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! 

Pinnacles National Park

Last time we visited the Pinnacles National monument turned National park, was in 2013 and it was in May. We promised that if we ever return, it will be in cooler time of the year! 

Our hiking group has been planning this for a long time and given my new penchant for singing, the trip was interesting for me. I was in a live singing class (more on that later) from 4:30-6 AM and we left Cupertino at 6:30AM and came back at 4PM. The place is almost an hour and 45 minutes away. We climbed 2200 feet and walked for 3 hours with almost an hour for photo breaks and lunch! 

It was beautiful.. clear skies, cool weather and just before it got really hot we were on the way down. 

As a bonus, we got to see three California condors, one at close range.. wish I had lugged my camera bag to capture close ups of the Condor.. these days I am just going with the iPhone.. the conversation and the laughs on the hike are the star attractions as are the views from the top..

Got some artistic shots, thanks to a crappy work phone which has some lens defect!! Still, the laughs were the highlight!

We did get to see the sun rise through the fog as we drove to Pinnacles.. it was amazing.. it was like we were driving into a fire!

the rock formations here are amazing! 

beautiful views from the top..

and we kept going..

we saw three of the condors.. one came within 200 feet and sat on this tree.. Thinking of going to a personal iPhone 13 and have separation of work and home numbers.. if you use your phone for more than work, it makes sense to have one with a better camera!

The condors are amazing to watch in close range! Majestic birds! The way they take off effortlessly and cover distances is a treat to watch!

we were debating the logic of using pinnacles in plural.. maybe it is pinnacles because the top has four or five little humps?! that is still being debated within the group!

giving the finger to everyone in the park... this rock sticks out!

One thing that is not obvious on the zoomed out nature shots is that when you walk on the trail, every rock is very colorful.. it is like walking through fall colors on rocks.. 

The "we were here!" photo..

My cap was wet.. had to make a bandana out of my handkerchief to avoid sweat from going to my eyes! It was reasonably strenous at places because we were stop and go.. to make up for photo break times, we had to walk faster.

Once we get to the scout lookout, it is all downhill from there..

walked past more scenic points..

and to the reservoir trail.. we saw what was possibly the largest natural ganesha in rock on the way down.. pullaiyaar rock rocks!!

the place is popular for mountain climbing.. we watched folks climb.. you can see one in the right on the top in this photo..

after a brief break at the reservoir, we continued down through the bat caves.. 

it was nice and cool in the caves! no bats, but saw nicely camouflaged lizards.

We came out, had a nice lunch at a picnic table and drove back. It was a day well spent! 

A few panoramic views..

and a video of the trip..

Strongly recommend this park for a day trip in fall. If you start early enough, you can have a fun time and be back down by lunch time! Kids can make it too if you go at a steady pace!

Loved it!

Why did this blog go dormant?

It has been almost two months since any blog entires. It was not intentional. We had a great summer beginning when every weekend saw a new hike, nature photos and happy smiling faces. 

Then things changed, in a fraction of a second. My wife went to Windy hill hike with a friend and did the simple common mistake of not looking where she is walking. In a spilt second her shoe gets stuck in a root on the path and her ankle was twisted. She decided it was "just a sprain" and decided to go on a larger hike during memorial day weekend which made matters a lot worse.

After many X-rays, MRI, bottles of Ibuprofen,Voltaren,Icy-hot,dencorub,CBD oil, etc. etc.. (it is actually a long list), ankle braces, doctor appointments, chiropractor visits, even Bikram yoga with me and my MIL later... she is almost walking normally again within the house and on solid concrete floors. 

Every week was "it will get better in three weeks" and almost three months passed. We are still happy with the progress. If the queen is not happy, the kingdom cannot be happy. Given the blog is usually positive, I just stayed away from it. 

My new job also got interesting. A lot more work came up in the last 6 weeks. After being in startups for 15 years, a big company has a very different feel. Some things work more efficiently. There are systems in place for everything and that is great. Some things are incredibly slow which is to be expected and I had to significantly reduce my internal clock speed to set realistic expectations. Think I am reasonably adjusted now, we will know in a few quarters (you expected me to say "shortly" didn't you! have learned my lesson). 

Then things got interesting everywhere else. We had a flying visit from the BIL's family for three days during the July 4th weekend and more sickness around the house. We are all on the mend now and that is why I decided to catch up on blogging.

First for some small things. My co-sister decided to bring us a gift when they visited. We have a lot of hummingbirds in our backyard. So asked her to get us a hummingbird feeder. I had plans to get a regular bird feeder. We recently had a bird hit our window and die right there. Wanted to give back something to our backyard birds for the hours of entertainment they provide when we drink tea on the swing and watch them.

Got a couple of shepards hooks, posted them inside flower pots and set it all up. As an added bonus set up a water fountain as a project, working with my two nieces. It was an instant success. 

Here are some photos and videos..

I have never seen a baby hummingbird.. we all call it "baby hammu" and it is incredibly cute! 

The rest of the sparrows, finches, crows, doves and squirrels are all gathering around this small area and I just watch the backyard as I work. Making powerpoint slides becomes easier when these critters are around!

Never even got to edit all the photos from the July 4th trip. Will spend an hour a day and get back to blogging and the photo editing! My connection to music also got stronger over the last few months. Will write about it later!

For now, I am happy that the blog saw a post!

The treacherous trail

Last week we went on what was to date the most challenging hike in post covid times. This was the Gray Whale cove trail at McNee ranch that starts from the Montara state beach. This is right on the other edge of the Devils slide that we had visited last year. 

The trail started with an almost straight climb of 1000+ feet in one go with not many foot holds in places. Then it went up from there. It was 1800 feet elevation to North Peak point which merges with the Golden Gate park on the other side.

The views as we went up were okay as the fog was rolling in and it was direct sunlight. The views while coming back were just plain amazing. Route 1 is the most scenic as the sun goes down! everything just jumps up at you with the added color!

Have a lot of good pictures from this hike. So going to share a select few here and make the rest a slideshow!

There is a 15 minute detour on the way back from the North Peak to another trail in the Golden Gate park where you get to see this cave! It was a risk we took to go on this detour.. we had to get back before it got dark. We went on a new moon night and were aware of the risk of having to come down in the dark.

The lupines in blue white and purple were everywhere and made for amazing scenic landscapes. It was purple irises, lupines or yellow flowers on the hillsides.. 

You climb straight up to get to this single tree..

then you climb up some more to get to this level (that tree in the photo is in the end of the path in this photo). Climbing up is difficult but climbing down on the other path was even more challenging as at some points it was just 3 foot drops! we had to crawl on our butt to get down. 

The stress levels were running high as we were running down against a setting sun. The more tempting it was to stop for pictures, the more we realized this was going to be very challenging for the last mile..

we made it down post sunset, had some well deserved chai and drove back. This is a trail that we will not recommend to folks who are not fit, take kids in the group, folks without hiking shoes.. 

Better wear a miners helmet in case you get delayed getting down.. or better still do this hike early morning or start at 2PM! 

It was challenging but we enjoyed the company and got some great pictures! so a two thumbs up in the end!

On a side note, I did get the second shot of the vaccine, went through the side effects and in good enough shape to write a blog to distract myself from the headache. 

COVID is giving us all an experience to remember! Happy to have this hiking group in our life right now!