Circumnavigation of the Bay: Complete!

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Trail used on this leg: http://ridgetrail.org/sierra-azul-open-space-preserve

Sierra Azul morning

It is true!! Today we hiked our last segment of the spectacular Bay Area Ridge Trail. It has taken us 3.5 years and 26 trips, and we have loved all the hikes. We are deeply grateful to the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council for their dedication and vision in making this walk of ours possible. You can read about the history of the Ridge Trail here. The first trail was dedicated in 1989! Circumnavigating the trail is a bigger task every year, since the trail continues to grow as the entire circuit gets closer to completion. When we started in 2013, the trail was 340 miles long. Now it is 370, with a total of 400 likely over the next three years. Donna estimates we have walked well over 400 miles, what with extra miles for some trailhead access routes and out-and-backs when we didn't have a shuttle set up for through-walks. We have also gone back to walk newly completed segments.

We saved our last hike for a beautiful, clear, sunny day, and were rewarded with fantastic views of the bay as well as the ridges and mountains we have gotten to know so well. Our walk was made even more special by the addition of Emily from the Ridge Trail office and her partner Casey. Our stalwart companion Richard joined us as well. Aaron and Peter met us on the trail as we finished the last mile of descent.

Our companions on this hike: Richard, Emily (BART staff!) and Casey

Lots of ephemeral stream crossings

Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve contains 18,000 acres of wilderness, including dense forests, streams, and sunny ridges. Much of our walk today skirted the summit of Mt. Umunhum, which is going to be open to the public later this year. In all, we climbed 1600 feet from the trailhead, and descended 2400 feet to the terminus at Lexington Reservoir. This 12-mile hike is a serious walk, and is easily one of the most beautiful of the high-ridge hikes of the Bay Area Ridge Trail.

Looking north across the Bay at the halfway point

Champagne, cake, ukulele music and good humor after 12 miles!

We were presented with the official bandanna of the Bay Area Ridge Trail

Circumnavigation of the Ridge Trail is a very doable goal. The trails are well-maintained and easily accessible by car. Even Molly, with her upside-down map above, had no problem navigating her way, especially with map expert Donna at her side. We hope that the trail continues to grow in well-deserved popularity as more people fall in love with the promise of adventures that the Ridge Trail offers.

More photos from this walk are here: https://photoenthusiast.smugmug.com/Other-1/Sierra-Azul-Open-Space-Preserve-21217/

Photos of the entire walk are here: https://photoenthusiast.smugmug.com/Other-1

Detour in the Cloud-Soaked Woods

February 5, 2017

Our trail map for the day: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/parks/parkfinder/Documents/SanbornGuideMap.pdf

a forest glen in Sanborn County Park

We love hiking in the winter, when all is green and the air is cool and misty. But this can also happen: Our trail for the day, the John Nicholas trail, was closed due to several washouts from the recent rainstorms. The ranger told us that it would not be repaired until the area dries up. It didn't take too long to decide to hike anyway, so we took a detour in Sanborn County Park.

The trail leads up through the redwoods, oaks, madrone and other trees. The moss on the rocks was as green and lush as it could be from all the wetness. The low clouds swirled around us and only once let us catch a glimpse of the Bay from the trail.

We hiked in good company. Ket, Buddy (the dog), Diane, Richard and David joined us. We hiked a 4.5 mile loop, which paralleled the official Bay Ridge Trail. Sometime we'd like to come back to hike the John Nicholas trail. Our route went up the Sanborn Trail and looped around on the San Andreas Trail.

Next week we will complete the whole circumnavigation of the Bay! We saved the Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve for our last hike on the Bay Ridge Trail. Please join us! We leave the parking lot on Hicks Road and head up the Woods Trail at 10 am, Sunday Feb 12th. Cake and bubbly drinks will be served at 4 pm at the other end of the 12 mile hike, at the Priest Rock Trailhead on Alma Bridge Road in Lexington Co. Park.

Two Creeks and a Very Green County Park

January 28, 2017

Santa Teresa County Park

Trails used on this leg:

http://ridgetrail.org/penitencia-creek
http://ridgetrail.org/santa-teresa-county-park-and-los-alamitos-calero-creek-trail

Donna, Richard, Ket, Buddy, and I ambled over hills and along creeks today on a sunny day between rainstorms. As we finish up our beloved Ridge Trail project, Donna and I are scheduling in our walks as efficiently as we can, which means we have deviated slightly from our original clockwise plan. Today we checked off two non-contiguous maps from the Ridge Trail circuit, and wound up with yet another perfect day on the trail.

Penitencia Creek is a tributary of Coyote Creek, described in our last post, and was well known to the the mission residents in the 1700's, although the name itself might be from the 1800's. Here is an oak tree along the creek. It looks like it could be at least 300 years old.

Some of the Penitencia path is paved; all of it is urban. 

Beautiful Santa Teresa County Park in San Jose was a surprise -- we had never seen it before, and it is instantly inviting with its long views and vast tracts of undeveloped open space. We watched a nearby coyote stalking something in the grass, and we climbed the park's Coyote Peak (1155'). 

We walked over lots of serpentine on the trail, and passed greywacke outcrops, such as this one on the Stile Ranch Trail. Greywacke is an indicator of submarine avalanches or turbidity currents; serpentine is an indicator of tectonic plate interactions along the edge of an ocean.

This is the view from the top of Stile Ranch Trail, looking southwest toward Rancho San Vicente, a future county park.

A few more photos of our scenic 10-mile day in the January sun are here:
https://photoenthusiast.smugmug.com/Other-1/Santa-Teresa/

Here are photos of the whole walk so far:
https://photoenthusiast.smugmug.com/Other-1

The Coyote is Running!

January 16 and 22, 2017


Maps used: http://ridgetrail.org/images/interactive_map/maps/maps_05-2011/CoyoteCreekN+S.pdf

We walked the 19 Ridge Trail miles of Coyote Creek over two successive weekends, during one of the rainiest Januaries in recent memory. Somehow we never got truly soaked, but we did get damp and muddy as we bushwhacked our way around the occasional washed-out stretches of trail.



Coyote Creek (Arroyo del Coyote) was named in 1776 by the de Anza Expedition, and it runs 60 miles from Henry Coe State Park to the San Francisco Bay. The Ridge Trail segment follows the urban riparian corridor flanked by the Diablo Range and the Santa Cruz Mountains, from Morgan Hill to San Jose.

The creek is home to Pacific lampreys, rainbow trout, chinook salmon, California roach, three-spined sticklebacks, and the Sacramento sucker, among others.

Pacific Lamprey http://www.critfc.org/fish-and-watersheds/columbia-river-fish-species/lamprey/

A chinook salmon ladder and seasonal dam

Richard joined us on the second day of this walk. He pointed out a thrasher, bluebirds, red-tailed hawks, a kingfisher, gulls, jays, mallards, a graceful great blue heron, and more.

A disappearing trail

In all, this ramble along a mostly-paved route was full of surprises and unexpected beauty. Donna and I were continually reminded of the delicate balance between urban landscapes and semi-wilderness, against a backdrop of huge, sudden volumes of water. January, 2017 turned out to be a great time to do this walk.

Here are more photos of the hike.
https://photoenthusiast.smugmug.com/Other-1/Leg-24-Coyote-Creek/

Angle of Repose: Almaden Quicksilver County Park

Almaden Quicksilver County Park

January 15, 2017

Map used today:
http://ridgetrail.org/images/interactive_map/maps/AlmadenQuicksilverCountyPark.pdf

Almaden Quicksilver County Park has been on our list to visit for longer than we have been hiking on the Bay Area Ridge Trail. Let me explain the title of this post:

Wallace Stegner's novel Angle of Repose is a favorite of ours. This book is based on the writings of Mary Hallock Foote, who lived with her engineer husband at the New Almaden Mine from 1876 until 1878. As we walked through the park, interpretive signs informed us of the succession of residents who mined and then processed cinnabar to retrieve the mercury. Find out more about the mining history here.

Our walk has inspired us to learn more about Mary Hallock Foote, her writing, and her artwork. In the late 1800's, she was probably the most famous American female author and illustrator alive, and her first published writing was her lengthy description of life in New Almaden. At the time, she was newly married, newly arrived from upstate New York, and soon to give birth to an 11-pound boy. You can read "A California Mining Camp" (1878) here. Scholarship around Foote's life and work is rich and inviting. Here is her version of the ridge line that Donna painted:

"Mexican Camp -- After the Fire" (1878)

As usual, we are deeply grateful to the Ridge Trail organization for yet another perfect walk, this one steeped in history, culture, and the voices of people from 150 years ago.

Misty trail through the oaks

The New Almaden Mine Ruins

Mt Umunhum wrapped with fog

The interpretive plaque in English Camp

Rusty barn in the mist

Here are some more photos from this wonderful day.

Rain on Beautiful Mount Madonna

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Mt Madonna County Park

Map used on this leg: http://ridgetrail.org/mount-madonna-county-park

Donna, Richard, and I took a short and sweet, wet and newt-filled, mushroom-rich walk on Mount Madonna, starting near the summit and working our way down.  With raincoats and a couple of umbrellas, this was an absolutely gorgeous stroll on the Ridge Trail.

Sun on Coyote Ridge

Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, 2016

Trail near Harvey Bear Ranch

Map used today: http://www.ridgetrail.org/coyote-lake-harvey-bear-ranch-trail

Today we walked along Coyote Ridge from Harvey Bear Ranch south to Mendoza Ranch on a gorgeous Sunday after a rainy Saturday night. Our walk started with this ominous warning, below: the head of a mountain lion is almost as high as a bike's handlebars.

The views of the Santa Clara valley today were spectacular from the top of this eleven-year-old county park. The Calaveras Fault cuts through a landscape of rolling hills dotted with oaks and buckeyes. We saw several feral pigs, as well as deer, squirrels, red-tailed hawks, and from the road heading back out of the park, several wild turkeys. It was a perfect day to be out on the wonderful Bay Area Ridge Trail! In the photo below, we can see much of our circuit to the west and north.

Below, curly fungus at the base of an oak tree.

Photos of all of our BART hikes are here: https://photoenthusiast.smugmug.com/Other-1