Thanks to some prodding from Theresa, this weekend we decided to check out an area that's been on my to-do list for a while: Cache Creek Natural Area. Cache Creek…
Russ, the famous winehiker, invited us for a Tax Day night hike of Mission Peak. It was a training hike for some people planning a Shasta climb over Memorial Day,…
Anyone from the Bay Area is familiar with that cone-shaped peak just outside of Morgan Hill. You know - that one just west of 101. As a hiker, this peak…
We headed up to Lava Beds for the cold easter weekend with Paige and Dave and their kids. It was a fun and simple trip - car camping in the…
It has been four years since the Northern California Hikers formed and met for the first time. Dave and I had been backpacking in California for a few years but hadn’t connected with any other people who enjoyed it like we did, and I was looking for other people who shared our interest. A post on the backpacker forums about forming a hiking group for people in Northern California caught my attention, and I joined up with the group right at the beginning.
Our first meeting was for a dayhike in Henry Coe, and a short time later we did an overnight backpack in the same park to Los Cruzeros. I knew right away that we had connected with a great group of people, and the rest, as they say, is history. The initial small core of people has grown over the past four years and we’ve gotten to meet many incredible people. We’ve made great friends, shared amazing adventures, and created hundreds of fantastic memories. Thanks, guys!
Dave and I spent the weekend at Pinnacles National Monument. The park recently acquired a large parcel of new land and this land includes the old campground that used to be just outside the East entrance. The land needs a lot work since it has missed out on the preservation done within the park, and we were happy to be a part of a volunteer crew that contributed a few hours to the park through a Geocaching CITO event.
There were two tasks that our group contributed to: the first was to pull out invasive horehound plants from the old ranch lands that are now part of the park. Thousands of plants were cleaned out by the crew – great job! The second task was to build a fence and work on trail re-vegitation in the campground. There was a big open meadow that had been stomped down by people over the years. We built a rustic wooden fence around it while others mulched up the old trails to prepare for re-vegitation. It was hard but fun work. It was quite interesting to learn about the park’s expansion, and also get some education about the park’s condor program (we watched them soaring far above us near a roost on a ridge).
El Cap We seem to be on the right track for snowcamping this year. Two years ago it stormed every time we tried to get out. Last year there was…
To put it mildly, last winter's minimal snowfall was dissapointing. We only got out on one snowcamping outing, and there was so little snow that we were able to have…
Finally! It's been way too long since I've been able to get out on a simple local dayhike, but today was the day. After last week's nasty storms it felt…