Hiking Pinyon Peak in Carmel

It has been a busy weekend. Spending all afternoon and evening at SIFA concerts, taking photos, soaking in the music.. then waking up early on a Sunday to drive to Carmel valley and hike Pinyon peak.

We drove early morning. It took us 90 mins to get there and we promptly started hiking.

This hike was harder than black mountain overall because of the steady climb in a shorter distance. We also ended up picking a day that is unusual for that area. No breeze and bright sunshine! Foggy conditions would have helped. My shirt was glued to my back for most of the climb.

We thoroughly enjoyed the hike with the banter and antics. Also got to try some yoga poses on a ledge. However the pants did not cooperate for some of the poses..

Everyone had packed some food to share for lunch and we had tea (made at the top) and after a few more photos, got back on the Fern trail. This trail is nice and shaded and wider. The sky trail we went up on was not wide and there was a lot of poison ivy everywhere. We also got lost once but realized it soon enough!

Here are the nature pics..

I also hit my head on a tree branch while running down the trail. Have a bruise but so far my cognitive skills are still good enough to blog. Hope the bump in the head subsides in a day!

Back home after being in traffic for almost two hours. Sitting and smiling while typing this, going over the hike in my head. We had a fun time!

Surprisingly I was not grumpy as was expected!

A video highlights reel..

Would definitely recommend this as a day hike, even if you have to do the drive from bay area. The views are amazing!

There is supposed to be an amazing waterfall in this hike in rainy season. Might have to revisit in April for that!

Dew magic - Gray whale cove trail, Pacifica

We have hiked Gray whale cove trail once before. We were inexperienced hikers then, confusing bike paths with hiking trails and taking on steep slippery slopes without hiking shoes.

Decided to revisit the trail this weekend with some friends who are not part of our usual hiking group. There were no views. The place was completely foggy once we hit the cloud line. The skies cleared up only when we almost came down. Definitely recommend this as an afternoon hike if scenery is your thing.

That said, our hikes are all about the joking, giggling ladies, taking pictures of whatever comes our way and Chaifies when we reach the summit. This time we had Chai, cookies, pakoras… they all taste divine after hiking a few hours , standing in condensed dew and sweat on a windy summit. There were many bench photos..

The dew and condensed mist made magic. The flowers, the webs, buds.. I was just taking macro shots everytime we stopped. Here are the pictures..

A few other shots..

a short video clip of the foggy experience

Blogging can be fast if you keep at it.. editing photos and videos, uploading them and doing a write up used to be so fast for me.. after a three month gap, takes me longer.. like my yoga teachers say “if you don’t use it, you lose it”. Glad to be writing again.

This hike is tricky at places but strongly recommend with good hiking shoes, having all trails (still two members missed a cut off and kept walking) and taking the safer options. The two folks who kept talking and walked almost a mile ahead and turned back were made to stand up on the bench and do thoppikaranam for ummachchi. The offenders faces have been blocked out like in Indian news media so the blog audience cannot know who they are..

Now I have to be more careful on the trails and not get lost. As the person who is most likely to get lost, this new protocol might actually be bad for me!

Go try this hike! We have. never gone down the beach on the other side of the freeway yet. On our next attempt definitely plan to do that.

Fall creek state park

The plan for the long weekend was rest rest and more rest, with some yoga thrown in. However, the hiking group decided that the best recovery is to just get back on the trail when I have been declared to be able to breathe again normally.

If the wife says I am hike worthy.. then guess I am..

We left at 7AM to drive to Scotts valley / Felton area to Henry Cowell state park area. There is a Fall creek state park as part of this elaborate complex of parks.

We hiked the big ben tree trail, the lost empire trail and a few other trails. It was interesting. Four plus miles of downhill and an almost non stop climb back up. Not exactly a starter hike for a guy who has been wondering where all oxygen was going after it passed through his nose.

There were Zero benches on this trail. So no bench photos.. I did stop a lot to take pictures..

There was plenty of water in the creek and the waterfalls were amazing!

The trees, the berries, the banana slugs, it was an interesting hike.. and the mosquitos..

standing inside the hollow of a burnt out tree that still stands is an amazing experience. These trees are hundreds of years old!

After the hike we stopped on the way in Felton at Ambrosia to get some Indian buffet.. have not had a buffet lunch in a long time. There was a lot of stuff for non-veg folks. I did not get my money’s worth, but the food was great! The daal and naan were fantastic.

Here is a video highlights reel..

A few things about this hike. It is not 8 miles. It is closer to 10. So don’t believe the comments on websites. The hike is moderately hard at places. It was pleasant and a better me would have had a lot more fun. Finally, there is plenty to see on this trail and it is mostly shaded. No benches but plenty of amazing views and the creeks full of water added vibrant views.

We might visit other trails in this state park area soon!