Black Mountain Trail, Los Altos, CA, 11 Miles, 2,850 ft, 2,296 KCal, 5 hrs

This was a much awaited hike we wanted to do for a few weeks. But we kept postponing due to rains and other obstacles.  With few weeks away from Yosemite hike we wanted to finish this preparatory hike. Finally the day has come. We were very thrilled as we had new members, our friends, join us for the hike. Reading through the blogs of previous hikers, we were all a bit skeptical whether we could do this hike or not. The first one mile had a very steep gradient and  was pretty strenuous. The next three miles were pretty tame, with beautiful views of the the bay and peninsula. Wildflowers had already started to appear and the fern garden was along the way was very pretty. But soon we came to the last one and half miles of the hike, which were grueling and we made it to the summit exhausted. But the views at the summit were worth it and we relaxed and took a few snaps. The descent was pretty rapid and we rewarded ourselves with a good lunch afterwards.

Route: Black Mountain Trail
Time: 5 hr 
Difficulty: 7.5/10

Pleasanton Ridge Trail, 5 miles, 878 Kcal, 1hr 45min

After 2-3 weeks of no hiking due to recent rains and other tasks we were all eagerly waiting to rejoin and get back on track. At this point the goal to cross last years target is becoming bleak week by week. We still want to do Mt Diablo & Yosemite this year in next  2 months. But the trail hikes were not going too well :(.
It was too foggy when we started the hike. We could barely see the surrounding mountains & highway next to the trail.


Route: Pleasanton Ridge
Time: 1hr 45 min
Difficulty: 5/10

Beautiful foggy day

First signs of spring

             

Downhill so ladies ahead

MORGAN TERRITORY HIKE, Old Finley RD 6.5 miles, 2hr 19min, 1044 KCal

It was a perfect day for hike. This is the first time we went to this Trail after last years' fire incident. The target was 6 miles. I was a bit skeptical whether I could do this. Some hiking pals dropped last minute so I was hoping I can get away with less number of miles :) But guess what, we did 0.5 miles more than target :) and also maintained good pace throughout. Overall, we felt that we are ready for next week's big hike to Black Mountain. By the way, since we crossed 1000 Cal we are going to treat ourselves in the evening @VB.

Lonely hiker

Left is Mt Diablo and right is North peak
which we are going to hike soon

Sincere hikers:)

Route: 
Time: 2hr 19 min
Difficulty: 5/10

Stanislaus National Forest, Wawona Private Trail, 4 miles, 651 Kcal, 1hr 27min

Last week we couldn't hike due to rains. We were sure that we are going to miss last year Feb month target. This week it  was long weekend for most of us. All of us planned rented a beautiful domed house in Arnold for 3 nights. Saturday evening we played Badminton for 1.30 min and went for a 2 mile walk. We also had ate too much.... Our original plan was to go to Big Trees National forest on Sunday morning and do some catch up on hiking and bring up the numbers.  But we weren't able to do so because of last night rain. Instead of going to Big Trees forest we went on a private trail. The trail was very scenic , several water ponds here & there and slushy at several places. A few other new members joined with us on this hike.There were absolutely no signs, maps, directions as it's  a private trail. Anytime we came across multiple paths we left behind few markers (Orange peel!) so it's easier for us to know which direction to go back. Overall, did we justify all the eating we did the previous night by doing 4 mile hike?

Route: Stanislaus National Forest, Wawona Private Trail
Time: 1hr 27 min
Difficulty: 4/10

Pleasanton Ridge Trail, 5 miles, 888 Kcal, 1hr 35min

We choose a little more harder hike this time as very soon we have a 3800ft challenge to face at the end of this month.  The weather was super cold around 40 degrees. The beginning of the hike was a bit hard as usual due to severe cold and it took almost 25 minutes for for the first mile before we were warmed up enough to up the pace.  We were able to complete the entire loop in around 1:35 hrs. The bare dry hills were a reminder of the severe drought facing us...

Route: Pleasanton Ridge Trail.
Time: 1hr 35 min
Difficulty: 4/10

HIdden Vallley Ridge Trail, 4.8 miles, 960Kcal, 2hr 30min

We decided to do the same hike this week as well before we move on to other Trails. We also had a smaller group turn this week due to Flu season. For some reason, this time we felt it was a drag and at times felt whether we can meet the goal that we set in this year. We looked at Mt. Diablo from a view point and all of us were clueless as how we did that hike last year. It was just 7 months back that we did this hike and now we feel that we may not able to do it..

HIdden Vallley Ridge Trail, 4.8 miles, 960Kcal, 2hr 30min

Welcome back in new year 2014. Well, all of us are back from vacations, parties etc etc. Now it's time to set new goals for this year :). We had set a new goal to hike at least 200 miles this year. We want to start of with a small hike as it's been a while since we last hiked. The same hike we did multiple times but this time it was so depressing to look at the views. There was no signs of the small ponds which we used to see along the trail. There was absolutely no greenery anywhere. We all hiked at our own pace and caught up on other stuff. So we did not feel the hike was strenuous.

Route: Hidden Valley Ridge Trail.
Time: 2hr 30 min
Difficulty: 3/10