Black Mountain... for real!

Last week, San showed me the trailer for Black Mountain by going through a shorter hike from a higher starting point in Montebello open space preserve. 

This week the hiking group went for the real deal. Start at PG&E and go through Quarry trail to Black Mountain. This is one of the hardest local same day hikes. 

We hiked 14 miles and climbed 3400 feet in 5 hours 45 minutes including a 15 minute photo break at the summit and two five minute stops at the PG&E as we passed it on the way up and down!

This was the first time for me in this group! (San has done this twice already). There was a doubt on our ability to do this in reasonable time.  Even if we were going to take it one foot at a time, the plan was to do this hike. Even though we were tired, the folks were actually happy enough to jump for joy when we got back down! They were all happy for me as I am the slowest in the group. Everytime I see something interesting, the camera comes out and that slows me down further!

Our hiking group has now covered all the top 10 difficult one day hikes in bay area and we are glad we started this activity during COVID! (each of these has blog posts and pictures)

There was no fancy clouds or sunset colors like the other evening, but clear visibility. We could see the sun shine off the Salesforce tower in SFO and spot every landmark from our own Apple spaceship to the SFO skyline.. 

Here are some more pictures!

some panos

There are folks who bike here from the Montebello side!

Our ace photographer friend joined us for this hike and we wanted to get another park bench shot.. this goes in our collection..the best pictures on this bench are when the sun is not yet up! we missed that on the way up.. 

After coming back and getting a 90 minute nap, did a hot yoga class! Still hydrating to get back to normal this morning! 

and a great shot from Raja.. 

Will announce Raja's photo book on the Ranco San Antonio Preserve, once he gets to it!!

Glad we did this hike! The last two miles up was really difficult! Now that we have gone there once, next time should be easier! 

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! 

A last minute trip to round up 2021 hiking

The skies opened and we got a chance to do a last minute trip to enjoy the day. The plan was to drive all the way to Limekiln State Park (which is almost near San Simeon, 3 hours away), spend time at the falls, see the stacked stones and stop at McWay falls on the way back. 

Have to always put a picture up front in the blog so it gets picked up for the preview in other media! Really wanted this to be the pic for this post and possibly a summary for the entire year! Our friend Priya took this shot.. watching the waves even if for a few minutes and just enjoying the moment is what life is about!

We didn't know that all trails in Limekiln were closed and the falls were inaccessible. It was a bummer.. so we just took a photo at the entrance and turned back.

There was also a landslide which we had to cross. We waited for a good 15 minutes for the area to clear and started back. 

We thoroughly enjoyed the vista points on scenic Route 1 on the way back. You can see some of the pano's. 

There is this private beach between McWay and Limekiln that also has a waterfall going into the ocean. We were told there are only 4 falls that go to the sea in the continental US and two of them were in CA and they were McWay and Alamere.. guess that is not true! 

The view of the bridges and Route 1 itself as it bends around the mountain side is in itself a treat to watch!

We stopped at Mcway falls, ate a packed lunch and found that here too landslides had made the path restricted. we could only go so far on the trail. Luckily we could get a view of the falls.

We walked through this tunnel to see McWay falls and I got a rush of old memories.. of taking a picture of Jr. with her cousin as they walked through the same tunnel many many years ago! 

The photo and smiling faces is the trip highlight..

We decided to stop by Paddington Cove on the way back. It was a really good trek down and we enjoyed the little waterfalls, the coves and the water going into the sea! The photo below is from the creek that goes to McWay falls.. we were a crisp red after being in the sun for an hour..

The walk to the cove is along the creek and there are many little falls that make it beautiful! 

Then I tried to do Yoga on the edge.. 

and almost slipped trying a toe stand

and the group let out a shriek.. I promptly balanced myself and said "that is my last try" .. and the group was happy again..

It was six plus hours of driving between 7:30AM-4PM and some hiking but was worth it all!

These days the kids don't show up for hiking trips and that is that..

2021 has taught me to accept a lot of things.. Hope 2022 is a better year!

Here is to a healthy and happy new year to all of you!