Channel Islands National Park

It has been only 22 years since we started planning a trip to Channel Islands National park. San and me made a trip to Catalina island (before kids) and wanted to visit this national park and see the foxes. 

Finally we made it over the weekend. It also served another purpose.. to get some stuff from the little one's dorm room so we can vacate her a little easier in two weeks from her dorm.

We started driving at 4:40 on Friday evening and were stuck in horrible non moving traffic for almost an hour. Made it to our hotel at 11:15! This is a ride that is supposed to take under 5 hours. Woke up and pretty much made it to the Ferry. 

The Ferry ride was smooth, there was no sun to be seen, which turned out to be a blessing once we were on the island.

We saw a lot of dophins swim along the ferry on the way. We also saw a lot of Pelicans and sea lions. 

We walked close to a mile with all the camping gear to the campsite on Santa Cruz island. Then started a hike to Smugglers cove. It was 8 miles round trip and reasonable elevation.

The kids in the group decided to go Kayaking for 3 hours and did not join us on the hike! Apparently a must do activity, especially if you are camping overnight. 

The island is full of dandelions and what looks like a large dandelion (we have that here also on the hikes near Santa Cruz.. the purple flower that bursts out into this).. it was a nightmare for me given recent allergies. Handkerchiefs were not enough. Walked with a small towel around my neck to breathe through.

one softball sized weed thingy.. okay.. if you see the photo below you will get the idea.. the entire island is full of what we call weeds. That is about it. It is a weedscape.. and it is not great for folks with allergies. Claritin was being laughed at by these plants.. you could tell ! You can see regular dandelion in the foreground for a size comparison.

The views though are spectacular!

Given San's condition, was not sure how she will fare, but she walked slowly and steadily and made it all the way. Having driven the entire trip with only a 10 minute break the previous night and doing the carrying business, I was equally tired. So we crashed at 7:30PM. The rest of the group went on to chat, play cards etc. It was lights out for me. Woke up at 6 AM thanks to the birds and the water dripping on me from the inside of the tent (this tent did not have a lot of ventilation.. so while it kept us super warm, our own breath condensed on the inside of the tent walls!). 

the animals are tagged on the island ! Every raven had a number on it. #11 and 13 visited our camp!

Two galleries of photos from the trip..

 

Packed up everything after breakfast and we took the stuff to the loading dock. They have lock boxes where we can leave stuff and hike near the dock. So off we went on another 5 mile hike to the top of the bluff to see more views. San and some friends decided to skip this one and stayed on the beach instead. This was a steep climb at the onset of the hike.

Apparently the previous weeks folks spotted whales from the top. We were not that lucky. Had a great time with the group, doing yoga poses and walked back down to a cave. Sat there for a few minutes listening to the waves and it was time to say bye to the place and get back on the ferry. 

Did try to do a toe stand on that small piece.. given there is no room to put my fingers on the ground to bend down, it was a risky proposition. Removed my shoes and used all the balancing skills to get this there.. given recent family experiences, San would have left me on the island if I had done anything stupider (that a word?)

lifted off but only slightly, given the winds and the rough floor.. my photographer was really patient and waited for what was an eternity clicking away to get this one pic!

surprisingly the rocks inside the cave were not wet! Not easy to sit on, but dry!

With a stop at UCSB to grab stuff, we drove back again with a 10 minute break. We had lunch plans with the kid but she was too busy studying and we wanted to get back in time to celebrate a friends 50th and we made it in time. Thankfully no major traffic jams on the return!

It was a memorable trip. We had a lot planned for this summer but San's muscle tear put a ? on everything. Glad that we made it. 

and yes, the foxes in Channel islands are so cute! 

A video highlight of the entire trip.. (we celebrated two brithdays during this trip as well!). 

If you don't want to spend the night camping here, you can still hike to Smugglers cove and back if you get the first ferry in the morning and take the last ferry out!

Clouds Rest - a hike to remember

This blog has not seen an entry for more than two months. A lot has happened since. A quick trip to India to combine work with family, a return to the US followed by heavy jet lag, getting way too busy at work to catch up on blogging, singing etc. 

However, every alternate week, there has been a hiking trip and I will get to those blogs soon enough. The highlight of all those recent hikes, is the one to Cloulds rest, in Yosemite the past weekend.

It is the best hike to date since we started hiking during COVID shutdown. An unforgettable experience. Wife is part of a hiking group where they get permits and call for folks to take up open spots. She informed me two weeks ago that we are going to do a overnight camp and a hike. 

The original plan was to:

start Saturday morning, reach Yosemite by 9AM, take a break at the gate after getting the permit paperwork, meet the rest of the group (no cell signals there!) and then drive to the starting point of the Cathedral lakes trailhead, hike with the backpack to a halfway point, camp at 9000 feet overnight, then hike up to Clouds rest Sunday morning and be back Sunday afternoon, drive back.

We made it to the trail head on Saturday as planned. We were just starting the hike on Saturday when there was a thunder storm with heavy hail! There was ice and slush everywhere.

We had to come back and find a camp site in short notice. We were lucky enough to find two spots in Tioga lake. The ground was dry here already!

That also meant, we had to do all the 15+ miles of hiking on Sunday. 

My shoes and clothes were all wet walking from parking lot to the place where rest of the group were waiting. That made it very difficult to walk the rest of the day and the following day. We tried to dry the shoes by putting it near a half assed fire.. and trying to keep it inside the tent! It was hilarious. I did walk the next day in damp shoes and got blisters on four of my toes. 

We spent a beautiful evening around Tioga lake and enjoyed chatting, had masala chai and did a 3 mile walk around the lake. It was just beautiful and serene, with Mount Dana in the background.

What is a hike without a "chaifie"?!

Every 100 feet, my macro mode in the iPhone was put to good use to zoom in on small flowers. The rest of the group were amused by my love for the macro shots.. (most of these next photos are of flowers the size of my thumbnail or smaller!)

We ate what we had packed and went to sleep at 8:30 when it was still light outside. We had to get up at 4:30 AM to pack up the tents etc. That was a challenge without gloves, especially when the dew outside the tent has condensed.. having the right gear makes all the difference!

We drove to the trailhead after the quick packup on Sunday morning, and did the hike to Cloud's rest and back as a day hike! The weather report said 42 F lows but it ended up being below 30F in the night. Given the lack of proper sleep from the cold on Saturday night, our group split into two. The folks who couldn't sleep well hiked up to Sunrise lakes which was a 7 mile round trip and the other three went up!

Yosemite trails are not like the local trails. At most places, you have to eenie meenie miney mo to decide which path is the trail and which is not.. it is a bunch of rocks thrown together with some kind souls trying to mark the path with same rocks..

The views were amazing and we were mostly smiling and laughing all the way to the top.. left to my wife, I would have had to do this in half the time, but thankfully I had company and we went at a steady pace! This also made sure that she was in pictures with me!!

At 10,000 feet the air is thin and breathing gets to be hard, but we had fun doing this hike. On the way up, we went at a steady pace of 1.5 miles an hour.

The last 0.3 miles of this hike is a real challenge. There is a knife edge around 3-4 feet wide made of oblong rocks thrown on top of one another.. You have to put down your backpacks and walk the edge to go to the top and get a breathtaking view of the entire valley below!

At one point there is a two to three feet gap on the rocks and you either have to jump down and climb back up, or do an Indiana Jones "leap of faith" step across the rocks! Taking a photo of that would put the photographer at even more risk.. and San refused to do it. She came down and went back up and we missed a chance to capture Sangiana Jones! Maybe another time.. if there is one!

You get a 360 degree panorama of the entire thing from this point!

No photographs do justice to what we saw.. a video at the end of this post captures the knife edge a lot better.

While coming down we were much faster but the direct sun and mosquitos made it very difficult for me. Got nausea in the last three miles down. It was also a non stop descent. So took a 3-5 minute break every half a mile and made it back. After a 5 minute stop in the parking lot, started driving back right away!

We were treated to more amazing views on the way down.. but you stop walking, the insects start having you for lunch!

Made another 10 minute stop at the Pizza Factory in Groveland to grab a lemonade and kept driving. At some point we started smelling burning stuff inside the car. Kind of freaked out and drove the last 100 miles at 55 mph with minimal breaking! Turns out the brake pads and rotor were burnt and we were lucky to make it back.. The tire treads also wore out completely! The car has had an expensive makeover now after this trip as an unwanted side effect. 

All said and done, we had quite an adventure and were glad to make this trip. While waiting for the hail storm to subside, met a lady who had just come back after climbing Cathedral peak (ropes and all) who told me "there is no such thing as bad weather in Yosemite, only bad gear! you should have bought water proof shoes and dri-fit clothes and better equipment to camp even on ice! but looking at you now, you don't stand a chance of going up now and camping". We were lucky to find those spots overnight and also lucky to make it a day hike!

Clouds rest is not an easy hike and would not recommend it for kids. Get right shoes, blister free socks, right backpacks which don't hug your back, floppy hats with mosquito nets instead of baseball caps, insect proof clothing, beanies to cover ears during night, gloves that are rated for sub zero temperatures, etc. before trying these hikes. Looks like daddy is going to go shopping soon...

One other thiing.. all the local hikes did not train me for this. There is no clear trail in most places.. we end up scrambling on rocks, sometimes a foot and a half tall. So it takes a toll on the knees. The only training for hiking in Yosemite is to hike in Yosemite! 

A video that captures our weekend..

One more item ticked off the list.. 

We were very fortunate to have lovely company on this trip. Our fellow hikers were truly amazing and we loved the overnight camping and chatting and getting to know the group!

Next dream, Half Dome!

Wife thinks I won't be able to do it.. I am hopeful. Let's see what happens..

Camping 2016- Sugarloaf Ridge State Park

We started the once a year Camping trip with the cousins four years ago?! Even the blog comes up with a sketchy timeline. 

The last camping trip to SugarLoaf was in 2013,  and in 2014 we went to Big Sur. Last year don't remember camping and this year we made it again to SugarLoaf. By now we knew the drill.. What to expect and how to prepare better. 

Given this is our first trip without the Sienna, we packed the Prius..

squeezed in everything we need and pitched the tents..

went for a great hike, but took a wrong turn with the two folks leading the hike (me and Anu) supporting each other's hypothesis that we were on the right track only to find out 2 miles later that we were going to end up on the other side of the freeway. Note to self : Always trust the sun, better than trusting your self! 

we got some beautiful views on the hike 

with the setting sun casting nice shadows

the waterfall had no water in it given it was almost fall when we went there.. 

we saw lizards, deer and one snake and that pretty much summed up the fauna sightings

 

we thoroughly enjoyed the camp fire in the cold September night

The kids had Sunday morning classes and we did a rush job of wrapping up the tents before the sun was out and were on our way back nice and early. Next year might bring us a two day camping trip.. who knows?!

We had been camping inside our own house for a good two months in summer, with nothing but plastic sheets to separate us from the elements. That was like training for the real camping trip.  Given the new routine with the kids growing up to practically adult sizes, we are definitely investing in some decent camping gear starting next year!

Until then... 

Chasing the Milky way photograph..

It has always been a wish list item : Get a nice photograph of the Milky way..

As it so happened we were out in the woods on saturday at Sugarloaf Ridge State park in a campground. It was a new moon day! The sky was spectacular. There was minimal light pollution.

This was a trip I almost backed out of thanks to the face ache. The kids went on a strike of sorts and forced me to come. 

I did have the right lens and settings for this. 70-200L @2.8 and 30 second exposure on a good tripod.. but, was taking the shots at 11PM. Should have done it an hour after sunset to get the entire thing. 

There is always a next time. Happy with these shots for a first attempt. 

The belt was actually on the other side.. 

Think a 50mm f1.8 at 30seconds would have given me better results. That lens was in the bag. Don't know why I didn't think of it at that time. 

BB took some great shots of the campfire side with airplane trails. Next time we go camping we will not only apply the lessons on "how to prepare for camping?" but also "how to take great milky way photographs?"

On a side note, the tooth is out as of yesterday and right now going through a cocktail of antibiotics and pain killers. Do say a prayer for me so that this thing ends once the gum heals!