The last hike for 2020 - Mount Tamalpais

Rounding up the 2020 hiking with Mount Tamalpais.

Was not sure of going because my toe was still bruised. Then a USPS truck showed up at 6AM on the day of the hike, to deliver my New balance extra wide hiking shoes! So wore it and went on the hike. 

It took us 90 minutes to get to the parking lot on Panorama way just before Stinson beach with the last 30 minutes being a windy road. Given we had left early, we found parking!  Then we walked up to Matt Davis trail view point through two other trails.  From this view point, you can see Stinson beach on the right and if you squint and zoom.. the San Francisco skyline on the left!

We hiked for almost 4 hours, ate a packed lunch in the parking lot and drove back. Stopped by a few view points along the coastal ridge to take pictures. 

It was a beautiful sunny day out there.. by contrast we came home to a gloomy Cupertino and a light rain. 

An entire day spent driving and hiking but the pictures and the fresh air was worth it. My toe although not damaged further is still in recovery mode. 

Mount Diablo has to wait for a few weeks. . . we wanted to hike the bay area gland slam (Umunhum, Hamilton, Tamalpais and Diablo which are the four tallest mountains) and got 3/4 for 2020 which is pretty good! 

Here are the pictures.. 

First the smiling faces that show up on FB preview!

We are really really nothing compared to these giant trees, but we have the destructive power to bring them down.. 

My favorite shots from the view point.. because I didnt have high hopes of gettting the skyline resolved (the photos were taken with an iPhone with a 10x zoom and holding my breath) but after putting the images through noise reduction on photoshop.. they came out better than I expected!

The trails had a lot of steps which made for pretty pictures, not that they were easy to climb.. 

we saw layers and layers of mountains with the fog and clouds before the sun peaked out.

and got treated to simmering ocean views..

Not to mention all the trail fun in between the ocean view vistas..

cute little waterfalls every now and then..

not to mention views of Stinson beach every now and then..

We stopped on the turnouts a few times to take pictures of the coastline.. you can see Twin peaks area in SFO in the background on this shot!

and my other favorite shot when the sun went behind the clouds...

As long as we walk in a steady pace and I get to take pictures and there is no discomfort, I get to enjoy the day. All three conditions were met on this hike.. new right shoes (with something called "toe protect"), nice tree cover for most of the hike, and amazing scenery to make the photographer happy!

a short video clip of snippets through the hike..

Next time if we hike this, we would probably leave an hour earlier so we can enjoy the beach for a short time after the hike. It was a 5 minute drive from where we parked in the other direction and the beach was empty. We did enjoy driving through the golden gate bridge early in the morning and on our way back home! Think this was my only time driving past the GGB this year! 

A very enjoyable hike to round off 2020!

Castle Rock state park

The most recent hike with my wife was to Castle Rock State park. It was a good half day spent in great weather! 

First off... we had fun on the trip, per these photos..

This park and trail was amazing. At one point we got a view to what must have been 10 layers of mountains all the way to the ocean. 

The rest of the time we were treated to visuals of green hills as far as the eye could see

The trails were beautiful as well.. 

This big tree was just amazing and picturesque..

The entire park was beautiful. It was good we went early in the morning. There was a beautiful burnt tree root that was converted to a sculpture. My plan was to take a photo of it on the way back.. but given COVID, a lot of the paths have been made one way.. so we ended up returning to an overflow parking lot and walked on the road back to the main parking. Another trip, another day! 

There was a lot of climbing up and down large rocks on the trail path. I did bruise my big toe by hitting it against the side of a rock. Turns out the shoes I recently bought were not the right ones.. working on getting better shoes this week! 

Definitely recommend this trail for a half day hike if you are in south bay! I for one am happy to be going on all these hikes to explore the local parks in rapid succession. 

Another weekend another mountain..

This weekend we went on an amazing hike with friends to Mount Hamilton area. We climbed 1600 feet and did 7+ miles of some pretty steep hikes in Joseph D. Grant county park. Part of the park had fires and while it was all out, we could see the burnt trees and get some of the smell in the air. 

It was an amazing hike. It had rained all last night and this morning and the colors were vibrant. There was a part on our way back where the fog rolled in and we had very poor visibility, but it was okay because we were in a group. 

Once we descended below the fog, we were treated to amazing views of the lake and a spectacular sunset.. 

It took us a good 45 minutes to drive to the parking lot and three hours to do the trails. Some parts are so steep that you pretty much have to run down in as controlled a fashion as possible! 

There is Mount Hamilton in the background..

Happy to be in fresh air among friends..

was wearing the mask when anyone was within eyesight.. for the most part the entire area was empty. We saw a total of 8 people over that 3 hour period...  after some point was just wearing the mask like an armband just to huff and puff my way up the slopes.

The scenery was breathtaking.. 

be it sunny..

overcast..

or foggy..

I also got a close up picture of this little guy who we almost stepped on..

A short video clip from the afternoons hike..

When the sun started setting we were treated to some amazing colors..

amazing views of the lake as we walked down towards it 

The last few pictures were taken from the park entrance/exit..

The fog was amazing to watch, as long as we were below it! 

Our friends treated us to some vadais, hot chai and cookies etc. 

after they were all safely tucked away into the tummy, we drove back to what was an amazing sunset..

got these from the moving car..

There was no room to park and take pictures on this one lane windy road that got us back down to the valley.. 

It was surreal with all the hues being reflected everywhere! 

Something tells me we will be going here again and spending more time in this park. Strongly recommend a hike here if you have at least a 4-5 hour window. Go there by noon (if you are going in December!) so you are back down before the fog rolls in..

Hiking Hiking and more hiking

The last five weeks have seen me walk and hike like there is no tomorrow. First it was trying to make it past 20k steps/day for November.

That was in preparation for a College group trying to collectively walk 200 km on same 24 period across the globe. My target was 16km for the day and my goal was to walk 10miles at a stretch. Did both yesterday. Walked 10.3 miles in the morning, another 4 in the evening .. all this after walking 7 miles the previous evening to get some "practice". It was a happy day with all my classmates sharing before and after pics after their respective walks and runs. 

Then my wife tells me we are going on a hike this morning to the summit of the Windy Hill open space preserve in Portola. She tells me it is a gentle hike and 5.8 miles round trip to make me feel at ease. After starting the hike I am told it is moderately strenuous and is a 1100 foot climb and the loop is 7.5 miles! A few small misses in the details from the missus to push me a little . . . 

Oh how the tables have turned.. years ago I would be the one saying "the falls is just around the corner.. another 0.1 miles.." a few times to get her to not give up. Now she is doing that to me!

It was a pretty steep hike at places and I was lagging behind for the most part..especially when I stopped to take selfies or panos..not that much was visible in the fog!

Loved the hike.. we were up at the summit and above the clouds.. there was fog everywhere and water condensing off our faces and masks on the way to the top. 

It was great to watch the sun come out through the fog and the trees.

We were almost halfway back when the sun came out and made it interesting for the rest of the walk..

The dripping water and the sun streaming through the fog and trees made an amazing display.. the photos do not do enough justice to the actual views!

Once we were on the other side we got a clear view of the hills and the moon

This is one well made trail ! They have put a lot of thought into it..

The falling leaves made it even more interesting..

We made it back in time for lunch.. 

a video clip from the hike..

Wrapping this post up with a smiling San, whose accomplishment is to get me to go with her..

Another hike towards end of 2020! Given we have not flown anywhere or traveled to far away places, we are definitely seeing places that were within 20 minutes drive that have been missed all these years!

We will definitely be making another trip to Windy Hill where we get the views..maybe an afternoon hike! 

Having gone up Mission peak, Mount Um, Windy Hill in last month.. my confidence in hiking with my wife has improved significantly!

Sometimes you have to wait..

I have lived in the bay area for decades and there are a lot of firsts in the last few months, thanks to a small virus that has turned our lives..

Went up to Mission Peak in Fremont for the first time a few weeks ago. This morning got to go up to Mount Umunhum for the first time. Have heard a lot about this peak and the views from so many of my friends, and finally my wife pushed me join her walking buddies.

It took close to an hour for us to get to this parking lot which was already at 2300 feet elevation and from there we hiked 9 miles to go up the summit, walk around and come back. 

It was extremely foggy and windy when we went up and there was no visibility when we were up there, but it was nice talking to friends and walking. 

The fog started clearing as we were on our way back. 

Two of us slow walkers were engrossed in our discussion of south Indian classical music that we missed a turn and ended up walking an extra kilometer till we realized we were on a different path. We were sure the rest of the group would be mad at us for being late but looks like they forgave us. 

There were amazing views on the way back down.. (especially on that wrong path where the two of us got lost!)

Stongly recommend it. The slope was not as steep as the final stretch of misison peak, but this one is also unrelenting.. you are constantly walking up a slope without much flat terrain to catch a break. Very doable in foggy weather!

There is a Tamil saying "poovodu serndhu naarum manakkum".. "the string with which you tie the flowers into a garland, also gets to smell good because of its closeness".. 

My wife has become an avid hiker and thanks to her push and encouragement I am also seeing a few places that would have otherwise stayed on the "one day I will also go there" list..