Mt. Diablo from the south gate

We hiked to the summit of Mt. Diablo for the first time 5 years ago for Valentine’s day!

The next trip to the place was not for the summit but the waterfalls around the mountain via Mitchell Canyon trailhead. Given my fall during that trip and everyone associating me and Mt. Diablo with that drama, was always wary of going back again.

This weekend San’s friends decided to go hiking there and we joined in. Left Cupertino at 5:25AM and started hiking at 7AM from the south gate. It was a short hike from the school parking lot area to the south gate trail head.

We came back at 1:40 in the afternoon. Had a 20 minute stop at the top for snacks and another 20 minute stop earlier near the rock city restroom area while going up.

Had a lot of fun talking music mostly with San’s teacher. The highlight for me was listening to her sing in the confines of the tower at 4000 feet.. Her voice soared and made it feel like 40000 feet. A truly gifted and skilled singer. She just launched into song after all that hiking. Link to that insta here..

Here are some pictures.. the other funny part was meeting two guys who joined the extended group as “prep” for Everest base camp. They said they were going as part of a college group in March.. My first thought was which college from India will have guys crazy enough to do this in March.. on a hunch I asked and sure enough they are my juniors. They were freshmen when we were seniors. For the record (this is for the benefit of my buddies), I did say “murga ban saale” as soon as they mentioned it. I have matured over the ages.

Thanks to being in the middle of a 60 day challenge, when I sweat, it is profuse. End up changing shirts through the hike ! The views were not as gorgeous as last time because of the fog rolling in. Even on our way back it was still foggy. Still enjoyed this hike thoroughly.

Here is a short video..

Now that Diablophobia is cured, will most likely hike this again..

A sunset to remember

We hiked Mission peak yesterday. We don’t have a count anymore for how many times we go to Mission peak or to PG&E and black mountain these days.

The hike was to start at 7AM but because outside temperatures dropped to almost freezing, it was postponed to 1:30PM start.

Given I did not get the memo from wife early enough, had done back to back hot yoga double on Friday evening to make up for missing Saturday.. When I found out the hike was in the afternoon, went back to yoga at 8AM in the morning.. why waste the opportunity?

After 3 classes in 18 hours, was still hydrating (do a decent job of it) when we did the hike. Took an extra 20 minutes given it was still very cold and windy but managed to do the usual “one step at a time” routine when things got tough. There was a huge crowd at the top and we did not wait to get pictures at the pole but as we came down, nature put on quite a show for us. The sunset and colors were just gorgeous!

Photos here..

A video highlight..

Came back with really tired legs, but all good now. Have done yoga again this morning and that helped.

Most Mission peaks are the usual affair.. this one was made special thanks to the sunset!

Hiking the Lonely Forest trail in La Honda Open Space Preserve

This weekend, we hiked the La Honda Open space preserve. It is a 30 minute ride from Cupertino and we found parking at the trail head easily. Not many hikers as there was a mist and slight drizzle and a lot of fog on the way.

Reminded me of Windy hill which is also somewhere close by. Weather was good and parts of the hike were in the shade. It actually got quite warm when we went to the base of the vista point.

The normal trail for this place is the Harrington trail. Our friend Deepa, who will henceforth be known as “Lone forest Deepa” made such a pitch for this newly opened trail which would take us to Coho Vista point , that we decided to take a chance and follow her “pdf map” instead of all trails. We went through this trail which had no one on it, to the Madrone trail, then to the starting point for the vista. It was another 1.1 miles one way to the top and we were out of time. So we had chai and came back. Here is a Link to Deepa’s capture of the trail..

It was 9 miles, 1700 feet climb and took us 4 hours including the Chai and photo breaks. We will definitely revisit this in spring when there are flowers. Given this is a new trail we had to watch out for a large stretch. Lots of salamanders and lizards, slugs etc. crossing the trail in the morning.

Here are some pictures..

There were no benches though for a “bench photo”!

Very short video highlight reel..

Definitely recommended for a half day hike on a foggy day! Once you go up it is just beautiful!