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!

Byxbee Park- Baylands Nature Preserve

The knee is healing, but slowly. Every now and then it swells up and I have to give it all the treatments recommended. Still doing Yoga every alternate day or so, and trying my best to do poses that don't end up in sharp pain. Walking has also become an on and off thing. For an active guy, this knee issue has been a curse. My happiness was directly proportional to my step count and yoga attendance. ... and as a saving grace in recent years, music. 

Have been sitting in the same place mostly listening to music or singing. That said, our hiking group leader who is recovering from surgery wanted to cheer up both of us by going on a small "walk" on flat terrain at the local Byxbee park. We have not walked this as it was not a challenge. "It is a walk, not a hike!" was our previous rhetoric. Given walking is now a blessing and hiking is ruled out, we went last weekend. 

What was supposed to be a 3 mile walk ended up being 6.5 miles as we got some fresh enthusiasm watching the birds and the beautiful flowers all along the path. We also had a tea break in the middle of this!

It is good to be back with friends and on any walking path. We start slow.. hopefully the knee improves over time and normalcy returns.

Given the current situation, this was a morning well spent! Next time, will take the SLR and the telephoto lens with me to capture the birds better.. these are all iPhone photos.. 

We did get a lot of "bench photos" for our collection!

A short video clip.. you get an idea of the birds and sounds.. this place was 30 minutes from home. We have never been to this place.. we mostly hit shoreline and back. It was just beautiful.

There was only 20 or so parking spots and we did have to wait for someone to leave so we could park. So go early and carpool where possible! 

Strongly recommend this place for a long "strol". 

Johnston Canyon trail to Ink pots - Banff highlight

The previous post in this series is here..

After visiting Lake Louise, Lake Moraine and doing the Paradise valley hike, we drove to Johnston Canyon. We knew what we had to do..

Hike to lower falls, then upper falls and depending on how we were doing at that time, go all the way to Ink pots. Given we had already hiked 6+ miles by then, this was going to be another 8 miles. Our decision was to go at a steady pace.

Lower falls came and went,

we cross the river and then go along it on a catwalk

There is a small tunnel you go through (there is a line) and you get to see the falls up close and personal..

Then we start towards upper falls. It is a decent, easy to moderate hike to Upper falls.  At this point the crowd has already thinned down and most people turn back..Upper falls is beautiful.. 

tried a few long exposure shots..

we walk to the top of the falls and then deviate from the river to go up the mountain range..

Ink pots deserves a blog post of its own, but given the rate at which I am able to blog, just going to write this as one long post..

you walk past Upper falls through a meadow with flowers that has an amazing vista!

Maybe 10% of folks go past Upper falls to Inkpots, as it is considered a hard hike. We had to go.. San for one actually offered to turn back, but I refused. It is not everyday I am coming to Banff, so off we went. 

The scenery that awaits you once you reach is worth it.. there are 5 to 6 pools of different depths which have different shades of blue and green because of the sediment and the depth of the pools.. the reflections of the mountains in the pools makes for amazing pictures.. I composed this shot and asked a college kid to take this picture.. my camera was on the floor at one end of the pool.. once she saw the end result, she requested me to take the same shot on her phone.. before you know it, there was a line for that!  San was impressed by my photo composing skills for once!

some more shots at this beautiful location..(you can see it in the video also)

we were really happy we did this hike! 

A video of the hike..

It was a hard hike only because it goes up and straight down to a valley to Ink pots. That means you climb up, climb down and up again on the way back. That saps you mentally. 

Fortunately for us, we met an amazing local couple who were senior to us, but do this hike regularly. We started talking to them and while San and Mr. Local started walking faster, I really hit it off with Mrs. Local and we just kept talking and walking. The last 4 miles was a breeze.. before we knew it, we were down and almost 30 minutes ahead of when we thought we will get down. Sometimes, a great conversationalist is all that is required to get me moving fast again! I didnt take a single photo on the way back. Just walked and talked. 

We really enjoyed their company and had lunch with them. We had packed parathas from Indian Curry house and they had their packed lunch. We decided to stay in touch and started driving back towards Banff. Our plan (which they thought was going to be luck driven, given parking and ticket availability) was to go to the Gondola and go up Sulfur mountain! 

More on that later.. 

This is a must see place in Banff.. the Ink pots is a hard hike, but don't miss it. Take enough water and pace yourself and go.. 

We made friends for life on this trip and that made it all the more special!