Yosemite - Fall 2011

Today, Chuck and Jamshid and I went to Yosemite, and it was great. Well, except for all the fog on the way. It was foggy all the way from my place to the Sierra foothills, particularly thick around I-5 (of course). I took it slow and careful, so it added about half an hour to the drive.

Since it is late in the season, I checked the weather carefully. We were set to go last weekend despite the 20% chance of a tenth of an inch of snow, but then the forecast changed to 90% chance of 5 to 9 inches! Of course, after we canceled our plans, it didn't snow after all. In any case, I kept a close eye on the Yosemite webcams to see how much snow might accumulate during the week. I kept a copy of this particularly nice image.

Today it turned out to be sunny with a forecast high around 50 degrees. We started and ended the hike in our jackets, but in the middle of the day we could take them off in the sun.

Our hike was from the Wawona Tunnel up the south rim to Crocker Point. The lower part of the hike was dry, but about 10% of the trail was snow covered in the upper elevations. Here are Chuck (foreground) and Jamshid (background) in a particularly snowy section.

Stanford Point, Crocker Point, and Dewey Point are reachable in day trip, in that order. The main trail only goes near Stanford Point, and in the summer there is a chaotic profusion of side trails to reach the point itself. This time there were fewer trails through the snow, but they still didn't take a particularly optimal route to the point. So I made my own, which turned out to be even worse. In any case, we made it eventually.

It's not too much further to Crocker Point. I guess I didn't take a photo of the point itself. (The metal sign was propped up against a tree, where it wasn't very photogenic.) Here's a look down at Bridalveil Fall.

... and across the valley at the distant snow-covered mountains.

We were hiking somewhat leisurely, so we decided to not go all the way to Dewey Point. Here's a final shot from the return trip, from Inspiration Point (or thereabouts).

Windy Hill - 2011

Chuck and I hiked at Windy Hill. We planned to take Lost Trail to Hamms Gulch Trail to Meadow Trail to Spring Ridge Trail (steep up), about ~6.5 miles, ~1000 feet elevation. However, Chuck likes to complete as many trails as he can in each park, so we also covered the many small loops around the main entrance and lake. Chuck says our total was probably about 10 miles.

There a couple of good view spots up near Skyline, but generally it's a pretty standard Open Space park.

Hanalei-Okolehao Route

Richard and I hiked up the fairly steep Hanalei-Okolehau Route. Just after the first one-lane bridge an the highway past Princeville, a sharp left put us on a narry road next to a river (flat and gentle here). Parking is limited, but the hiking book and our experience is that it never fills up.

There were plenty of Richard's favorite guavas along this trail.

Also, good views of Hanalei.

Canyon Trail Adventure

I went by myself today for a nice loop combining the Canyon and Black Pipe trails, the Kumuwela road and trail, and the Halemanu-Kokee trail. Once again I had the bad set of camera batteries, although this time I was able to diagnose the problem so that it won't happen any more.

There were various other groups of hikers up to and at the Waipoo Falls. After that, though, I saw hardly anyone.

The first part of the trail goes out onto various ridges overlooking the canyon. I do not know what process formed these natural arches.

The "Kaipo Perch" has a nice butt-shaped indentation for anyone who wants sit and watch the canyon.

'Round about here is where I met a couple of German tourists who asked me to snap their picture in front of the canyon. They also offered to take my picture, but that's when my batteries went south. They took my picture with their camera and offered to send it to me when they got home, so I'll put it up here if/when that happens.

They also wanted to know how far it was to the Kokee Museum. Gee, uh, does this trail even go to the Kokee Museum? They weren't sure, but apparently someone had told them to "just follow the trail" to get there. I showed them the map in my hiking book with the dense interwoven trails, and invited them to hike with me and I'd at least get them back to civilization. And thus Sebastien and Rebekka became my hiking partners for the rest of the day.

From around this point the trail veered in away from the canyon edge, so the best views were mainly of flowers from that point on. We had a nice conversation comparing the hiking in Hawaii, California, and the Alps; discussing the current economy and our respective countries' recovery efforts; and various other small talk.

When we got to a multiway intersection near the Halemanu-Kokee Trail, I looked deeper in my hiking book and found the proper route for them to take to the Kokee Museum. However, they decided that they'd had enough, so we headed back to my car, and I gave them a ride back to their car.

Moalepe Trail

Richard and I finally went on the gentler trail that we'd intended two days ago, and I finally got my calves properly stretched out without overworking them.

The Moalepe Trail starts as a fire road/ranch road, although the ranchland to either side seems to be mostly abandoned. Certainly it's very lush and rugged, so rounding up the animals can't be easy.

The views are limited until you get to the picnic area. From there you can see the main Kauai mountain range, depending on the cloud level.

The clouds were playing hide and seek. Different cloud layers made it look like the clouds were tearing apart.

Since we'd seen so many different flowers on the way in, I figured I'd photograph as many as I could on the way back. Unfortunately, my macro photography skills are not that great, especially when it comes to getting the right focus.

This trail had a few more people on it than the others we'd been on, but they were still pretty sparse.

Iliau Nature Loop

Today Richard and I roped my mom to come with us to the Iliau Nature Loop at the head of the Kukui Trail. The nature loop has signs giving the names and a paragraph of information about various native plants in the area. Unfortunately, my memory for plant names is very bad.

Also, the views over the canyon are spectacular.

It was starting to spit rain, so I hurried back to the car and got our picnic supplies, and we set ourselves up for lunch in the sheltered picnic area.

The rain was sporadic, but occasionally quite hard. After finishing our lunch, we found ourselves having to wait patiently for the rain to stop. During a lull when it had calmed to an occasional spit, we decided to make a dash back to the car. Our timing was perfect, as rain fell in torrents as soon as we got inside.

We stopped in Hanapepe for Lappart's ice cream. For Halloween they had Pumpkin Crunch flavor, where the Crunch seemed to be a mix of pie crust and pecans. It was strangely good.

Alii Vista Hale, Nonou Mountain

Yesterday I played a few games of beach volleyball with the locals who come out on Saturday. 'Twas fun, but after a plane ride and a steep hike the day before, beach volleyball was an excellent way to make my calves hurt even more. I looked forward to a gentler hike to stretch them out again. As it turns out, I mixed up my intended route with this one, so today's hike was steeper than I intended. But it was still good.

Richard and I have hiked this trail before, so it was familiar terrain. It starts next to a horse pasture, then crosses a wooden bridge. It's been repaired now, but the last time we were here it was fascinatingly bowed by the weight of trees and other plant material that had washed against it in a recent flood.

Across the bridge, the trail climbs gently along the side of the ridge and behind the rather large yards of the richer locals.

At an intersection, the trail turns steeply uphill through a stand of Norfolk Pine (supposedly planted by Captain Cook for future use as masts) and up to a pair of picnic tables under a shelter.

Today I had a bad set of batteries in my camera, so there are no more photos.

Kukui Trail to Waimea River

My plane to Hawaii got in early, and my parents' plane was getting in late, so I had time to go for a hike. It's an hour's drive from Lihue to the Kukui Trail (the first good spot to hike into the canyon). Richard and I have hiked here before, but I wanted to go all the way down to the river.

Downhill was easy, although in retrospect, five hours on a plane followed by an hour of steep downhill was probably not the best idea for my calves.

I saw only one couple heading uphill as I was heading downhill. Other than that it was very quiet, even heading through the campground near the river.

It clearly hadn't rained much recently. Although I've never been to the canyon bottom before, I assume that the river flow is usually higher than this.

Some relative of the mangrove was making itself home on the cliffside via an unusual hovering arrangement.

Near the river, the forest is pretty thick, and the trail is indistinct. I had to keep my eye open for blazes (generally a clear strip of plastic [or perhaps a baggie] tied around a branch). At one point I startled a pair of goats, one tan and one black. It was difficult to get a good photo through the forest.

About halfway up, you leave the forest and start up a red-dirt ridge with sparse trees. Here, the views were made more varied by the spotty clouds.

Closer to the top, the trail falls off the top of the ridge and switchbacks up the side instead, thus generally hiding the views. At the very top is a nature loop that I figured my parents would enjoy doing later.

The hiking book says 2.5 miles to the river, with 2500 feet of elevation change. That's pretty steep. I went down in only an hour, then took about 2.5 hours to come back up.

Mission Peak 2011

Jamshid and Chuck and I climbed Mission Peak via the main route, and it was good. We saw people, cows, crows, turkey vultures, paragliders, a hang glider, and an RC glider. The gliders seemed to come out later in the afternoon when it was warmer. (More updrafts, I guess.)

Sierra Azul 2011

Jamshid and I practiced our hill climbing by hiking on the Kennedy Trail in Sierra Azul. It's a basic fire road, but it goes up and up and up. It was a bit hazy, but we could see Shoreline and Moffett Field to the north.

Black Mountain 2011

Chuck and I hiked up the Black Mountain Trail from the Rhus Ridge Road entrance to Rancho San Antonio. From the peak (among the menhirs) we could see Skyline Road and Page Mill Road at Montebello OSP.

Henry Cowell - Fall Creek Unit 2011

Jamshid, Chuck, Sally, and I hiked at the Fall Creek Unit of Henry Cowell. This is just west of Scotts Valley, so it's a bit of a drive, and not one to try on a busy beach day.

We followed Fall Creek toward (but not all the way to) Trail's End, then looped around on Truck Road and Ridge Trail. I found the hike quite pleasant, and shady everywhere, even on the Truck Road.

There is an old rusted barrel stave mill along the creek. There's an interpretive sign, but it doesn't explain much, so we entertained ourselves pointing out bits of machinery and trying to figure out what they were.

We formulated a plan for an alternative hike the next time we come back, but I can't remember what it was. It may involve the S-Cape trail, which isn't shown on the map on the web site. If I recall correctly, there was a better map at the first major trail intersection from the parking lot.

Pescadero 2011

Jamshid and Chuck and I hiked a loop in Pescadero Creek Park. We actually started in Sam McDonald Park from a little 5-car parking area at the Heritage Grove. There was only one other car there in the morning and two others in the afternoon, and the spots were shady all day, this may be a good parking area for future trips.

From the Heritage Grove Trailhead we wandered around the Heritage Grove first, then went up the hill past the Hikers' Hut. We missed the trail and followed the road instead, so we didn't actually see the hut. We continued clockwise around the Brook Trail Loop and back to the trailhead. As far as I can tell, it adds up to 6.5-7.0 miles.

The trail was open and hot at the top near the Hikers' Hut, but the rest was shady and not too bad, considering that it was in the upper 90's in Santa Clara. Since Pescadero is near La Honda on the west side of the Santa Cruz mountains, it was probably 15-20 degrees cooler where we were.

We spotted 14 banana slugs.

Sanborn-Skyline 2011

Jamshid and Chuck and I hiked in Sanborn-Skyline along the trail that parallels Skyline Road. Since we weren't quite sure where to park, we ended up parking somewhat in the middle, then going out and back in each direction.

I found the out-and-back to be a bit boring, but Jamshid and I both liked the quality of the trail and the surrounding shade.

Wunderlich 2011

Jamshid and Chuck and I hiked at Wunderlich today. We did this hike, plus an extra spur to the crossroads.

Especially near the entrance, the trails are half paved, I guess because they get so much horse traffic. The trail are also covered in horse poop, presumably for a similar reason. The park is nice enough deeper in, but it's not our favorite.

It was also hard to find parking.

Yosemite - Spring 2011

Steve and Chuck and I went to Yosemite and it was good.

Chuck and I met at my place, then we drove up and met Steve at the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station (about 45 minutes). From there it was "only" about 3:15 to the Yosemite Valley.

As usual, photos cannot reflect the grandeur of the first view into the valley.

Snowpack is at 200% of normal, and it actually snowed a little bit in the valley last weekend. But today was nice, and the snowmelt was coming over the falls in torrents.

It was hard work climbing up to the rim, and the light wasn't ideal, so I didn't get my camera out until we got to the top. I was expecting snow, but despite the heavy snowfall deeper in the Sierras, there was substantially less at the top of the trail than I'd seen on previous trips (which were admittedly earlier in the season).

Note that with Yosemite Falls being on the north side of the valley, the trail gets more sun than elsewhere. The prediction was for a high in the mid 60's, but it felt warmer than that. It wasn't hot, but it was warm enough that I wasn't tempted to put on more than my shorts and T-shirt (although I also didn't want to stop too long under the mist from the falls).

The cascades above the falls.

The brink and middle cascades.

Another angle.

I got my camera out a few times on the way back down. Mmm...

Looking back up the trail.

The upper fall.

A woman contemplating the view from her perch.

Parking was much more full than I've seen before. We ending up parking up the road somewhat, which added to the hike, but it wasn't quite far enough to bother catching a bus. The upshot was that we had the opportunity to spot these deer in a meadow on our way back to the car.

On the way home we broke our usual tradition of stopping for dinner at Mountain Mike's in Oakdale. Instead we stopped a bit earlier in Groveland at a local pizza cafe that didn't just have delicious pizza, but also delicious vanilla malt shakes. Mmm...

Stevens Creek and Fremont Older - Spring 2011

Jamshid and I went for a hike from the north (far) end of the Stevens Creek Reservoir. We parked at a little parking lot for a group picnic area. People had formed an extra line of parked cars along one side of the parking lot entrance road, so we joined the line.

We took the narrow trail up the hill up into Fremont Older, then arced around as much of upper part Fremont Older as we could without descending towards Hunter's Point. We stopped for lunch at the top of Nob Hill, and the view was OK, but not quite as encompassing as from Hunter's Point.

We then followed the ridge road down to the south end of the reservoir and returned along the narrow Stevens Creek Trail to the car.

We saw a deer. We did not see the second deer until I got home and zoomed in on this photo.

These looked like some sort of fishing bird with long necks and long bills, but they didn't cooperate for a photo.