Portola Redwoods Park.. after Mount Hamilton

On hot summer days, (this was again a month and a half ago) when bay area was ready for "karudam weather" as some south Indians call it.. we wanted to hike as a group in the shade. 

There were reasons for it. We had made an attempt to go to Mt. Hamilton summit but aborted the attempt as multiple people got dehydrated before we reached the 3 mile mark. Our plan was to leave late afternoon and hike given the trail had no shade. Hindsight being 20/20 this was a bad idea. The last time we had successfully done this was in December in much cooler foggier conditions. So we turned back, drove to the observatory in hopes that we can at least take pictures. The Lick observatory had just closed before we drove up. So we sat near the gate, ate the snacks and tea that would have marked a successful hike and drove back all the way. The few pictures from the failed attempt..

The hikers did want to make up for that by doing another hike right away but in the shade. After some debate on the "most shaded trails" in bay area, we picked this Portola redwoods as none of us had been on this trail before.

Good news? Total shade. Amazing redwoods. Cool throughout when it is reaching 95F outside

Bad news? no views of any kind. No summit. Uniform views throughout. 

the only thing changing in the "bench photos" that are now part of every hike.. is the increasing size of my bald spot.. you can literally track it across bench photos.

We did have a lot of fun with the conversation and as an added bonus some of the kids joined us! 

This is not an easy trail. Would definitnely ask folks with knee or ankle issues to avoid this! 

We did see some interesting things on the way..

Then the ever present redwoods on the trail..

there was a decent flow of water in the creeks, which was an added treat!

A video of the creek and trail.. you can see how serene this place is!

We had a sense of accomplishment after going through this trail to the extent we went. This more than made up for the aborted attempt in Mount Hamilton. Something tells me that we will make another attempt to go around Hamilton in winter. 

One more nice set of trails within a 30 minute driving distance!

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..