The East Bay mountains are known for their rolling green hills, oak trees, and spring wildflower displays. In the summer they are dry and brown, a constant source of wildfire concern and rattlesnakes. Waterfalls and rocks are not the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of this part of California, but it turns out there are some interesting places tucked back in the hills that provide exactly that.
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Toro County Park is a small park to the southwest of Salinas, California. Its primary attraction seems to be the abundant picnic and BBQ areas which attract big groups and…
Believe it or not, there are still a few Bay Area summits I have yet to climb. Until Sunday, Knibbs Knob in the southern Santa Cruz mountains could be counted among those peaks. It’s a short but steep hike, climbing from approximately 1000 ft to 2700 ft in 1.7 miles.
With the new puppy, I didn’t want to be away for too long this weekend, so on Sunday morning I decided it was the perfect time to tag Knibbs Knob. I got to the parking lot at Uvas at 9 am and started off to the trail. It’s a little difficult to find, not being connected to the main attraction of the park, a waterfall loop trail. The hike starts at the gated end of an old road behind a group camp area.
Rancho Cañada del Oro is an Open Space Preserve just south of San Jose. It is one of my go-to parks for a quick hike since it’s such a short drive for relative solitude. Even on its busiest day you’d never guess you were a 20 minute drive from the 10th largest city in the US! I decided to head there on Sunday morning to get in a couple of hours of hiking in the ‘pineapple express’ – the warm rain that is currently falling over California.
Although I didn’t get the typical sweeping views or blankets of wildflowers, the hike was still beautiful. The lack of views made me look more closely at my immediate environment where I discovered newts, twisting ancient oak trees, and fresh tracks from the large mammals that live in the park.
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If you've ever driven on Highway 5 through Northern California, you know Black Butte. Despite Mt Shasta dominating the view from a distance, when you're in between the two cities…
By Friday morning we knew we had to start working our way back home. But we didn’t want to leave Zion without at least one more hike! We chose Observation Point since it was one of the few canyon hikes that we hadn’t yet done.
The Observation Point trail starts at the Canyon bottom at the Weeping Rock trailhead. It climbs 2500 ft in a little under 4 miles to an outcropping on the rim of the canyon. A handful of switchbacks climb to the junction with the Hidden Canyon trail before continuing up to Echo Canyon. We had hiked this trail in the past, so everything beyond the junction would be new to us.
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The moment we decided we were driving to Denver for this year’s GABF, I decided that I would determine our route home through Southern Utah based on one factor: where can I get a permit? There are two places on my desert bucket list that have access restricted by permits, so I applied for them both. If I got one, that would determine our route. If I got none, well, we’d figure something else out. If I got both? I would be very fortunate and would make it work somehow.
The first permit lottery to be drawn was for the Wave, something I have tried for (and not gotten) in the past. Unfortunately, I wasn’t selected. The second was the Subway in Zion National Park, and I got my second date choice. Woo hoo! Once that was on the calendar I was able to plan out the rest of the week that you’ve been reading about up until now.
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Our dispersed campsite down Hole-In-The-Rock road was no less beautiful in the morning when the sun hit the cliffs that parallel the road. We had driven to the furthest point out the road that we intended on going the previous day, so today’s agenda had us heading out, stopping at several places along the way.
The first stop of the drive out was the side trip to the Dry Fork Trail. This trail leads to several slot canyons and we planned on spending a few hours exploring them. Accessing the trailhead from Hole-In-The-Rock road involves a short ~1.5 mile drive down a dirt road that had a big rut running through it from the recent storms. I don’t think the truck has ever been that off-canter but we made it just fine.
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I had a whole day planned for hiking in Canyonlands, but the hard part was picking out what to do. The Syncline Trail around Upheaval Dome was strongly recommended, but…