Super bloom revisited..

In early May? we visited Cal Poly and checked out a local super bloom. Given the thing moves up north every week, it came closer to us last month.

The previous year our hiking group had noticed this amazing hillside on the return path from Monument peak. So we decided to go to Monument peak in reverse and try to get pictures of the hillsides with wild flowers.

It was great for pictures, but somehow really really bad for allergies to the point that I called the photo album "sea of allergies". 

The wild mustard was 6-8 feet tall and the trails were full of thorny shrubs that had not been cleared well. Between the flowers and thorns, 3/8 people in the hiking group started sneezing and two (myself included) had nosebleeds before we exit the trail. It took a good 2 weeks to recover from that hike. 

However, the pictures did come out great! The thing was beautiful till my watering eyes could see clearly no more..

This was the path from Ed Levin County Park to Monument peak. This summer has also been extremely hot and I would not recommend going up on these barren hikes with no possibility of shade. Take lots of water with you and hydrate well. Wear a mask if that helps. Like my old mentor told me "you should have just stayed home and watched a youtube video of someone else doing this hike given your allergies!". For a second he turned into Gounder saying "dei naaye, unakku idhellam thevai dhaana daa?!" and I burst out laughing. 

I sang "vazhi neduga, kaatu mustard" for San on this hike.. why not?!

The superbloom is more interesing when there are multiple colors.. this was all wild mustard and yellow. we didnt see the poppies or the lavenders.. so compared to the one near SLO, this was okay!

Maybe someone who has severe allergies and wants to see what this is all about.. can just watch the video below and save themselves the pain.. 

Next year, not falling for the "super" hype!

Santa Teresa County Park Loop trail

There is this absolute beauty of a trail right in Santa Teresa area. It is the hills next to IBM Almaden. There is a loop trail that starts from Joice trail and goes through Mine trail and Coyote trail, Hidden springs and Bernal Hill to the Vista loop trail. 

It is 8+ mile and pretty steep at places and takes around 4+ hours (by our standards). It is also ~2000 feet elevation gain. A decent workout and a "moderate" trail if you listen to the internet.. if you pace yourself! 

There is a part of this trail at the end that has zero cover. So it is best to do this as a very early morning or late evening hike. The sun setting over the valley is beautiful to watch from the ridge!

The flowers have started blooming across the hillsides.. the poppies should be there in a week or two to add a ton of orange to the yellows.. 

Strongly recommend this provided you have the right hiking shoes!

There is a one mile stretch on the way back where you are just walking on rocks and gravel. Not much of a path and the feet don't land evenly. Many of us almost twisted our ankles, but would still recommend it. 

Here are more pictures.. 

Thoroughly enjoyed this hike.. and the chai at the top of the summit! That is one good thing that has become tradition already over a year and a half of hiking! 

COVID got us started on hiking every weekend to a new trail in the local area. The fact that we have plenty of unexplored trails for months to come says a lot about the natural beauty of this area, the resources used to maintain these places and our luck in ending up in a place like this, in a time like this!

More trails to follow...