Backpacking: Point Reyes National Seashore—Sky Camp

I went on my first official backpack (not including snowcamping) of 2010 this past weekend in Point Reyes National Seashore to Sky Camp near Mt. Wittenberg. On Saturday, I hiked in by myself, but planned on meeting up later with some friends from a Yahoo! hiking group I’m a member of—Nor Cal Hikers. I really liked hiking in alone and then meeting a fun group of people in camp. I was able to have a leisurely no rush morning and peaceful hike at my own pace and then an evening of laughter and good company.

On Sunday it rained on and off in the morning, so I decided to try cooking in the partially open vestibule of my tent. Luckily the tent was a steal of a deal on clearance for a third of the original price, so I was not heartbroken when I discovered I melted a little hole in the vestibule fabric that drooped near the flame—nothing a little duct tape can’t fix!

I hiked in via Mt. Wittenberg Trail and out via Meadow Trail. Round trip mileage from Bear Valley Visitor Center to Sky Camp and back is less than eight miles (with a side trip to the disappointing summit of Mt. Wittenberg) but a good climb. An easier and shorter route is from the trailhead on Limantour Rd. via Sky Trail which is the route my friends took.

Related Link:

• Point Reyes N.S. Backcountry Campgrounds

View my pictures and GPS track & Map on EveryTrail:
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Sweeney Ridge GGNRA Night Hike

On Wednesday night I drove to San Bruno to meet my friend Marie for a night hike at Sweeney Ridge—part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA). We started from the Sneath Lane trailhead and walked along the paved Sneath Lane Trail to the top at Sweeney Ridge trail. It was foggy higher up so we couldn’t see anything except mist, but lower down under the “fog line” I was able to get a shot of the city lights below us. The only wildlife we encountered was a banana slug that seemed a little out of place slithering along the pavement. We did see a dismembered fawn’s leg along the trail—probably the remnants of a coyote or mountain lion kill.

Trip Stats:

• Trailhead: Sneath Lane (end of the road).
• Mileage: ~3.75 round trip
• Elevation +/-: 760 ft.
• High Point: 1214 ft.
• Low Point: 600 ft.
• TH Facilities: None

View a few photos here on flickr.

View map with photos of my route on EveryTrail:

Sweeney Ridge GGNRA Night Hike

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First Hike of 2010

My mountaineering friend Emilie invited me to go on a day hike with two of our friends at Huddart Park, a county park in San Mateo near Woodside, California. I haven’t done much Peninsula hiking and have never been to Huddart Park, so I thought it would be nice to start the new year with a hike in a new area.

The weather was nice and foggy with a little mist—perfect for hiking in redwood trees. With the moisture came lots of fungi, moss, lichen, and banana slugs. We even saw two rough-skinned newts cruising around with each other. We did have to dodge some horse apples, but the trails were remarkably root-free and not too muddy. Some trails where even paved, which was a bit odd, but minimized my normal stumbling on every rock and bump.

Overall it was a nice park, worth the small entrance fee, and a pleasant way to start the new year!

Trip Stats:

• Location: Huddart County Park, Woodside, CA
• Trailhead: Ranger Station Parking Lot
• Mileage: 8.14 round trip, figure-8 loop
• Elevation Gain/Loss: ~1,760 ft; low point 666 ft, high point 2,010 ft
• Trails Traveled: Dean Trail, Chinquapin Trail, Archery Fire Road, Dean Trail, Crystal Springs Trail
• Terrain: Well-maintained single and double track, some trails with asphalt. Good sturdy trail signage. Only a few obstacles—a couple downed trees, a few locked horse gates.
• Flora & Fauna: Redwood forest and mixed evergreen with lots of madrone and tan oak. Lots of moisture, fungi, banana slugs, fog, spider webs, newts.
• Facilities: Bathrooms with water at various picnic areas in park. $5 entrance fee. Maps available.
• Flickr photo album

EveryTrail GPS Track with Photos: Huddart Park: First Hike of the New Year

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Christmas Day Hike in Suburbia

I'm visiting my family in Southern California and Christmas Day I decided to do a little exploring behind my dad's house in San Juan Capistrano. There is a little ridge behind his housing tract on the other side of Trabuco Creek and I wanted to know what was on the other side.

When I lived down here I didn't do much (if any) hiking so it was a real treat to get up high and get my "topographic bearings." Suburban sprawl is definitely a theme here and I could see roads, communities, and cities that didn't exist when I was a kid. The views were nearly unobstructed. I could see north through the smog to Mt. Baldy capped in snow and south through the gap in the hills to the Pacific Ocean. To the east was Saddleback Mountain in the Santa Ana Mountain Range with Santiago Peak the tallest in the range at 5,687 feet. To the west was I-5 and more rolling hills. I also saw some remnant straggly orange trees left over from the old Rosembaum Ranch property back when Orange County's name brought to mind something other than a teen TV series and tract home sprawl.

I didn't have a trail map (or any map) and was using a satellite image from the EveryTrail iPhone app. I thought I saw a loop trip that I could do but I was thwarted by private property. I ended up calling my dad to come pick me up in Ladera Ranch as I was running out of time and needed to get home in time for Christmas dinner at my uncle's house in Capistrano Beach.

Note: More pictures to come. I don't have the proper USB cable here in Orange County, so I will need to wait until I get back to Oakland to add them. In the meantime, view the EveryTrail GPS track map with my iPhone photos:

village san juan / rosenbaum ranch to ladera ranch via trabuco ridge trail

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Happy Winter Solstice 2009!

Happy Winter! The solstice officially happened this morning at 9:47 a.m. Pacific Time in the northern hemisphere. The time of the winter solstice refers to the point at which the hemisphere you live in is tilted farthest away from the sun. I posted a slightly more specific definition from Wikipedia here last year.

These pictures are from a few weeks ago when the snow level in Oakland dropped down to about 500 feet above sea level. That’s a really rare occurrence here in the San Francisco Bay Area. The picture was taken at about 1,500 feet elevation in the hills above Oakland at Sibley Volcanic Regional Park. I was able to get up to the hills after my reading tutor volunteering gig by late-morning. The snow was melting fast, but I was lucky to capture some photos of it. You can view the album on flickr. Here is the link to the the flickr map view.