Moments in Dirt and Ink

Golden Gate National Recreation Area Click for map. I had planned to start my day with a little sight seeing at Battery Spencer, but I encountered a one way road going the wrong way. I then encountered a parking lot that I could maneuver my little trailer into without taking up any extra spaces and investigate what was going on with my road. Had I been prepared to start then, I'd have started with my hike and had the good camera for the sunrise, maybe even in what the passing bicyclist felt was the best spot for it. Instead I was scratching my head on a bit of trail, chatting with said bicyclist, and generally thinking I don't really want to drive miles to get a parking spot less than a quarter mile from where I'm already stopped. The sunrise over the Golden Gate Bridge according to the phone. The bicyclist also indicated that the spotlights on the towers are usually still on at this hour for a nice accent. So I packed up properly and thought about the break...

Midpeninsula Regional Open Space Click for map. I had been hoping the clouds would burn off before I crossed over to Los Trancos to hike a bit of it. I wanted to do the San Andreas Fault Trail, which is an interpretive trail about that largest of faults in California. It is one with traditional numbers and the handouts to go with them are tucked in beside the maps. They are well stocked and I expect they can be found online if there's been a run on the physical ones. Information signs and the interpretive trail brochure, but don't start here. The brochure says to actually start off to the left of the main trail. It climbs up onto a hill with a bench and the first couple numbers so that you can look out over the fault including the emergency water storage that has been built directly on it. It is no coincidence that this happened. The fault creates narrow, deep holes that looked attractive for water storage by engineers who didn't know how they formed. I have...

Midpeninsula Regional Open Space Click for map. The morning is a little foggy and mostly overcast, bringing a whole new light to the area just across the highway (CA-35) from Skyline Ridge . The sun keeps peeking out, showing it is clearing quickly, but then another thick batch of cloud wells up from the unseen source on the other side of the ridge. Mostly, the clouds are winning. I have selected a short loop along Stevens Creek. The Bay to Ridge Trail that I bumped into yesterday crosses through here for its final climb and happens to follow one side of this loop. There are larger loops possible, including one that passes the only backpacking camp in the MROSD. (A permit is required to camp here plus a fee of $2 per night per person.) The gates on the lot open at sunrise, but there is a little parking outside legal after 6AM if one wants to start a half hour before sunrise when the preserve is open. There are no dogs allowed and bikes and horses are limited to certain trails,...

Midpeninsula Regional Open Space Click for map. After a mildly harrowing experience of turning onto highway CA-35 only to find myself on miles of one lane road, I found some open space to showcase the ridge top. (Well, the road is what gets called 1.5 lane these days, but does have enough room to pass if everyone is hugging the edge really tight. It got more relaxing to drive after an large intersection where it regained a yellow line down the middle.) Sunny ridge top trail with views leaves me happy to just select a random loop and see what's there. For hints, there's a couple lakes and a named knoll along the loops. I am once again along the domain of the Bay Area Ridge Trail, which I had forgotten about. I expect this is part of the largest completed segment. There's also a Bay to Ridge Trail, but the only bit of that's I'll be on is the bit crossing the highway from my parking spot outside the gate (just in case I'm a bit late out). There's no o...

Midpeninsula Regional Open Space Click for map. I was trying to wander my way along the ridge line, but I failed to notice where I needed to turn to go over the big freeway from Summit Road to CA-35 and was unceremoniously dumped onto CA-17, but I found this nice park because of it. Like the East Bay Regional Park system, the Midpeninsula Regional Parks have plenty of signs that include a map with more paper maps in a box to take with you. If they do happen to be out, it's online too. They also have gates on the parking that get locked. Generally it is half an hour after sunset to sunrise, but this one opens a half hour before sunrise. There's almost no one here, although it says the lot can fill quickly on the weekend and there is no nearby overflow space. It might be because dogs are not allowed, so there are no dog walkers keeping it busy in the early morning. The map shows a pair of trails that join again on their way to Madrone Knoll, one passing a spot marked ...

Panoche Hills Click for map. There's a lot more access to the Panoche Hills than to Griswold Hills to the south . A graveled access road comes up to the top from the northwest, then splits and continues a few more miles in two directions along the top with numerous more primitive roads splitting off both. Tucked into the east side of the main road (right fork) are a pair of wilderness study areas split by the road to the FAA VOR station (left fork). This means there shouldn't be any motor vehicles in those areas, but it doesn't stop the target shooting. With some rather nice views and lots of little roads down into spots with a bit of hill to one side, there is a lot of target shooting. It has me rather hesitant to go for the loop I had roughly planned. Still, between the rain yesterday and the weatherman insisting it was actually coming today, there doesn't seem to be anyone shooting now, nor has anyone driven up to start. I can at least do the high point and ...

Central Coast BLM Click for map. It really looks like rain, but the automatic weather report assures me that's still on for tomorrow, not today. Today will just be mostly cloudy and I want to get out to something. Something will be the Griswold Hills high point. The area has a single day use area with bathrooms as the only official parking, although there seem to be a few turnouts too. There are no legal roads, but there is a single trail. I'm not sure where exactly it goes, but it is nice to see that it climbs the steepest bit of the hills along the route I was looking at to get to the high point. At least, there's a series of switchbacks carved into the hill, so I assume that's where it goes. There's no signs by the parking lot for it. There's a gate to exit the parking area and switchbacks on the hill side, so just connect those and I should be on trail. Cows grazing on the flats between Griswold Hills and Panoche Hills and Tumey Hills. Th...

Los Padres National Forest Click for map. Frazier Mountain is the second mountain on the Hundred Peaks Section's list of peaks that I have been up, but only in a car. Since I don't feel like counting drive-ups, I need a plan to hike it. I've had one to go in from the east side at the edge of Hungry Valley, but with all the snow on the ground, a 20 mile hike is probably too much for the short days. From the north, I can get up and down by two routes in 7 or 7.5 miles. That's still almost 15 miles and the trip up Tecuya showed the snow can start very early, and that was the south side of the mountain. How long can one go on snowshoes in a day? They certainly aren't as fast nor as easy walking as hiking on dirt. Hopefully I'll have the good sense to quit if it gets to be too much, not that I have a good record of that. With the memory of the frigid wind at the top of Tecuya, I have my puffy mittens and a few other things to be sure I'm warm enough. ...

Los Padres National Forest Click for map. For my second demonstration of how not to approach ice in a car, I entered an iced over corner with an uphill slant in third gear. This is too fast. So after it started to spin one way and I managed, through great "skill", to get it spinning faster the other way, but still headed right into the snow bank, there was the "joy" of trying to remove it from said snow bank. The delay probably doesn't mean too much. This is a short hike. I think I'll follow the motorcycle trail to the road and the road up past to Tecuya Ridge area, then back up to the mountain and down a ridge to the motorcycle trail again. Or maybe the other way around. Either way, I'm heading up Cold Springs Trail first. It is currently closed to motorcycles. Lock on Cold Springs Trail for the winter season. Still fine to hike. There's a couple people walking their dogs back down as I head up. The initial impression of the trail is...

Los Padres National Forest Click for map. The automated weather says today is the brief sunny moment between a couple small storms, or did when I could get a weather report. There are some clouds, but they are clearing. Getting up to the peak is going to be a 12 mile hike if I take trails. I plan to go up using a ridge for a shortcut and come back on the trails, but it will still be a 20+ mile day. If the gate weren't locked, it could be shortened by three miles, but I'm pretty sure my car wouldn't make it across the river so it doesn't really matter that the gate is locked. My arms still hurt from shifting trees on Deal Trail, so I really hope Tinta is not in a similar shape. Starting the same place as for the loop with Deal Trail, but a bit earlier. There's a bit more ice on the unstable log that crosses most of the Cuyama River, but I'm not keen for another spill into the water. It was 24°F earlier and probably hasn't got much warmer yet. ...