2012 New Things: Pleasanton Ridge

April?  Well, April was a month of blog silence.  Ah well. Perhaps in the next few weeks, I will do some April flashbacks of my favorite moments, because there were many.  

Last Sunday, Mish, Amy, and I hiked along the Pleasanton Ridge, one of my 2012 New Things.  Yeah, I know.  I grew up in the area, and had NEVER done this which is shocking and weird and I find it funny, especially given my line of work.  2012 is the year I hike the ridge -- and I will be going back.  It was so pretty!  It was so STEEP.  There were cows that would not get out of our way so we just walked around them and they lazily stared at us! Next time, I want to hike even farther, and maybe start in the morning instead of 2 pm when it's hot as all get out.  Yay ridge!

And thus recommences blogging.

Uvas.

Shindo, Derek and I headed out to the Uvas Reservoir area to do some pro-bono work for a local non-profit.  The weather was gorgeous and not-too-hot which can be a challenge in the foothills.  My new boots handled the ups and downs (all 4.5 miles!) really well -- no more toes slamming into the front of my boot!  The boys hiked in front of me because I was "slower"... which really meant I was letting them hike in front of me because there were tons of ticks.  Novice mapping boys, hahahahaha.  Good day.

 

Here they are, leading the way, picking up the ticks, and gingerly stepping through the poison oak!

Mori Pt (there is blue sky in Pacifica)

 
From this point and back, 2 miles. Steps.  Kid and pet friendly.  

A field visit left me with gorgeous time to spare yesterday in Pacifica, so I decided to hike to Mori Point. Part of the trail is called Bootlegger's Steps -- there was a lot of smuggling n' such in this area during prohibition, so I imagine the name has something to do with that. Mori Point has a ton of native plant species currently blooming.  If you are looking for a pretty, quick, and easy hike, this one is a good one.

Sykes Hot Springs: an excursion, victory

So, my 2011 bucket list has been percolating in my brain for a couple of months now, and I am totally behind in blogging. My intention was to first tackle the ones involving snow, but lo' and behold, in January Lori decided she want to go on a three day backpacking trip to Sykes Hot Springs in Big Sur. I say YAY.

Middle of January? Sure. Cold weather gear? Why not. Ten miles up and down, both ways? Bring it.

And it was awesome. The hike was hard (harder than I thought it would be), but the views and the feeling of satisfaction -- not to mention the awesomeness of hot springs in the middle of the woods -- were well worth it. The weather was in the 70s and my pack was so much lighter once everyone ate my apples and Brandon and T threw half of my gear back in my car. WIN.

The Hike

The River by Our Campsite.

The Hot Springs

The Crew

Major victories:

Finding the toilet

Using the toilet

No one fell off the crazy log into the River

Fries at Napenthe post-hike

Injury tally:

2/3 of the crew got some form of Poison Oak (poor Adam, but that's what trail candy gets you!)

1 torn calf

1 person with body bruising due to falling (but not off the log!!!)

...

More Pictures here and here .

Snippet(s):

Places: Lake Lagunitas

Last Friday, Joyce and I had dinner in Fairfax. It was nice to be out of the city and be reminded there are other places to live. Fairfax is this funny little town where older hippies still live, or rich kinda hippies move so they can pretend that they are old hippies that drive hybrids. As a result? Good food and lots of little stores selling amber necklaces. She took me up to the Lake Lagunitas Watershed-- I didn't even know there were lakes in Marin County. The lake and surrounded oak/pine areas were beautiful; I bet it's a fantastic place to hike. Made me want to move.

During the week: way up

Today, we climbed a big hill. I was very happy to reach the top. Also? I love my handkerchief. It's the best piece of field equipment ever. That said, I also love my walking stick and am considering carrying it around all the time. Even in San Francisco.

the long way around

I just spent a beautiful day hiking the hills of Pleasanton, looking for the Callippe silverspot butterfly's host plant -- a pretty wee viola. The tiny flowers were yellow on green hills and California looks like it has had enough rain for once. I know that I'm lucky that wandering hillsides today is part of my job -- but I have to interject that those hills were ridiculously steep, there was not really an option not to hike them, and my route was, well, circuitous. See above.

* * * *

I know. Still pretty sweet.

Maybe they are all dreaming

President's Day was wonderfully sunny and wonderfully work free. Bill and I went hiking in the San Pedro County Park in Pacifica, Ca, to enjoy some nature and lack of muni buses. We chose the Hazelnut trail-- 3.7 miles one way, 200-1000 foot elevation climb, and described as "moderate to rigorous." Sketchy parts were the muddy parts, but about halfway in, you strike gold; Pacifica is no longer visible and that feeling of "shhhhhh" settles. Of course, we prattled on about Lost, which we have made the mistake of watching. From the beginning. We are on Season 2. No spoilers please.

Bill round about where the hike became pretty nice, excepting the mud.

At the apex of the climb (1000ft?), there was a nice bench. We sat and had some Kombucha and then... well, we like jumping pictures. The timing of my camera (and our lack of understanding of said timing) lead to these beauties. paydirt.

Pacifica doesn't have a ton of cool things, but another hotspot in that wee, weird, stuck in the 90s town is Gorilla BBQ. Definitely not for the faint of heart, these guys are only open as long as they have meat to cook. In fact, their sign says "if it's smokin,' then we're open." Bill says that it "destroys SF BBQ. Maybe even Austin." Neat.

I would like to point out that the plates of food seen here are intended as a meal for one. I'm hoping not, but we definitely got that impression. We ate this at 3pm, could not even remotely finish and were done with food for the day.

Yay Presidents Day! Hike, eat meat and watch Lost!*
* The next three days were spent eating salad.