July 27th, 2013, Morgan Territory Regional Preserve Hike, Old Finley Road Loop, 6.9 Miles, 1200 K Cal, 2 Hr 38 minutes, 1657 ft

Who knew there was such a picturesque hike right in our backyard?!
This park, less than 10 min away, is a typical East Bay type with lots of brown hills broken by groves of oak, bay and chaparral. The loop was not exhausting but definitely had its steep moments. The best part of the loop was the amphitheater trail with its nearly 360 views of  East Bay hills. The bonus was getting to view Mt. Diablo from a completely different side.  The start of the trail was through a number of horse ranches and the horses ambled over to look at us inquisitively. We were able to attract  a very enthusiastic new member to join us (or more accurately, lead us!) on the hike! This park has a number of other more challenging trails that we definitely need to explore another time.

Old Finley Road - Sulphur Springs Trail - Black Hills Trail - Amphitheater Trail - Old Finley Road
Difficulty:05/10
Total Hike Time:2.38 hr

I like the downward slopes

Our new member much ahead of us &
cheering us to hike fast :)

View from Amphitheater trail

The horse skin glowing as if it got spa treatment
and we are sweating :)

Some of us decided to go extra 0.6 miles.
A deep decision moment

July 13th, Purisima Creek Hike, 1230 KCal, 7.03 Miles, Altitude 1542Ft, Time 3Hr

Finally, after couple of weeks of break , we all very much wanted to do a different hike, something we hadn't done before. All of us especially the ladies were tired of doing the same hikes multiple times. This has put pressure on our leader to look for a different location. We decided to go to Purisima Creek Redwood Hike near Half Moon Bay. It's around 50 miles from San Ramon, approx 1hr drive. Part of the drive was very scenic and since we started very early there was absolutely no traffic so we cruised through. We covered 4 Trails 7.03 miles and most of it shaded with tall redwood trees. There weren't that many people we came across in our hike but there were far too many Banana Slugs on the trails. The initial climb was a bit hard as usual but everyone appreciated the scenic beauty of the place.

Duration: 3hr
Difficulty: 5.5/10

Banana Slug

Early morning sun rays

The Trio

A big spider web, sun rays falling
on it making it shine

We were standing on a tree that  had fallen
and  connected to other side of the Trail.
Appx 15 ft above ground.

Tall redwood tress