Mt. El Sombroso

I am taking a brief detour from the Banff posts to cover a local hike we did today. This is supposed to be one of the toughest hikes in the local bay area. 

The Kennedy trail to Mount El Sombroso, a series of hills that come in waves. It is very different from a go up and come down formula.. you keep going up and down for the last 3 miles.. so that makes it 6 miles of up and down on a ~14 mile hike. 

We left early enough but had to park across and walk. We were up in the clouds and fog fairly early but slowed down steadily over the next two hours. The views were amazing in spite of the sun because we were above the clouds for the most part. 

there were no benches on this trail...not much shade either!

Two photos from this vista point that made my day.. (thanks to the two ladies who clicked these!)

As usual, we had chai at the top..

You can see Mt. Umunhum in the background. we were thinking that if it wasnt for the building on the top of that, this would be the tallest point in the range. we felt we were looking down on that mountain at one point!

The landscapes were amazing.. till the sun came out.. then there was a bluish tinge on everything.. maybe the fire in Yosemite is causing this?

you can see downtown San Jose under the cloud cover!

A video of the hike.. 

As a prep hike for Yosemite, this one comes close.. definitely more challenging than Mission peak! 

Strongly recommend this hike, if you can leave early enough and avoid the sun beating down on you relentlessly.. take enough water. We underestimated how much water we needed today and slowed down the last few miles because of that!

The trail is slippery in the gravel areas and pretty steep at places. They call it a tough hike for a reason!

All is well that ends well. I am tired but have a sense of accomplishment! Hope this trend continues...

Two lakes and a waterfall

The previous post on this series is here..

The bus stopped at a waterfall that flows into a river (where they Freeway goes between the two). This was followed by two more stops at Bow lake and Waterfowl lakes. 

Both these lakes looked similar except for the extent of the "lake beaches" and the picnicing crowds. The scenery was just amazing!

This photograph is thanks to the Belgian professor.. his daughter was telling to him take some vertical and horizontal.. he goes "will even take some diagonal.. how about that?". Turned out great!

We met a large punjabi family of 30+ people with picnic blankets and food spread out in one of the little coves around the lake. We were given half an hour at the stop and everyone in the bus interested in taking photos at the lake had to walk through one of many trails to get to the shore and take pictures. We thought we were going to a quiet spot.. turned out not to be. so we went back around to find a quiet spot to take photos. 

Both these lakes are beautiful. Turqoise waters, clear enough for you to see the bottom pebbles for quite a distance, snow and ice covered mountains in the background..

San's candid shot of me at Waterfowl lakes

Surprisingly, she took a lot of photos of me on this trip and they were all good! Not out of focus, not contrasty, over or under exposed.. just right! That was a big bonus for me on this trip!

if you are not going by the bus tour, stop by both these lakes! There is enough parking in the parking lot at bow lake. For Waterfowl lake, you just stop at the vista point and walk down. 

A video of the stops 

The day wasn't over. We still had lot to do after being dropped off..

The ice field Skywalk

The previous post in this series is here..

After the visit to the glacier and back, we were told that the ticket includes a ride to the skywalk and back. So we went in a larger bus to the skywalk bus stop. From this stop it is a half mile walk to the Skywalk.

San actually did a great job taking that picture given the crowd! I am a very proud photographer hubby..

This is an engineering marvel !! A U shaped piece of projecting steel and glass above the abyss. You are walking on glass and it is scary to walk on. The thing still shakes a bit in the heavy winds and that scared me a little more. 

We saw a family of mountain sheep under the bridge. These sheep were amazing movers on near vertical surfaces! The baby was extremely cute!!

We read through the engineering details of the bridge, quickly walked through it (it was way too crowded) and got back on the next bus. 

This is a must visit place. I think this will be even more beautiful when the mountains facing the skywalk have snow on them. Right now the river and the waterfalls are beautiful but not obviously visible.

A video of the Skywalk..

When you see a place like this.. you are proud to be an engineer. Heard a kid walk before me and say "this is just engineers showing off. They really didn't need to build something like this.. but they went and did it anyways!"  I walked behind laughing. 

What is more amazing is the engineering that is there in those sheeps soft padded feet that can grip any shape of rock as they go up on those vertical rock faces.. 

On the return to Banff, we stopped by a waterfall first and headed to stop by two lakes.

Will post that next..