Blog - Page 20 of 54

Cattle, Windmills, and Great Hiking at Pacheco State Park

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:March 12, 2013
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:2 Comments

The list of local parks that I haven’t had a chance to explore is shrinking. One of its final members was Pacheco State Park, a nearly 7000 acre park west of San Luis Reservoir on the south side of highway 152. It is the southernmost parkland on the Diablo Range before Pinnacles National Park, and shares its land with grazing cattle and a windmill farm.

On Saturday morning I set out with two goals in mind: 1) explore Pacheco State Park and 2) get in a nice long hike. The trails in Pacheco are numerous and one can put together hikes from easy to difficult. Our chosen route would take us around the perimeter of the park and over Spikes Peak, an estimated 15.5 miles and ~3400 ft of elevation gain.

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Rancho Cañada del Oro and South Bay Wildflower Report

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:March 4, 2013
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:3 Comments

Baby Blue Eye wildflower Rancho Canada Del Oro — Baby Blue Eye

On Sunday I headed down to Rancho Cañada del Oro south of San Jose to get in a nice 13 mile hike and check out the wildflowers. Although it’s been a dry winter I was hoping that a little recent rain would help nudge the wildflowers along. They are out, but it is a disappointing season in both quantity and quality. I found a nice variety but they were few and far between. The most common wildflowers I saw were milk maids, Indian Warrior, Hounds Tongue, and shooting stars. A surprising crop of star lily kept me entertained, and it looks like the poppies are about to come in. It is by no means a bumper crop this year, but I do really love local spring hikes when there are wildflowers lining the trail.

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Hiking Mt St Helena, the Napa County Highpoint

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:February 19, 2013
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:4 Comments

Mt St Helena towers above the northern end of the approximately 30 mile long Napa Valley. Its east peak is the high point of Napa County, though the high point…

South Bay Wildflower Report: February 10, 2013

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:February 11, 2013
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:1 Comment

Yesterday I went out for a hike in Santa Teresa County Park with the dual goals of 1) getting some exercise and 2) checking out the current status of wildflowers. If you’ve been following this blog for a while you probably know that wildflowers are one of my favorite subjects to photograph, and every spring I get to start my ‘collection’ anew. The first week of February is still a bit early for wildflowers but nevertheless, I wanted to see if anything was blooming to set a baseline for the upcoming months. I found a few flowers, and I know that with the Shooting Star and Manzanita, other flowers will soon follow. Here’s the short list of wildflowers I spotted.
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Outdoor Retailer 2013 Wrap-Up: People and Parties!

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:February 4, 2013
Post Category:Resource
Post Comments:1 Comment

What is it like to attend an Outdoor Retailer show? A couple of weeks ago I saw someone on Twitter describe it as the SXSW for outdoorsy types. I've never…

Outdoor Retailer Show Floor

Gear Highlights from Outdoor Retailer Winter Market 2013

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:January 29, 2013
Post Category:Resource
Post Comments:3 Comments

Each January I travel to the mecca of outdoors gear, the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market in Salt Lake City. Several days are spent meeting with companies and touring the products…

Precipice Lake

25 Reasons Why I Am Awesome

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:January 15, 2013
Post Category:Personal
Post Comments:9 Comments

This is traditionally the time of year for resolutions and goal-setting, thinking of things we want to accomplish before we turn the last page of the calendar. But a blog…

West Mojave Peaks Part 3: Old Dad Mountain

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:January 13, 2013
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:0 Comments

Our fourth and final summit of the trip was a DPS peak, Old Dad Mountain. In the past I have stumbled across random photos and trip reports from Old Dad, and it always looked interesting to me. Equally parts challenging and scenic – my favorite combination!

View from the summit of Old Dad Mountain (spoiler! We made it!)

The drive into Old Dad was a bit more challenging than the descriptions I found led us to believe. Although much of the dirt track was fine and passable, there were several sandy stretches and we were glad to be in capable 4WD vehicles. We had to run the sandy sections pretty fast to get through, especially on the way out (which was uphill). Additionally, the waypoints I had dropped on the road junctions on the topo map did not correspond well to reality in a few spots (once we started into Jackass Canyon). We pretty much made a best guess and ended up parking in the correct wash to start the hike. To see the route on a topo map check out my GPS track of our drive over here on hillmap. This is the track I recorded when off pavement, from where we turned off of the paved Kelbaker Road.

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Trip Inspiration

West Mojave Peaks Part 2: Kelso Peak

Post Author:Rebecca
Post published:January 11, 2013
Post Category:Trip Reports
Post Comments:0 Comments

After a night at the great campsite we found between the two Cowhole Mountain ranges (and just off the Mojave Road), we backtracked to the paved Kelbaker Road and headed south to large pullout on the right side of the road. Our destination? Kelso Peak.

Kelso Peak, as seen from Cowhole Mountain (the point on the left) — Kelso Peak, as seen from Cowhole Mountain (the pointy peak in the middle-range on the left)

Why Kelso? For that matter, why the Cowhole ranges the day before? Here’s the thing: there are tons of peaks and ranges in the desert. Browsing around a topo map reveals all kinds of remote places and appealing peaks. But you have to start somewhere, and when it comes to the desert that somewhere (for me), was Andy Zdon’s Desert Summits book. I’ve gotten completely hooked on climbing desert peaks thanks to this book, and although I’ve also climbed plenty of summits not named in the book, I turn to it for inspiration and feel weirdly compelled to climb everything in it.

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