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Note: This is intended to be a community page for a
loose group of hikers in the general Palo Alto, CA area, so if you
want to put something on here, correct something, add pictures, etc.,
drop me a note and I'll add it. I'll also take
requests for other info to be added to the page, although I tend
to be sporadic at actually doing anything
I/We are always interested in new hikes or hiking partners, so contact
me if you are interested. My contact info is
here. Dave
Upcoming events, ideas, etc.
Nothing currently planned, just finishing a 2 week series of hikes...
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Trip reports
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The links are usually to pictures, with some description and
sometimes some descriptive text. Sometimes it's just the pictures
and no text.
- On 3 January 2009,
Steve, Lorraine, and I hiked from
Little Basin to Big Basin
via Tanbark trail to Buzzard's Roost, down Pine Mountain trail to Bloom Creek, on to Big Basin Headquarters, and return via the service road.
- On New Year's Day, 2009, Scott and I hiked all day, taking it easy, from
Big Basin headquarters
out to the Berry Creek falls, then up the Howard King trail and some
cross country below Mt. McAbee to a pair of tufoni caves (fairly
large), back on trail at Hihn Hammond road, then down to Middle
Ridge and the parking lot.
- On 23 December 2008, I went for a solo hike out at
Morgan Territory, near Livermore.
I went for a hike on the Coyote, Stone Corral, Valley View, Manzanita, Miwok, Blue Oak,
and Volvon trails. It was chilly and a bit muddy, but not windy, and sunny part of the
time, so a very nice hike indeed. Some pretty nice views out over the Sacramento
Valley, as well. I only saw one other person the entire hike.
- On 13 December 2008, I went for a short hike from the end of Alpine Road in Portola
Valley on up to Russian Ridge and
return
- 16 Aug 2008: Casey and Veronika, Becky and Scott, Chris, and Dave all hiked at Pt Reyes
(Bear Valley area), out to the coast, down the coast for a bit, including a long stop
at Sculptured Beach, then back to the Bear Valley trailhead. After that we had a mighty
fine dinner afterwards (with 3 dozen oysters, and a nice local Pt Reyes Winery sparking wine).
Here's the trip pictures that I (Dave) took,
and a few movies as well. It was a fine foggy Pt Reyes day, but a fairly high fog, without
much wind, so all in all, quite pleasant.
We also ran into an organized group of over 100 people picking huckleberries up on the
Sky trail, just south of the junction with the Meadow Trail. There were a lot
of ripe huckleberries, and most of us had a fair amount of them.
- 10 May 2008: Several of us went on a Pine Ridge Asssociation group hike at Henry Coe
on , starting at the new Dowdy Ranch visitor center
(via Bell Station Road off Hwy 152), and headed out
Pacheco Creek.
- 3 May 2008: Butano Ridge loop from Portola Redwoods state park
through Pescadero Creek county park Butano Ridge
- 20 Apr 2008: A short spring hike at Black Mountain (Palo Alto)
- 1 Dec 2007: A short winter hike at Black Mountain (Palo Alto)
- 21 Jan 2007: We took a winter hike at Henry Coe State Park
near Morgan Hill. We hiked out Flat Frog trail and then on to Middle
Ridge, with a side trip to Deer Horn camp, then on down the ridge and
back on the Fish trail (somewhat over 8 miles with the side trips).
Just a few pictures this time, including some of one of the frozen
creeks.
The weather was great, probably low 60's, clear, but occasionally
breezy on the ridges. It was obviously colder in the low lying
streambeds, because we found several parts of streams that were
still frozen, up to a couple of inches thick in places. The freeze
itself must have been from earlier in the week, of course. At one
point, there was ice over 3 inches thick.
- 13 Jan 2007: Casey, Alex, Jasen and I did the Hamm's Ridge
Windy Hill loop.
A somewhat cool day, but clear.
- 14 Oct 2006: Pictures from
the harvest dinner apple picking and chestnut harvesting. Somewhat culled,
just so they are up for people to look at.
- 16 Sept 2006: Pictures from
a climb at Last Temptation Cliff, near Goat Rock.
Suggested by Anne because it was her last chance to climb before
heading off to Europe for a while. Joe, Casey, Jun, Meg, Chris, Annaka,
Dave, and TJ rounded out the group.
- 1-4 Sept 2006:
First few pictures from Toulumne climbing trip (Jun, Dave, Sarah),
arranged by Joe. My first multipitch climbs!
- 29 April 2006:
Our second ride of the spring season. Old La Honda and West Alpine
loop.. It was nice on the east side...
- 24 December 2005: Hike to Mindego Hill, Christmas Eve day
. It was positively balmy weather, and above the fog.
- 17 July 2005: Climbing at Summit
Rock. It was a somewhat toasty day, but fun.
-
16 July 2005:
We did
"the" coast bike ride.
It was a warm, but not hot day, until we hit some fog
on Stage Road near San Gregorio (which was unfortunate for the views south
of San Gregorio, but quite pleasant for the stretch up to Hwy 1). A wonderful ride,
great company, and food and drink at the end. A great way to spend a Saturday!
- 28 May 2005: Henry Coe China Hole hike, loads of wildflowers:
Here's the pictures, with
a brief writeup on the hike.
- Sunday, 30 May 2004:
Rebecca, Casey, and I took a somewhat leisurely ramble around
the Marin Headlands and Fort Cronkite
on Sunday. The weather was nearly perfect, kept pleasant
by a light offshore fog and a breeze (a stiff wind down at sea level,
but just a pleasant breeze up on the hills). See the link for more details,
and some pictures.
- Saturday, 22 May 2004:
Casey and I went for a short hike to Aquarian Valley
(the upper portion of Peter's Creek canyon). See the link for some pictures,
and the trip report.
- Saturday, 17 Apr 2004:
You all missed a great hike today! We ended up going to
Joseph Grant park (up on Mt Hamilton) instead of Henry Coe because we feared the rain storm might
be headed that way. We saw lots of wild flowers, hiked about 11 to 12 miles
and did about 2100 to 2200 feet of vertical gain. We treated ourselves to
dinner at The Grand View restaurant afterwards. Quite nice!
We have some photos courtesy of
Ralph,
and
Rebecca. I (Dave)
took some also, but haven't even finished with my pictures from the Pinnacles
trip yet, let alone yesterday's hike at Joseph Grant.
-
Sat/Sun, 27/28 March 2004: Bike Ride and Rock Climbing
Writeup by Casey.
-
Pinnacles National Park, Saturday 13 March 2004
Rebecca took some pictures, as did Ralph.
Dave took some too, but hasn't yet got them published.
It was a nice trip, but the consensus is that it wasn't as nice as the
trip last year. A bit too soon for the wildflowers, and a *lot* more
people (we started at the east entrance this time, and for some reason,
there wasn't a single empty parking spot in any of the lots, although we
didn't have to wait too long for a couple to open up.
We did go through the Bear Gulch cave which is longer than the Balconies
Cave. I saw one bat in a crack in the cave. It's only open for a short
period, so we were lucky to catch it.
We did an out and back hike, since we got started a bit late, and were
trying to get back reasonably early. Great rocks, nice weather. We went
several miles up from the visitor center, heading up the Chalone Peak Trail
after we got to Bear Gulch Reservoir.
-
Sunday, 15 Feb 2004: We did a nice loop at
Windy Hill.
We headed up Hamm's Gulch, with the clouds starting to build up
after a beautiful morning. By the time we got to the top (after
stopping for lunch at the rock outcrop near the top of the trail), we had
some rain, and by the time we headed down Spring Mtn, there were
real raindrops falling, although never very heavily, fortunately.
The lighting was interesting, and we could even see a long curtain
of rain drops falling from the clouds over the bay. A nice familiar
hike for most of us, new to some.
- Full moon, February, 2004: Mt Shasta Snowshowing, eating, and Cross-country Extravagana.
Casey found a
cosy little cabin (3 stories, sleeps around 12 (they say 8 in the
ad), isolated
(1.25 miles in on a dirt road, no other houses or cabins on the road),
with it's own pond and stream. Oh, did I mention a wood-fired hot tub?
Anyway,
here's a selection of pictures,
pretty much all uncaptioned, but hopefully telling the story on their own.
There are also a couple of movies. I took most of them, with a few
pictures by other adventurers.
We drove up Thursday, settled in (and had the first of our fine dining
experiences, thanks to the master chef, M'sieur Leedom), and then rented gear at the Fifth
Season in the town of Mt Shasta. They have reasonable rates, and
a good selection of equipment, but we had a number of equipment
failures, so if you rent there, be sure to look over your gear
very carefully before leaving the shop.
Friday we went snowshowing in moderate snow (not much wind) from
Bunny Flats. We were all pretty much snowshoe novices, so we didn't
go very far (up towards Horse Camp), but we had fun with it.
Saturday we went cross-country skiing at Castle Lake, which included
the required climbing of hills and swooshing down again, watching
the ice fisherman, and looking at the rather amazing views of
Mt. Shasta and the crags (not to mention skiiers and snowboarders
who walked way up the slopes and who were skiing down).
Sunday we went snowshowing again, at the McCloud River falls, heading
down first to the lower falls, then up along the river to the middle
falls, and deciding to skip the upper falls, back to the car. A minor
navigational mistake meant that some of us were expecting an easy stroll
back to the trusty Subaru, but instead, was pretty much the same
distance back as we had done outward bound (about 1 3/4 miles; not
all that much to the experienced, but plenty for us!)
Monday morning was cleanup, and heading back home. All agreed it was
a fun experience, to be repeated soon and often.
- Boxing Day, 2003: Hike at
Hidden Villa.
Nice hike, with changeable weather, including a brief hailstorm.
Review and pictures by Dave
- 13 December 2003: Pescardero Creek, a beautiful park mostly in
redwood forest.
(review by Dave)
Writeup,
and pictures (including some poor pictures of the bobcat we saw)
- 6 December 2003: Castle Rock (in the rain, with fog to boot)
(review by Dave)
Brief writeup, and pictures
- Thanksgiving, 2003: Death Valley trip. Review by Grigsby.
Day hiking the canyons in Death Valley
- 2 November 2003: Fall Harvest hike/gathering/baking
Review by Casey, and pictures
- 25 October 2003: Angel Island trip.
(Or "Where Haven't You Been in the Bay Area?)"
A nice description
of Angel Island
and its history. Review by Dave.
It was a fantastic day to be out
on the bay and on Angel Island! No real review, but I do have a set of
pictures of the trip
(still about 120 of them) with thumbnails.
- 18 October 2003: Oktoberfest at Fort Mason, etc.
Casey's review
- 11 October 2003: Big Basin, headquarters to Berry Falls
Review by Dave
- 5 October 2003: Forest of Nisene Marks and Bonfire on the beach
Review by Dave
- 5 October 2003: Bonfire on the beach
Review by Casey
- 4 October 2003: Bike trip to Pescadero
Review by Casey
- 28 September 2003: Pt Reyes Hike
Review by Casey
Hiking bookmarks, stuff in our
area
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I have updated and verified that all of these are valid, as of January 2009.
- California State Parks (Dept of Parks and Rec; links to parks keep changing URLs)
- California State Parks home page
- County of San Mateo - Huddart Park
- Bay
Area Hiker: Home Page
- Mount
Tamalpais Interpretive Association
- Hiking with CyberHikes - The California Hiking Trail
Experience
- (San Francisco) Bay Area Backcountry - Santa Cruz
Mountains
- Midpeninsula
Regional Open Space District
Biking bookmarks, stuff in our
area
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I have updated and verified that all of these are valid, as of January 2009.
- Index of
/~bushnell/bike/ride_stories
- (Sacramento) Valley Spokesmen Bicycle Touring Club
- SF
Bay Area Climbs
- Lucas Pereira's Cycling
Gradiometer Page
- KLIMB Bike Mapping Program
- San Francisco Bay Area
Bicycle Ride Catalog
- Silicon Valley bicycle Coalition Bicycle
Maps
- Guide to rides on Chain Reaction website
- Western
Wheelers Bicycle Club: Southwest San Francisco Bay Area Climbs
- Route Sheets for CA
Centuries & Double Centuries
- Conejo
Valley Cyclists Links
- South Bay Bike Ride
Start Locations
- Santa Cruz County Cycling Club (Santa Cruz Mountains Challenge)
- Cascade Bicycle Club
(Seattle to Portland ride, etc.)
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