Romancing the trail

It is a long weekend. We still have to deal with a kid who needs to be taken care of. That means no long trips. 

We started the weekend off by visiting the Land of the Medicine Buddha in Santa Cruz. Our friends have all been there. We tried to go there last year but it was closed the day we went. Given our friends made it during San's ankle healing hiking hiatus, we finally made it.

It is a beautiful and serene place. There is a 6 mile hike with a lot of inspiring wisdom written on boards. We pass a beautiful prayer wheel before starting the trail and a shrine that is really serene. 

There is a Tibetan feel to the place almost.

We met a total of 7 people and 4 dogs on the 6 mile trail. It is almost a 1000 foot climb and we did it in under 2 hours which was pretty decent by my standards.

The good news is San is back to her usual speed and for once showed restraint to keep up with me. So, we are back to normal! 

There are little mini shrines everywhere.

people have stacked up rocks everywhere on a one mile section of this trail. Was tempted to stack one, but in the interest of time and the fact that there is no cell signal for most of the trail, just kept walking. We had a deadline to head back home or be in cell range. 

It is an hours drive from Cupertino given traffic but it was worth it. The entire trail is shaded and covered by really tall redwoods.

there is a story behind that photo. San finally started taking my photos.. this time she said "I have an artistic touch on a photo.." What she meant was that I was at a fork and taking one path vs. another.. what I saw in the photo she took was my bald spot which is pretty obvious in photos now. I didn't realize this till today! It has been some time since anyone took a shot of me from the back at this angle! 

I questioned her artistry.. and the trail became very silent for some time.. Then we laughed and kept going.. that is how magical this place is! 

Think it would be very tricky to visit this place when it rains as there are lot of fallen trees and in places navigating the trail was tricky.We picked a good time to visit!

Loved it! It was an easy hike almost till the end. So definitely worth going with kids and a good start for entry level hikers!