Nature walk: Castle Rock

We hiked at Castle Rock State Park once last fall and Brian has been wanting to go back ever since, but most weekends that he suggests going, I veto it because I am a horrible wife and enjoy making him suffer the weather report has always said that it was going to be 90 degrees there and I just refuse to hike in that kind of weather. But last weekend when Brian was talking about getting out for a hike, I checked the weather report and, after discovering it was "only" going to be in the low 80s, suggested we head up to Castle Rock.

We did the loop suggested by Bay Area Hiker except in reverse, sticking with the Saratoga Gap Trail at first and coming back down on the Ridge Trail, detouring slightly to the campgrounds so that Adriana could get out of the backpack and run around during lunch. I am not a very experienced hiker, and there are some bits of this hike that make me nervous, but I clung anxiously to the metal rope and didn't look down on one narrow part of the Saratoga Gap Trail (and carefully did not watch Brian as he did the same part with the baby on his back), and scooted along using five points of contact as I descended over a rocky bit on the Ridge Trail. But it's good for me to fight my natural inclination to be such a chicken, and the views from up there are worth it.

Nature walk: Red Rocks

Brian and I recently spent a few days in Colorado. His cousin was getting married in a little town four hours outside of Denver, and it seemed like a good idea to tack a couple of days onto the trip. We spent several days staying with Brian's grandfather outside of Denver and also got a chance to visit an old friend in Boulder.

I am a person who loves the water. I am enamored of the ocean in particular, but rivers and lakes are also fine. I tend to forget that there is also beauty and peace in other landscapes as well. But when I was in Colorado there was no denying the beauty: the scale of things in the Rockies put everything in perspective, especially as we drove west on I-70 to get to Meeker for the wedding, and the light is different--more pale and more intense, in a way I could not capture with my camera. I definitely want to go back to Colorado. I want to spend more time hiking high up in the mountains, and perhaps explore some areas on the western slope--the Glenwood Canyon area especially stood out to me.

The only hike we did on this trip was around the Red Rocks Amphitheater, which is not far from Brian's grandpa. We chose the Trading Post Loop trail, which was described as a challenge 1.5-mile back country trail by the sign at the trailhead. We actually found the trail to be fairly easy, but since we had a four-hour drive ahead of us, it was probably for the best that we did something quick. And in that mile and a half, I did manage to take about 100 pictures, so in awe was I of the geology.

Nature walk: Purisima Redwoods

I had intended to save hiking in Purisima Redwoods for a hot summer day, when the elevation and shade would provide respite for Brian from my whining about the weather. But then I started planning to do it Memorial Day weekend and invited Rachel and Lincoln and changes in plans make me a little crazy, so even though it was cool and damp, we went ahead. Which was fantastic because cool + damp + redwoods =



BANANA SLUGS. I still remember a song about banana slugs from sixth-grade camp. If you aren't nice to me, I'll sing it to you. (Right here is where I should totally post a picture of Rachel cowering in fear that I will actually sing said song. But I didn't take any pictures of Rachel because I was too busy aiming my camera at slugs. And poop.)

Also, do you know how much joy it brings me that someone felt compelled to named something "sticky monkey flower"?

Nature walk: Wilder Ranch

Or, My Second Mother's Day!

Because my first Mother's Day went so well, I decided to plan another one just like it--except in California. We would drive down to Santa Cruz, have brunch at the Walnut Avenue Cafe, and then walk at Wilder Ranch. We decided to execute said plan on Saturday rather than Sunday, partly because the weather was supposed to be a little nicer that day, and partly because our Sundays are already so perfect and we've been out of town for the past couple of weekends, and I've missed our routine of yoga, farmer's market, and a picnic at the park. (You know life is good when you get to pick whatever you want to do one day and you want to do exactly what you do every week, Brian said; he's right.)

Brunch was absolutely perfect--hot chocolate with whipped cream, orange juice, and French toast with grilled bananas, walnuts, and vanilla yogurt. I've been considering getting a bicycle, so we stopped at Spokesman for me to ride a couple and to check out their child seats. I can't remember the last time I was actually on a bicycle and I hadn't missed riding, but I don't know why not. I felt a little wobbly as I first climbed on, but you know what? It was just like riding a bicycle. (Why, yes, I do amuse myself.) I felt fast and easy and free as I pedaled and coasted in loops around a nearby parking lot. I still haven't bought a bike yet, but hopefully this weekend I'll be bringing one home.

We finally headed up to Wilder. There are nice walks on the far side of the freeway, but I really just wanted to walk along the cliffs, so that's what we did. There were tons of red-winged blackbirds around, chirping noisily from the bushes, and then darting overhead with their flash of brilliant red. The landscape was bright with flowers, and we saw otters playing and eating in the water below us. It was windy and chilly, so we didn't walk long and instead went back to the ranch where we watched a blacksmith work and Adriana was fascinated by the chickens.












Afterwards we stopped by the Boardwalk so I could take a quick turn on the Giant Dipper, which right there tells you that my day was pretty much perfect. How can one ever complain about a day that involves a trip on a roller coaster? And then we ate dinner at Al Dente before heading home. Perfect.

Nature walk: Tilden Regional Park

Who knew there was more to Tilden than the merry-go-round and steam train? On Saturday, Brian, Adriana and I headed up to Berkeley for a walk with Jeff, and did a six-mile loop through Tilden, that didn't take us by either one. Not that I have any objections to the merry-go-round or the train--in fact, I'll be quite happy when Adriana is old enough to appreciate them--but last month we went with friends to Vasona Park, where she was underwhelmed by the train and frightened by the bell that rang at the start of the carousel ride (and thus spent the entire ride nursing), so I was more than happy to let those things wait. We did stop in at the Little Farm. I'm not sure Adriana really appreciated it, but the rest of us did.







We did pretty much exactly the hike suggested by Bay Area Hiker. It was a nice walk, with pretty views of the canyons and then, at the end, wonderful path with a view of the Golden Gate in one direction and Mt. Diablo in the other.

Nature walk: Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve

Last month when Brian's family was in town, we took them to the Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve for a nature walk and picnic. It was a beautiful, perfect day.





Brian studied the map a bit afterwards and was interested in exploring one of the other trails, so we decided to go back two weeks later. And though dark, drizzly days have their own kind of beauty, Adriana is not a fan of wind in her face, a fact of which she chose to remind us every time there was a gust of wind by screaming and bursting into tears. Half a mile into the walk we opted to turn back.




But this past weekend it was spectacularly sunny and 80 degrees (and not humid!), so we decided to try once more. We did a six-mile walk this time, taking the Ancient Oaks trail to the Mindego trail. The Mindego trail eventually comes out on a fire road, and we opted not to do that last mile as it was not shaded and we were nearly out of water, but Brian's curiosity about the trail was satisfied.

Nature walk: Monte Bello Open Space Preserve

All week long, Brian talked about wanting to get out for a hike on Saturday. On Friday night we discarded plans for Big Basin in favor of staying a little closer to home, when we read about the Monte Bello Open Space Preserve on Bay Area Hiker. We ended up not following the walk from the website, instead doing a loop comprised of the Canyon, Bella Vista, and Indian Creek trails--which came to about 5.5 miles. It was a perfect, sunny spring day, a perfect day for a hike.

Nature walk: Castle Rock State Park

We spent a good portion of our Sunday wandering the trails at Castle Rock State Park with one of Brian's colleagues and her husband. I don't know where I'd gotten the idea that the park was out in a very dry, hot, flat area, but the park wasn't anything like what I expected, and I was quite happy about that. I do tend to be timid about rocky trails, so there were a couple of spots that challenged me a bit--mostly as I found myself wondering if Adriana was really safe in the backpack or considering the fact that if I went up I would later have to come down. As it turned out, Brian and Adriana were fine and I only had to sit down and slide over some rocks to get myself down twice. The views were well worth it.


The view near Castle Rock Falls.


Brian and Adriana love their new backpack carrier.



Stopping for a snack along the trail.

Nature walk: Montaña de Oro

We stayed in San Luis Obispo over Labor Day weekend, using the wedding we were attending as an excuse for a nice little weekend away. We spent most of Sunday in Montaña de Oro State Park, walking the Bluff Trail. I picked it because our California Hiking book (dragged across the country to where it was on longer useful and then back again) gave it a 1 for difficulty and a 10 for beauty, and that seemed about right. It was an easy walk, about three miles round trip over flat paths, with stunning views of the ocean. It was also about 20 degrees cooler there on the bluffs than it had been fifteen miles away at our hotel. We saw pelicans--which I love in spite of the fact that Brian says they are smelly (although he did manage to take about 70 pictures of them in two minutes using continuous shooting--why did I tell him about that setting on my camera?--when we saw dozens of them swooping and diving), because they look like pteradactyls--ane saw pelicans--and what might have been cormorants. We also saw a lot of other people--it seems to be a popular walk. And for good reason; look:








One thing we discovered this weekend was that, although we usually think our individual styles are different on nature walks, that's not actually true. Usually I complain that I want more exercise than I get walking with Brian, because he feels compelled to stop every two minutes to examine footprints (usually left by yet another raccoon, or someone's dog) or pick apart coyote poop (I think I'm supposed to call it "scat" since he's playing with it) to see what this particular coyote may have been eating. Brian agreed this weekend to do the walk my way. Which involved stopping every two minutes to take yet another photo of the coastline that was nearly identical to the vista I was compelled to shoot moments before. Oh well.

Baby's first nature walk

We took advantage of the nice weather last week to get out to Great Falls. I'm feeling pretty out of shape still, so we walked the flat tow path, rather than trying to do the Billy Goat trail. Plus, hiking over those rocks with the baby in a sling doesn't seem like a great idea. The river was quite full, I suppose due to melting snow and recent rains. I had never seen the falls and surrounding area so wild. Unfortunately, I hadn't charged the camera batteries, so we only got a few pictures, and none of the actual falls. Still, the river on the bridge out to the viewing area was pretty impressive.

Hawk

We've been spotting what Brian was sure was a hawk of some sort, and thought might be a bald eagle, out our windows over the past couple of weeks. We've taken a couple of walks around the neighborhood and down near Four Mile Run in hopes of getting a better glimpse, but we never found anything.

But this morning some loud noise from just outside our windows got Brian's attention. The hawk (not an eagle) was in our magnolia tree. He got a great view through our upstairs window, and then when the bird moved to the next magnolia over to eat its prey, he went outside to take some more pictures.

***

On Sunday as we walked through Four Mile Run park looking into the bare trees for signs of an eagle nesting, we spotted a heron by the water. I didn't have the camera out and wasn't moving very quickly, so thought I had missed it, so I was pleasantly surprised to see this picture when I was downloading Brian's hawk images.

Mason Neck

Back in June, Brian and I ventured out to Mason Neck State Park for a nature walk. It was a beautiful, warm day, and the some of the wetlands we walked through on the Bay View trail were fascinating. Everything was so lush and bright.




We went back this past Saturday after I read that this was a good time of year to see bald eagles in the area. It seemed like a good chance to play with my spiffy new camera. (I was also hoping that a good walk would encourage Sticky to enter the world.) We went in the late afternoon, mostly because we were lazy about getting out of the house, but we rationalized that sunset would probably be a good time to check out some birds. I was amazed at how the wetlands had changed in six months.



It was a good walk, albeit a bit chilly, and it was fun to experiment with the optical zoom on the camera. I also need to play with all the different shooting modes on my camera. I have a feeling I can do a lot more to adjust the lighting on some shots.










We saw a few herons, although I was never quick enough with my camera to really catch one. And at the end of the walk we did finally glimpse an eagle, perched high in the trees at some distance from us.