Category: Hikes

Hike #15: San Bruno Mountain State and County Park, Summit Loop

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Location: South San Francisco

Distance: 3.5m

Entry Fee: $5

Molly, Paul, and I decided to give San Bruno mountain a try on Sunday morning (Paul had been wanting to do this hike for a while.)   After a Saturday night out of drinking and (more) Mexican food with old friends, we woke up to a bright sunny morning and headed for the trail around 10:30am.

San Bruno mountain sits in between Daly City, South San Francisco, Brisbane, and Colma.  It was first discovered by Gaspar de Portola in 1769, but wasn’t really explored until 5 years later when a few other Spanish soldiers climbed to the top and named it after the patron saint of one of the soldiers, Bruno de Heceta.

The instructions said this hike was best in spring…but be aware, if you do go in the spring, the foliage is OUT OF CONTROL.  This is kind of awesome…new flora everywhere you turn and some really beautiful spring flowers…but poison oak is rampant.  And aggressive.

The first half of the trail runs relatively close to some busy roads and sections of the trail are severely overgrown.  As you get to higher elevation, the traffic sounds fade away, the militant greenery lets up, and you get some nice views of Daly City and Colma.  The elevation isn’t bad but the trail is mostly exposed.  Even in the cooler weather, with the clear skies and bright sun we got pretty hot on the way up (something to keep in mind if you’re doing this hike in the summer).

After about an hour and a half of wading through the overgrown trails and dodging Viet Cong poison oak we (sweatily) arrived at the peak.   At the top of the mountain sit two large transmitters for KNTV and KRON…not the most beautiful addition to the hilltop, but they’re kind of impressive close up…and you get some more great views of the surrounding cities as well as San Francisco, Marin, and the East Bay.  One thing to note, the way the trail is situated he hike up is almost 2/3 of the entire route.  The way down goes by much faster.

Hike #15: hot success.  Another short route close to the city, a nice hike for a clear day…though it did seem longer than 3.5 miles.

Lessons learned: wild cucumbers are toxic if ingested; groups of old people with walking sticks like to do this hike

Flora and Fauna: lupine, manroot (aka wild cucumber or old man in the ground), johnny-jump-ups

Hike #14: Ring Mountain Open Space Reserve

~ meh ~ 1 Comment

Location: Marin County

Distance: 3m

Entry fee: $0

What a beautiful day.

We also started this hike off on a schedule…I had to be back in the city before noon.  So I picked Molly up at 9am on a sunny Saturday morning and we headed off to the Ring Mountain Open Space Reserve just across the Golden Gate bridge: not too far away, not too long.

The early part of this hike was nothing to write home about…trails were muddy (but we’re pros at that), kind of hilly, some views of San Quentin and the north bay.  The instructions also mentioned that “there are many informal trails cut into the hillside, and it is often a confounding proposition to stay on the real trail.” Troublesome considering our history.

But the scenery started to change about a mile in and we entered some terrain unlike anything we’ve seen on past hikes.   Rolling green hills with large boulders and random clusters of California live oak and shaded thickets.  The whole area is very reminiscent of Lord of the Rings or something.  At the top of the hill we got some amazing views of the Bay and the city from all directions.  It was absolutely gorgeous.

We did have a few disagreements about which was the right path to take, but that is the beauty of short hikes where your destination is the top of a hill.  If you just keep heading towards the ridge and you can’t be THAT far off track.  And this trail has plenty of markers to let you know you are indeed following the right path.

Hike #14: a short, sweet success.  I can’t think of a better way to spend a sunny spring morning in the Bay Area.

Lessons learned: the Miwoks were the Native American tribe in Northern California (apparently I’m the only person who lives up here that didn’t know that…the tribes in Marin were the Coast Miwoks…other Miwok subgroups include Lake, Bay, Plains, and Sierra Miwoks)

Flora and Fauna: California Poppies, Yellow Mule Ear, Miwok carving

Miwok carving

Hike #13: Taco Hike

~ meh ~ 3 Comments

Location: San Francisco (mostly the Mission)

Distance: 6 miles

Entry fee: Tums, open mind, roll of toilet paper

All the craziness of a beer with the happiness of a taco  ~jesse

With 9 people joining, this was our biggest hike to date.  So to start off, I would like to thank everyone who joined and made it the raging, colon-cleansing success that it was.

First, some taco facts are in order:

  • Tacos date back at least to the 1500s.  When Cortez arrived he found Aztecs eating fish tacos
  • Nobody knows why the Spanish called them tacos
  • There is a main-belt asteroid called 14917 Taco

Our hike took us from the Western Addition to Upper Haight and down to the Mission (where we did most of our taqueria-ing.)  There were a few rules:

  • Only mexican beers, tequila, micheladas, and horchata can be drunken
  • If we come across the bacon wrapped hotdog cart you have to eat one
  • Free beer to anyone who spots the El Tonayese taco truck

First stop: Papalote on Fulton.  Known for it’s burritos (not tacos) and tofu (obviously a higher-end taqueria), we decided to give the marinated tofu taco a try.  Coupled with a few Coronas it was a nice, light, tangy intro to the night. Salsa at Papalote takes the cake, you can put it on anything.

From there we headed to El Balazo on upper Haight.  Happy to find it up and running after hearing about the raids a few years ago, we really enjoyed the decor.  The chile verde taco was pretty good with a nice kick to it, but the carne asada taco fell a little short with sub-par meat.  Cabbage salad there gets two thumbs up.

So, with 2 tacos down, next on the list we were scheduled to meet Ferg at Little Chihuahua on Divisadero at 7:30…almost a mile away.  Time: 7:15.  Onward and upward!

After a brisk hike/light jog over to Divis, we met up with Ferg and found Little Chihuahua…completely packed.  La Taqueria, a must-visit on our hike, was still 2.5 miles away and closed at 9pm.   It was kind of a long way to go without further sustenance, but since we were feeling a little crunched for time we decided to skip Chihuahua and go the distance in one fell swoop.

So we booked it allllll the way down to the Mission (over 2 and a half miles) and got to La Taq at 8:20 where we met up with Summer, Ryan, and Mike and ordered….TACOS DELICIOSOS!  (And one burrito…dammit Mike).

Ryan and Summer introduced us to the crispy tacos, which I now highly recommend.  Words overheard: tendermoist; overstuffed; more bang for your buck; perfectly crispy; delightful.

After getting booted from La Taq at 9pm, we walked a few doors down (literally) to El Farolito.  The super popular taqueria was packed, per usual, so we decided to check out El Farolito bar next door.  Turns out, the bar isn’t quite as hot a hangout for hipsters or English speakers.  AND, apparently top secret info, you can order food from the taqueria at the bar!  Genius.

That aside, additional reasons El Farolito completely rocked include (but are not limited to):

  • The custom “buy six beers get one free” beer special imposed by the bartender when seven of us ordered beers
  • 7 tacos cost $12
  • Tacos come with their own plastic cup of full jalapenos
  • The amazingly enormous SUPER TACO (the result of some sort of miscommunication during the ordering process)
  • The custom tequila special of double tequila shots for the price of one, also imposed by the bartender
  • The tequila
  • The bartender

And, according to Summer, the veggie tacos here beat out the ones at La Taq.  It was hard to leave. But after we finished our tacos and jalapenos and beers and tequila (and after Summer, Molly, and I got hugs and kisses from the old dudes sitting by the front door), we did.

Feeling pretty stuffed from our one-two taco punch, we headed down the street and ran into our first…BACON WRAPPED HOT DOG CART!  Rules are rules.  Down the hatch.

Really stuffed at this point, we continued our walk along Mission when out jumped…ANOTHER BWHDC!   Ryan, always a stickler for rules, got another one.  The rest of us opted out.  Rules are made to be broken.

We needed to get off of Mission immediately to avoid another hot dog sneak attack, so we veered into Doc’s Clock for a beer.  Unable to finish his hot dog before we went in, Ryan put it in his pocket to keep it warm.

After a beer at Docs everyone was feeling pretty disgusting…but we had one taqueria left on the list.  We made our way up Mission when, half a block in, I heard a shriek.  Hidden behind a post on our side of the street…a third bacon wrapped hot dog cart.  And Ryan, who had just finished the second one from his pocket, was buying one (but this one with no mayo).

Champion.

We made it to our final stop, Taqueria los Coyotes where we finally met up with Jesse and Tierney and one girl who thought Los Coyotes was a great place for a nap.

Overheard during our final stop: hard to finish; good salsa bar; delicious produce; angry gigantic limes; soggy tortillas; phenomenal meat; greasy.

Watch out for the habanera sauce.

24 tacos, 6 bacon wrapped hot dogs, 1 burrito, 6 miles, and innumerable jalapenos later, lucky Hike #13 was a raging success.

Best taco (based purely on taste and quality): La Taqueria (meat); El Farolito (veggie)

Best overall taco experience: El Farolito

Lessons Learned: get the crispy tacos at La Taq; meat sweats are not just an urban myth

Flora and Fauna: bacon wrapped hot dog

Hike #12: Tilden Regional Park

~ meh ~ 1 Comment

Location: East Bay, Contra Costa County

Distance: 6.3m

Entry fee: $0

We started this hike with two very specific goals: don’t get lost, and get Molly back to the city by 12:30pm.

The drive up into the Berkeley hills was beeeeautiful…completely amazing views of the whole Bay.  (It was supposed to rain all morning, but the rain never came.)  It took us a little longer to get to the trailhead because South Park Road was closed due to salamander migration.  Yes, that’s right.  Salamanders migrate.  Where to?  Good question.  Apparently the great newt commute happens every winter as newts make their way to the rivers and streams to lay their eggs, then up to the hills for the dry season (and by now I would hope you all know the difference between a newt and a salamander.)

Anyway, we didn’t see any migrating newts (unfortunately), but we did find the real trailhead this time around.  Off to a good start.

If you are planning on doing this hike during the rainy season, be prepared for some serious mud.  There are also signs everywhere warning you about the copious amounts of poison oak all along the very narrow, super slippery trail.  So don’t fall off the path.

We made our way through some cool eucalyptus groves and saw a few rabbits…but nothing super exciting.  About 4 miles in we decided to take the spur up to the stone lookout at Wildcat Peak.  This is about .01 miles off the path and totally worth the extra 5 minutes.  In addition to the Bay you get views of Briones Regional Park and San Pablo Reseviour to the east for an incredible 360.

The 10 lbs of mud on our shoes and lack of traction made this hike more perilous than most.   Less than 2 miles from the finish we did have did have one hiker go down in a dramatic flailing of arms and legs (down a really non-dramatic slope) into a puddle of muck.  The fall was quickly followed by a hoard of cross country runners prancing nimbly by us through the mud.  Salt in the wound.  Totally unnecessary.

The final stretch of this hike is 1 mile of paved road that is crowded with runners, dogs, old people, and baby strollers. We didn’t get lost.  And we were back at the car before noon.

Hike #12: RAGING SUCCESS!  This hike is a great option if you’re looking for something a little longer with some seriously awesome views.  The trailheads are a little bit confusing, but careful attention to the directions will get you to the finish line.  Apparently this trail gets crowded in the summer, but aside from the runners we didn’t encounter any other traffic on our trip.  Do it in the winter if you want a good butt workout. And consider wearing padding.

Lessons learned: eucalyptus is an invasive plant introduced to California by Australians during the gold rush…the government encouraged planting them with the hopes of using it as an additional source of timber for the railroads, but the wood was unsuitable and now the trees are just everywhere; salamanders migrate.

Flora and Fauna: monkeyflower, eucalyptus, high school cross country runners

The Joy of Poison Oak…and the steriods that follow

~ meh ~ 2 Comments

Since this is a blog mostly about hiking, and since hiking entails interaction with poisonous plants, and since my not-so-recent run in with one particular poisonous plant resulted in me being on prednisone GOING ON 4 WEEKS NOW, I thought a mini tutorial on poison oak and some of the side effects of the medications would be appropriate.

Poison oak is found on the west coast, and poison ivy on the east.  You get it from coming into contact with a chemical called urushiol (same for both plants).  You don’t spread it by scratching (unless the oil gets under your nails, which it can) and other people can’t get it by touching your nasty-ass rash (though I don’t know why anyone would ever do that), they have to come into contact with the resin itself.  If you are looking to avoid all contact, poison oak comes in the form of a: bush, vine, root, tree, stick, leaf…so really you just need to stay away from any kind of shrubbery.

With that problem solved, we move on to treatment.  After the oozy rash, sleepless nights, and looks of horror from your friends when you bare your skin (which is probably the best part of the whole experience), when you finally go to the doctor, come the steroids.  Big suggestion: MAKE SURE you are on them for long enough.  Because apparently even if it totally looks like you are healing, if the first round doesn’t completely knock it out, the rash will come back with a vengeance.

As the doctor was writing out my (third) prescription of prednisone, she finally told me that she doesn’t like putting people on this drug for a number of reasons.  Apparently it is one of the few drugs that isn’t addictive, but still makes your body stop producing some hormone or chemical or something, so if you stop taking it without properly tapering you experience withdrawal symptoms (and sometimes even with tapering you experience the symptoms).  Awesome.  Additional side effects include:

  • Increased hunger
  • Water retention/Weight gain
  • Insomnia
  • Anxiety
  • Acne
  • Mood swings/depression

It reminded me of the time after my accident when the doctor decided to switch me from one anti-seizure medication to another, telling me after the fact that one of the reasons he switched me over was that side effects for the first medication I was on included gum enlargement and facial hair.

So, to summarize, if you get poison oak:

  • Go get shot up with the strongest steroid you can find.  Immediately.  So you don’t have to take this stupid drug for longer than 7 days.
  • If you do end up on drugs, don’t plan on attending any events where you will have to wear tight-fitting clothing…because they won’t fit
  • Prepare your friends, coworkers, and significant other for the joys of withdrawal (I cried during an episode of Shear Genius)

For more answers to your questions on poison oak, this site is helpful.

Hike #11: Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve–Alpine trail loop (we think?)

~ meh ~ 1 Comment

Location: San Mateo County

Distance: 3m (but I have no idea how far we went…guessing right around there)

Entry fee: $0

I am not even sure how to really start this entry because the hike as described in the book is absolutely 100% not where we went.  This is becoming a theme that should probably be addressed.  But I would like to thank Molly (and Paul) for waking up at the buttcrack of dawn on their day off from work to join me.

This hike started off on the wrong foot (ha) in a number of ways.  First off, it is listed as a “perfect hike to do with kids” and a great option for people with disabilities.  So really, how complicated can the trail be? I assume that we can get it done in about an hour.

Paul and I pick Molly up at her apartment at 5:45am (which I thought was a little late to get going, but considering the length and difficulty of the hike, didn’t think we would have a problem finishing in a timely fashion.)  We drove down the Peninsula, where the trail head proved to be a little further off the freeway than anticipated.  Arrival at trailhead: 6:45am.  I am already stressing about being late to work.   Entrance to the trailhead was locked, so we parked our car illegally on the side of the road…and proceeded to walk in a huge loop around 2 parking lots, struggling to figure out where to enter the park.  LESSON ONE: if you aren’t totally sure that you’re at the right trailhead, DON’T START HIKING.

After picking a trail, we eventually hit some signs for the Horseshoe Lake, which is where the book instructed us to go, and ended up…back at the main road.  Not where we were supposed to be.  Looks like we may have been hiking on the right trail in the wrong direction?  We turn around, find a new trail, think we know where we’re going…yadda yadda…I’ll spare you the details, you’ve heard this story before.  All the while my distress regarding getting to work on time is growing.

We finally made it up on a ridge…(the wrong ridge, but a ridge nonetheless)…and did get some nice views and the whole area up there is really gorgeous.  Unfortunately, at this point it was close to 8am and I was experiencing full blown anxiety about a 9am appointment that needed to be dealt with immediately.  So when we hit a familiar part of the trail again (how we got back there?  not sure), we decided to head back the way we came.  Super bummer, there is a mountain called Mount Umunhum that I was looking forward to seeing.

Hike #11: MOST HUMONGOUS FAILURE YET.  We are going back to do the real hike at a later date.

One sidenote: we did catch a coyote chowing down on a deer that had been killed by a car.  He had picked one leg bone clean and was digging into the torso.  There were organs laying around…it was gruesome.

Lessons Learned: start at the right starting point; leave earlier than you think you should for morning hikes

Flora and Fauna: egret, coot, poison oak, coyote

Mount WTF

~ meh ~ Leave a comment

Thank god.

Full article here

Devil Trumps Reagan in Duel Over Landmark

(Feb. 24) — Arthur Mijares, a devout Christian, thinks Mount Diablo is no way to identify a San Francisco-area landmark. So he petitioned local officials to support changing it to Mount Reagan in honor of the late president and former California governor.On Tuesday, he got his answer: The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously against changing the name, which is Spanish for “devil” and dates back some 200 years. …

In an address to the board Tuesday, Mijares appealed for the supervisors’ support on the grounds that the name “Diablo” is anti-Christian.  “I am a follower of Jesus Christ,” he said. “The devil, for whom the mountain is incorrectly named, is the challenger of Jesus Christ and his followers. To me and millions of followers of the Christian faith, the devil is derogatory, pejorative, offensive, obscene, blasphemous and profane.”  …

In the end, Gioia said, the board rejected the proposal for three reasons: the overwhelming opposition, the history of the name and the potential cost of changing hundreds of other Diablo names to match the mountain.  “It’s not about rejecting Reagan or Muir. It’s about acknowledging history,” Gioia said. “This is not meant to say we are honoring the devil. It is meant to tell the story of early California.”

Hike #10 (Urban Hike #4): Outer Richmond, aka the Dumpling trail

~ meh ~ 3 Comments

Location: San Francisco (the Richmond)

Distance: 5.5m

Entry fee: $0

Hike #10 was cause for celebration on a number of levels.  Not only am I beyond thrilled to be steroid and gauze free, but we have now officially hit the double digits.  Way to go us.

Molly always talks about how she has never spent any significant time in the outskirts of San Francisco, so we decided to take care of that.  We headed out to the Great Highway to knock one of these neighborhoods off the list: the Richmond.

This hike we dubbed the Dumpling Trail (or, if you’d prefer, the Fatty McTubster hike).  We only actually hit up one dumpling spot for food, but we did walk by at least a four dozen others.

The Richmond, which used to be a vast expanse of sand dunes, was built up following the 1906 earthquake to rehouse the population.  It is one of the last Irish enclaves in SF (who came to the city by way of the Transcontinental Railroad) and also has huge Russian, Eastern European, and Chinese populations.  (The Russians/Eastern Europeans came in the 1920s following the Russian Revolution, and again during the Cold War.  The Chinese showed up in the late 1960s after the Chinese Exclusion Act was lifted.)  We decided to try to hit up some Irish/Chinese/Russian food/drink/music on this hike to celebrate the cultural diversity of the neighborhood.

First point of action was getting dinner, and dumplings seemed like the right sort of celebratory Chinese cuisine for the occasion.  Decision time.  Options were:

  • King of Chinese Dumpling
  • Shanghai Dumpling King
  • Kingdom of Dumpling

After much research and scrutiny, Shanghai Dumpling King won out.

Good call.  This is the place to go for all things dumpling.  The spicy dumplings were particularly fantastic.

Following dinner we made our way up to Bazaar Cafe on California with plans to hang out in the back garden, listen to some live music, and maybe grab a beer.  We walked in to find…people praying in the back garden and a poetry jam/scripture reading in the front.  Unclear what happened there.  Time to move on to Tia Margarita…because what better way to get over barging in on a prayer group than watching Shani Davis win gold while drinking a margarita the size of your head.

Sidenote: at Tia I asked the bartender for a water with my marg (hydrate before you recreate), he told me they don’t serve water.  I laughed.  He never gave me water.

So at 3 miles, in a light tequila haze, we made our way back down to Geary and over to John Campbell’s Irish Bakery (which, btw, is open until 10pm.)  This place COMPLETELY ROCKS.  We got some apple fluffers, snowballs, and scones.  Because we needed some extra calories.

Final pub stop of the night, The Plough and Stars, where we finally found our live Irish music!  These dudes were definitely Irish, and they jammed.

The final stop on the Dumpling Trail was Michelle’s new digs in Presidio Heights…which just happens to be .5 blocks away from the corner of Washington and Cherry, the location of one of the Zodiac murders.   WAY exciting.

Hike #10: SUCCESS!!  Though we didn’t hit up any perogies or brats…but don’t worry, there are more hikes to come.

Lessons Learned: The Richmond is named after the Richmond District in Melbourne, Australia; a little more research on “live music” at certain venues might be worth your time

Flora and Fauna: 

As you slide down the banister of life, may all the splinters be going in the right direction. ~Irish blessing