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!

Bear creek trail

It has been a gruelling weekend and I am exhausted. Sometimes, I write to get things off my chest. Writing about recent events while they are fresh in memory, seems to be a way of letting it get out of my head and on to the screen and gives me a feeling of having transferred the event out of working memory! It is cathartic in its own way.

The easy post first.. our hike this morning to Bear Creek and Madrone Knoll.  Our friends have done this (as has San) multiple times apparently on days I skipped in the past. So today was my day to visit this trail. It was a steady gradient and I did stop a few times to catch my breath. Took us 3 hours and we did almost 8 miles with a few stops for me to catch up. It also started raining when we went to the top. Most of the places, the rain was up in the canopy, but there were a few spots where we got to walk in rain. 

It was beautiful, even though there were no lakes or active creeks in this trail. The weather was pleasant after it started raining, but I was already sweating profusely prior to that and it made for a tropical feeling!

The trees in the trail are amazing. Some of the tallest redwoods we have seen in local parks.

We did not take selfies.. San was mostly ahead of me. Had got 3 hours sleep last night and not much the night before. Was going to back out of the hike this morning, but decided to sleep walk through the first part of the hike and that is pretty much what I did!

A quick clip to capture the essense of this trail today!

Now that I have started typing, can write the rest of the posts..

Skyline ridge trail on a smoky day

Now that San is back to her usual self, hiking program has restarted. This morning the group went to Skyline ridge and went throught the Ipiwa trail after walking along the horseshoe trail. We went to Russian ridge from Skyline ridge and were about to go to the view point, but turned back as the smoke from the north east got to the hills we were walking on. At one point the air quality was making it difficult for us to breathe and we turned back after going half mile from the Russian ridge trail starting point. 

It was still a good 2 1/2 hours of hiking and we had fun chatting all the way..

Here are some pictures, starting with the usual selfies with my girl! 

That is not fog. It is smoke from local fires setting down. Air quality was an issue today!

The best part of this trail was not the lake. It was the view point from the trail where the hillsides were almost 8 different colors with the different plants..

Thank you Gene Sheehan for making this trail! Absolutely gorgeous!

The entire hill side was colorful on both sides of the trail. A great picture spot!

"Suvaru irundhaa dhan chittiram ezhudha mudiyum" is a Tamizh saying which means "without a canvas there is no painting". My neighbor took this shot and she composed it perfectly. All I had to do was crop it and brighten the foreground! 

Almost bald is an inbetween look. I am just waiting for the few hairs to drop off naturally. It is not very far away.

We will probably go to this place from a different parking lot and go through Russian Ridge. We have hit one trail after another on this path over the last year.. Quarry creek, Sanborn, Saratoga Gap, Castle rock, Long Ridge, Skyline Ridge, Russian Ridge.. just a few more left to cover in this area.

The group is trying to get me ready to go to Black Mountain which is a 14 mile hike. Let us see if I can get back to hiking more and make it on that hike!

Back with a small pop?

No big BANG! 

Wife's ankle is slowly healing and we went on the inaugural walk with friends. It was not exactly a hike by old standards. It was the Zinfandel trail at the local Pichetti winery. Maybe this trail is called Zinfandel because it is the wine people are given who are trying wine for the first time... "almost grape juice" type stuff? That was what was going through my mind while we walked the trail.

It is 4 miles up and down and only steep for a 5-10 minute stretch. We went early in the morning and were down by morning tea time!

We got a decent view and came back without any further event. Uneventful hikes are good for starters!

We are back.. that is all that matters!

Lovers point Park - Monterey

Given San is still on the restricted ankle regimen and wanted to go somewhere, anywhere.. we went to the easiest accessible beach, at Lovers point park in Monterey.

It is a 90 minute drive from here, but totally worth the drive. The weather was perfect there, a good 15 degrees cooler. We parked right next to the park, walked around the park and went down to the beach and got our feet wet.. 

My photographer is getting better every day!

There is a carpet of pink flowers everywhere, which makes for great pictures! 

we had to dry our feet before wearing shoes again.. so we just sat on a bench and watched the waves and seagulls and the incredibly human friendly gophers that were everywhere! they even beg for food on two legs and that was scary to watch!

I also got to climb on the rocks here and there and try yoga poses. Not recommending this to others as it was a risky move.. was in the moment and shocked my wife by trying to do this on top of the rock.. by the time she started to protest in terror, was out of the pose.. 

Long exposure trick on the waves.. 

slowly getting the hang of this.. have to go wider as the long exposure adjustment crops the picture!

Some pictures from the park and beach!

and what is a blog post without a short video?

Had a lot of fun in two hours and drove back! Definitely recommend it for a short walk in a scenic setting!