Bay Area Ridge Trail hike at Anthony Chabot

Bug party
Bug party

I mentioned a few entries back that I’ve gotten the Bay Area Ridge Trail hiking bug, and of course past hikes don’t count. I have to start from scratch and ‘officially’ add everything to the list. Yesterday I took the opportunity to knock of the stretch at Anthony Chabot Regional Park since David had a shooting competition at the range there. I also wanted to check out the wildflowers before the weather gets too much warmer. East Bay hiking is miserable in the summer heat, so we’re getting close to the end of the season over there.

The park is nice, though not one of my favorites. One of the reasons I seek out the Bay Area Ridge Trail sections in parks is because they, well, follow the ridges. Ridges usually mean good views and good hiking. Unfortunately, the stretch through Chabot doesn’t have too many open views, and the trail was very rutted from heavy mountain bike use, causing me to roll my ankle a few times. I was also accompanied nearly the entire day by the cracks and bangs of the shooting range – it was hard to get away from that noise when along the ridge. I was in kind of crabby mood to begin with, having not entirely slept off the previous night’s dose of NyQuil (even half a dose of that stuff leaves me in a haze the next day – blech). However, it wasn’t really a disappointing hike – there were some geocaches, many nice wildflowers to photograph, and several eucalyptus groves with their wonderful scent to keep me happy.

Monkey Flowers
Monkey Flowers

Narrow-leaf Flax
Narrow-leaf Flax


Henry Coe Backcountry Weekend: Mississippi Lake and Bear Mountain

Me near Mississippi Lake
Me near Mississippi Lake

Once a year, Henry Coe State Park opens up the gate to the remote and less-traveled east side of the park, including Orestimba Wilderness. This Backcountry Weekend allows people to get in to the areas that would normally be accessible only by a minimum of a (long) full day’s hike, and that doesn’t include the exploration you would want to do once you get out there.

Passes for the Backcountry Weekend are available via a lottery process that begins in February, and the weekend usually falls at the end of April, prime time for enjoying the green and the wildflowers before the park gets painfully and dangerously hot.

Pictures here:

Tracks here (maps, gpx, stats):

More information here:

Full trip report after the jump.

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Murietta Falls and the Ohlone Wilderness Trail

We had planned a nice backpacking trip for the weekend, hiking the Ohlone Wilderness trail between Del Valle Reservoir and Sunol Regional Wilderness. About 20 miles long, we were planning on camping at the half way point, breaking it into a nice easy weekend.

Well, the forecast had other plans. While it looked okay for Saturday, that night’s and Sunday’s chance of heavy rain talked us out of it and we decided to dayhike the area instead. The result was a 15 mile hike with nearly 5000 feet of elevation gain. Murietta Falls was my primary goal since I’ve always wanted to see the falls after a rain, and I knew that after the storms we’ve had lately they would be running.

So the backpacking trip refugees all met on Saturday morning and hit the trail. 8 hours later we stumbled back to the cars, exhausted but satisfied and happy with the long hike. 

Dale Mining District 4×4 Geocaching Run

OK Mine
OK Mine

As part of our trip to the desert we decided to join the Southern California 4×4 Geocachers on a run. The target was the Dale Mining District, just north of Joshua Tree, and the run was suitable for our stock 4×4 (though it pushed its limits at times!) The district has a huge number of caches as well as some interesting mining ruins, so I knew it would be a fun day.

The Dale Mining district supported over 1000 people at its height in activity, mostly miners with some families. What was still left in the area was shut down during WWII to focus the equipment and manpower on other activities. There are mine shafts and old equipment scattered all over the hills and mountains, and we tried to see as much as possible during daylight. This was a 4×4 run for a reason – don’t try these roads in a sedan! We could barely make some of it in our Trailblazer. Know what you’re getting in to if you head out here, and go with a group – it’s not a good place to get stranded and AAA isn’t going to come get you.

I believe my total cache count for the day was 78, my total photos taken was 512, and miles driven was 90+. I’ve pared down the photos to 60 or so which can be found at the link below.  Also included is a tpo file of our track.

Handy Intro to Geocaching

I refer to geocaching quite a bit around here, and it recently occurred to me that some readers may not be terribly familiar with the sport. Rather than write my own overview, I’ll send you over to Husky Hiker. He’s providing a nice series of posts that give a good summary on how to get started with geocaching.

Follow along here:

Guide to Geocaching

For those in the Bay Area, the Geocachers of the Bay area provide a great resource, and not just for geocachers. The maps page of TheGBA’s website is where I go to grab calibrated park maps before I head out on a hike.

Plane Crashes, Mine Ruins, and Dark Scary tunnels – oh my!

Wheelin'
Wheelin'

Back in August I had a really fun long weekend playing in the Eastern Sierra with the GBA (Geocachers of the Bay Area) 4×4 group. There is a lot more to do over there than we could fit into the three days we had at the time, so last week we drove out for a follow up trip. Our targets were Laurel Lakes (which we did in August, but couldn’t resist a second run), the crash site of Flight 802 in the mountains just east of Bishop, the Champion Mine/Black Eagle camp on the flanks of White Mountain, Reward Mine, and the Whitney Arch in the Alabama Hills.

Flight 802
Flight 802

Our initial plan was to make this trip primarily focused on fall color photography, and we’d just join in on a couple of runs with the 4×4 group. But an early season snowfall and cold temperatures pretty much fast-tracked the trees to brown, leaving us with little to photograph. I was really looking forward to the Friday afternoon run into Laurel Lakes since it passes through an enormous aspen grove, but it turns out they were all brown or bare. Disappointing, but it can’t be a perfect show every year.

On Friday evening we headed up into the hills east of Bishop to visit the crash site of Convair 340/440 Flight 802. This plane, carrying 36 people, crashed into the mountainside soon after taking off from Bishop Airport in 1974.  (crash report) (another detailed description). Though not a far walk, the crash site isn’t easy to get to, either requiring a very steep hike up a canyon or a treacherous contour walk across a rocky slope.

From the crash site we watched an incredible sunset while exploring the remains of the plane and personal belongings. I’ve visited crash sites before, but mostly of military aircraft where crew were able to eject safely. This site was different – shoes, razors, and souvenirs from Mammoth were just a few things that reminded us that almost 40 people died here. A cross, made from parts of the destroyed plane, sits on top of the hill as a memorial. (Flight 802 photos)

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