfect weather in the middle of Janurary. All week it has been cloudless skies with temperatures in the high 60s to low 70s.
Of course I did not know this back in November when I reserved a campsite at Wildcat Backpack Camp at Point Reyes. It’s always a gamble to plan a backpacking trip in advance in winter, but this time the gamble paid off. I invited a group of friends to join me, some of them newbies to backpacking, and managed to look the hero by picking such a perfect weekend. The park was booked solid and the parking lots were full of dayhikers – everyone wanted to be out enjoying the perfect weather.
We met at the Bovine Bakery in Point Reyes Station (a must-visit place – try the goat cheese and spinach croissant) and then hit the trail around 10:30 am. It’s around 6.5 miles in to Wildcat Camp via the Glen Trail and we arrived in camp for a late lunch, followed by a hike down the beach to Alamere Falls. After the falls it was back to camp where we shared a 2.5 gallon keg of homebrew that David carried in for us. This means that I carried the rest of the gear, but it was worth it!
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There is a reason that Highway 1 heads inland at Fort Bragg to join 101. The coast north of this point was simply too rough and rugged for a highway…
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!
There is a stretch of coast in Northern California where Highway 1 cuts inland because the terrain was too rugged to build a road along the water. This area, called the Lost Coast, is difficult to get to and some of the most scenic and wild terrain in California. This weekend I headed up there with a bunch of friends to backpack along this coast.
The group was planning on a 25 mile trek from the Mattole Beach access point to Shelter Cove (Black Sands Beach). I was only able to join for Friday and Saturday night, so I met some of the group in Shelter Cove on Friday afternoon. We car camped and the rest of the group arrived on Saturday morning and we shuttled up to Mattole. Although Mattole Beach is only 25 miles up the coast it is about a two hour drive to get there, including a long and steep stretch on Kings Peak Road, a beautiful 4WD road through the Kings Range. After the shuttle we had lunch at the trailhead and then started the hike south to Punta Gorda Lighthouse, where we spent the night in a rather fancy driftwood wind shelter.
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A few weeks ago David and I joined on a group geocaching 'Deathmarch'. The plan was to tackle Palo Corona Peak in Garrapata State Park, about 10 miles south of…
Our final destination of the week was Santa Cruz Island, of the Channel Islands National Park, with the Northern California Hikers. We met Paige, Karen, Candace, and Lisa at the…