Hike #2: Uvas Canyon County Park

January 17, 2010August 23, 2010 ~ meh ~ Leave a comment

Location: South Bay, Morgan Hill

Distance: 4 miles

Entry fee: $6

*Note: All pictures on this post were taken with a Droid, since I couldn’t find my camera this morning.

With a storm forecasted to roll in before lunch, Molly and I hit the road early hoping we could beat the rain (Uvas Canyon is right around 60 miles south of SF, so it was a little bit of a trek.) To get there we drove though an awesome little private Swedish community called Sveadal. Secretly I was hoping for horse-drawn buggies and butter churns, but the reality was even better. Moss-covered rocks, little cottages…I was afraid a gnome was going to jump out in front of my car. So anyway, we finally got to the trailhead. Armed with raincoats we set off onto…totally sunny trails. We started out heading toward Alec Canyon trail. The first part of the hike was on wider fire roads up to a 35 foot fall called Triple Falls, which was cool, and the views of the valley were awesome.

The falls that followed were even better, though, with a heavier water flow and dramatic drops. And on the hike back we stumbled upon colonies of ladybugs hibernating, which was really interesting/gross (too many bugs in one place always make me a little squirmy.)

Hike #2: RAGING SUCCESS! We did the whole thing in under 2 hours and got great views, sick waterfalls, and learned a little bit about nature. Food afterwards was a local favorite, chicken pho from Sai’s Vietnamese in the Financial District. Totally delicious.

Lessons learned: I want to live in a Swedish village, ladybugs hibernate

Flora and Fauna: Toyon (which also excited me bc in 6th grade our class took a trip to Toyon Bay on Catalina)

Hike #1: Donner Canyon, Mt Diablo

January 11, 2010August 23, 2010 ~ meh ~ 1 Comment

Location: East Bay, Walnut Creek

Distance: 5 miles

Entry fee: $0

For our first hike we decided to try a simple, short loop. This area has a reputation of being hellishly hot and dry, so we figured the winter would be a good time to not only see a little more vegetation in the area, but also maybe catch one of the waterfalls which, as the placard at the trailhead put it, was the “ultimate goal” of our hike.

The beginning of the trail was relatively flat, following and eventually crossing over a babbling brook. There are a variety of trails that branch off of each other, so following the right path proved to be trickier than anticipated. About 20 minutes in, however, I had the directions torn from my hands by a fellow hiker (who will remain nameless) and was told I wasn’t “going to see nature if you have a piece of paper in front of your face, in the wilderness we just use the sun as a compass”. So the paper was put away and from then on we relied on pure instinct to guide us. 45 minutes later we ended up in…guess where…the wrong place.

After trekking up some very steep hills, the team as a whole concluded that we were a.) no longer anywhere near any water sources, b.) hungry, and c.) lost, so we decided to call it quits. Hike #1: failure. But we did get some nice views and hit up some awesome bar-b-que at Kinder’s Meats & Deli on the way home, so it wasn’t a total loss.

Lessons learned: bring a map. Especially if you want to see the waterfalls.

Flora and Fauna: Manzanita tree, Madrone tree (which I got excited about…like Madrone Ventures….cool)

60 hikes in 6 months

January 8, 2010August 23, 2010 ~ meh

After much hemming and hawing, my friend Molly and I have committed to attempting (ha) to hike 60 hikes within 60 miles of San Francisco within 6 months (from the 60 hikes within 60 miles series). Thought process went something (or exactly) like this:

me: so i am trying to start a blog

Molly: ooh

really?

me: just so i can learn how to set up a website

yes

but i need a blogging topic

Molly: about what?

me: exactly

Molly: hmmm

me: maybe i should pick up a new hobby and blog about that

Molly: hmm, what hobby?

me: i dont know

want to join me?

my friend has a blog about cooking with beer

Molly: ooh

sure, i’ll hobby with you

me: ok cool

now we just need to find a hobby

roller derby?

Molly: that would be awesome

us trying to learn how to rollerskate

me: we could start…rock climbing?

baking?

gardening?

Molly: ooh, i love baking

and gardening

me: ok

baking things from our garden?

on roller skates?

Molly: while rock climbing?

me: totally!

Molly: we could try hula hooping

belly dancing

trapezing or something random

like that

me: that could be cool

but exp

Molly: yeah

that’s the only problem

me: my friend says free diving

Molly: where would we do that here?

me: i have no idea

Molly: i’m not free diving in the bay

me: aw hell no

theres nothing ot see anyway

me: start a band?

Molly: what can you play?

i’m pretty terrible

i’ve only ever played a little piano

me: i can play the flute

or i could

Molly: learn how to play an instrument?

me: i bet youd rock on the tambo

Molly: i could do tambo

chrissy should be our lead singer

me: def

actuallky

i want to sing too

Molly: i’ll be backup

me: we can be a trio!

Molly: man, who would ever come see us

Molly: we could do all 60 of these hikes

best hikes san francisco

http://www.bahiker.com/extras/book.html

me: omg

that is a totally fantastic idea

Molly: i’m sure we can get lots of people to join us for some of them

me: there’s a pair of hiking shoes i wanted to get at sports basement

perfect reason

let’s do it!!

Molly: woohoo!

Update: after looking at our work schedules, Molly and I concluded that it is unlikely that we will complete all of these hikes before early June. In an attempt to maintain our original goal, we will most likely be replacing a few of the original hikes with a few urban hikes.