Sweeney Ridge trail and Mori point in Pacifica

After a three week hiatus on hiking, we had a chance to join a large group of folks on a hike to Sweeney ridge. 

A group of 14, some of them I met for the first time. Enjoyed it thoroughly. The trailhead is a 35-45 minute drive from home depending on traffic and given the insane temperatures in Cupertino, this was a morning well spent in the fog and mountains. 

We also get to cross Highway 1 and go see the beach at Mori point  in the end. The ridge is part of the last piece of the hike. Started from home at 6:15 and came back home at 1:45. Hiked for 5 hours with a bunch of photo stops and a small break for tea and snacks at the vista point on top. There was nothing to see as there was a heavy fog and mist in the air. It did feel like walking through Jurassic park.

The parking lot for the trailhead is shared with an Orchid greenhouse. It makes for an interesting last mile climb back from the freeway to get to the car. 

By the time we made it to the top with the 1600 foot climb, was completely drenched! Good thing I had a change of clothes in the backpack for the rest of the descent and beach!

The morning dew made for some great pics with flowers, bees and spider webs.. 

When coming back to the car, noticed that my pants had a yellow layer of pollen on them! Luckily this time there was no severe post hike allergies to report!

sometimes you walk past a small flower that looks near perfect to the naked eye at 3 feet.. then you go take a macro shot of it and realize it is not that perfect.. still this small flower was irresistable!

The rest of the landscapes are in this slideshow..

A short video clip of the hike. Took a lot more slow motion videos of the waves crashing in.. you have a small sample within this clip.

It was time really well spent with a fun bunch! The last part of the trail where you come down to the freeway is very loose with gravel and if you don't have hiking shoes with grip and poles (for folks with bad knees) it is dangerous. We have been doing this for sometime now and managed it.. but first time hikers with improper shoes.....not recommended!  

The trail starts with a steep climb as well and keeps going almost a 1000 plus feet in one go. Warm up beore you start climbing!

Strongly recommend this as an early morning hike for a hot summer day!

No insects were harmed..

In the production of this photograph.. 

as it was already dead when we found it in our driveway!

Still Jr. and the little one were worried it was alive after I showed them the quick preview shots on my camera display..

The canon 50mm macro can make it looks like it brings dead things back to life!

Busy bees...

It has been a very hectic work week with not much time for family, leave alone updating the blog.

This morning while standing in the backyard trying to catch an AT&T signal on the iPhone to call work, a dead bee was spotted on the concrete!

Having made several unsuccessful attempts to catch the bee live on the rosemary and sage bushes, this was an indirect blessing (for me , not for the bee) to capture this using the macro.

So put a drop of hand sanitizer on a piece of paper, plopped the bee on that drop and took pictures with the macro..

Then saw my own busy bees sitting in a dark room with dark glasses and clicked away..

Here are the big busy bees, up close and personal

When things get tough, you can always be happy that a chance encounter with a dead bee or catching your kids at play can put a bright spot in an otherwise hectic day.

We had friends and relatives over for dinner and that was really refreshing. Have to do this more often.

The economy rant needs a post in itself..

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