Mission peak on a cloudy day

It was announced to me late last evening that we will be going to Mission peak in the morning.

So... I went!

The yoga had to be pushed to evening and my "live" singing plan took a nose dive. However, was glad I went because it was really beautiful outside! Mission peak seemed very different. It was alive! There was water in marshy ponds! Ducks and cows and baby baby cutie calf walking around.. songbirds everywhere! The skies were putting on a show and given we started hiking before 7AM, the diffuse sunlight made for great pictures!

Was treated to some nice chai, once we reached the top! That was the other highlight of the hike!

We also took a few detours today to go some other trails on the way that we never explored before. We were treated to some amazing views .. and I got the park bench photos again.. 

Timing is everything.. going forward, going to hike this peak in late Jan, right after it rains.. 

Felt on top of the world this morning.. (and again this evening after doing a Bikram Yoga class! The rest of the group didn't have to do that.. so it was a challenge for me.. but I am actually feeling great now after all that exercise in one day)

and for some nature pics and panos..

the rolling fog made the pictures even more interesting..

the same water we passed on the way in.. but on the way out.. there were cows..and glorious clouds!

The cows made it interesting today as well..

A day well spent...

Now family willing... some mic time! 

Black Mountain.. kind of..

It has been two weeks and this blog so no entry! It has been a busy two weeks with Jr. going back to college and me getting cranky to see her go, then the little one's school sends us daily notices to show how many new COVID cases are there in the school (why they can't have started the school after testing all kids after 7th Jan is interesting), then work got all busy and we had a pongal celebration! 

Have managed two hikes so far.. the first attempt ended at PG&E and we did not make it to Black Mountain.

These two photos are from that hike..

The second hike we made it to Black mountain.. but kind of .. instead of hiking 12 miles and climbing up ~2000 feet, we went through the Montebello Preserve and hiked ~7 miles and climbed ~1100 feet. It was much easier but.. the day we picked to do this .. just awesome! The skies were dramatic, there was a slight drizzle on way back and the colors... were just wow! 

I was not feeling great after a heavy dinner the previous night! Was feeling queasy and feverish, but felt better after a long nap. San said we could go on a shorter hike and to make me feel happy about going to Black mountain, one way or the other, took me with her. It is not easy to keep up with her on the way up.. as with everything, we have zero match, even on hiking.. she finds going uphill easy and I find going downhill easy.. so we are always 200 feet away either way.. but we do get photos like this.. 

Here are some more photos from the hike! As long as I am hiking like this and doing Yoga, that in itself acts like a COVID test! 

Always wanted to take a photo on that rock ever since San did it two years ago... the skies made it memorable!

We saw a total of 12 people (not close by) over a 3 hour period other than the 3 people we met and walked down.. The place was pretty desolate.. and it made for an interesting hike.. 

got to see silicon Valley light up for the evening just before starting down..

A couple of panos of both sides from the top of Black Mountain.. 

we kept walking down as we watched the sunset!

We saw a lot of deer grazing on the slopes. This preserve has mountain lions and we wanted to get back to parking lot right at sunset. 

We met a friend and his friends at the summit and walked down with them. Met some new faces and by the time intros were done, we had come down to the parking lot to more dramatic skies. There was a puddle of water near the parking lot.. and this was the outcome!

Sooner or later, will make the 12 mile trip to Black Mountain, right from our neighborhood, through the PG&E trail.. 

For now, it is back to work and getting some more much needed rest tomorrow! 

Sometimes we end up back home! Maisie's Peak

This weekend hiking plan was to go to Rhus ridge. Rest of group has already gone there.. so it was supposed to be a new trip for me. It was 34 degrees out and there was ice on our windshield.. so by the time we defrosted and drove there, the parking lot( which has only 10 spots) was full! This was at 7:15 in the morning in freezing weather. Enough folks beat us to that parking lot.

Then we tried to go to PG&E and that had no parking. So the plan changed again and we decided to go to Maisie's peak. It is in our local preserve. We drove back home, parked and hiked up!

We spent a good 2 1/2 hours hiking, drinking tea at the top and chatting on the way. Next time the plan is to take some samosas to the top and have it with the tea.. and leave earlier.. freezing or not!

Some pictures..

To make it interesting and slightly longer, we went up and down three little lookout points. Maisie's, Hunters and Srisie's point. Word in the local circles is that people used to mistake Srisie's point as Maisie's point for many years. Imagine going to keezh Thirupathi and thinking you have gone to Thirupathi?!  It is a beautiful lookout.. but not the main deal! Thought this blog should capture such special moments..

Enjoyed the weekend morning hike! Need to start earlier and defrost for the next hike!

Until next week...

Dry Creek Regional Preserve - a winter visit..

We have been to this place before in summer under scorching heat.. (link here) .. Today we got to revisit this trail in the morning fog under more pleasant weather conditions. It is a good 40 minute drive from our place and this time the barren hillsides are all green and the air was fresh!

Loved the hike today. We did fewer stops for photos.. 

Now that San has a challenge shirt, she is wearing it on hikes! I am not complaining.. Jointly promoting Yoga is a good thing...

We got to watch a beautiful sunrise on the way to the preserve while crossing the Dumarton bridge. 

got to watch the cows grazing, there were song birds around the trails and we could hear them.. (none of this was there in Summer but the draw at that time was the flowers on the hillsides)

The family of birds in the water are still there and well.. 

We finished the trail before the sun came out and that was a good thing. There are no trees or shade in this entire trail!

The sky was just gorgeous today with all the cotton clouds. Glad we went on this hike this morning. We spent close to 3 hours walking today and hopefully that has countered some of the Deepavali sweets and savories from the last few days!

It has been a busy week and I haven't managed to do a Deepavali post yet.. 

Have to go back and see how many summer hikes we did where at the end of it we said "we should come back when it is cooler outside!" and start hitting those in the next few weeks..

Back on trail

It has been almost two months since I hiked.. It was good to get back on the trails with a short hike to Villa Montalvo.. I have never been to this one but the group I hike with has done this many times. 

Apparently the draw is to watch all the big mansions on the way to the trails. So we parked in downtown Saratoga and walked an extra mile watching all the mansions. Interesting to know that there is a place like this right in our area. 

People say Cupertino homes are large. Ours looks like a small Kudisai compared to any house on this hike. 

we did get a great view from the top. The whole thing was 90 minutes in 5 miles and a steady climb. 

But like I said, good to be back on a trail!

Hope to get back into the weekend morning hiking routine, now that I am back!