Oct 5th, Bay Bridge Trail, 8.8 Miles, 1200 K cal

 Finally, we all reunited after a six week break due to clashes with various social/cultural activities. Our hiking leader is back with an iron hand now :). For a change this time we wanted to check out the new Bay Bridge pedestrian walkway. We started at 7.30 am and on our way missed the exit, violated the toll on the bridge, took a tour of new Bay bridge in the car. After we finallyreached the meeting point near Ikea we started walking. It was a warm day and absolutely no fog so we could clearly see Golden Gate bridge and SFO skyline very clearly.It was more than 2 miles to the bridgehead from where we parked and we encountered many pedestrians, joggers & bikers all along. We also glimpsed a couple oh harbor seals in the bay below. Our leader from time to time captured our joyful moments.  At one point we were all excited and tried to jump off the bridge :) hmm.. I meant jump on the bridge & we all went for it.
Finally we justified our 8.8 mike walk by stopping for lunch at Viks in Berkeley and had a blast.

Route: Bay Bridge Trail.
Time: 3 hrs
Difficulty: 3/10

Old & new Bay Bridge

Next time gonna try jumping of the bridge :)

Not sure why we were so excited

Sept 1st, Sherman Tree Trail & Moro Rock Trail, Sequoia National Park, 1.6 Miles, around 350 steps

 For Labor Day weekend we rented a vacation home close to Sequoia National Park.  Last year when we had visited Sequoia Park we had planned to hike climb Moro Rock but had to cancel since the trail was closed due to bad weather and snow.  Our zeal to climb up further increased and we had to to do it this time around. The climb wasn't too hard, climbing around 350 steps & throughout the hike we had spectacular views of the valley and surrounding mountains.

Route: Sherman Tree Trail, Moro Rock Trail.
Time: 3 hrs
Difficulty: 3.5/10

Panoramic view from the top of Moro Rock

On our way to Sherman Tree

Photo time :)

View from one point on the way to Moro rock

There were hundreds of people climbing up

The team who reached first

तेरे लिए हम गीत ??

At times there were very narrow paths

On our way down

Aug 17th, 2013, Morgan Territory Regional Preserve,Riggs Canyon Road, Aug 17th 2013, 1200 K Cal, 2.13 Hr, 1900 Ft

We decided to try a new trail hoping it would not be too rough on us. The trail was pretty mild most of the way, but the last mile was brutal. It was a continuous steep hike through open grassland. A few of us decided the last qtr of the hike was too intense and returned back, but the rest reached the summit.The views were exceptional, we could see from Mt Diablo to the Livermore valley. Due to a teen hiker joining us and setting pace, we completed the hike at a very fast pace with very few halts. But I can't imagine the rest of us continuing to hike  at such a fast pace in the future!

 

Route: Old Finley Road to Riggs Canyon Rd and back.
Time: 2hrs 13 min
Difficulty: 7/10

Everyone at our own pace :)

The last stretch steep climb

View of Mt Diablo

Aug 10th, 2013, Morgan Territory Regional Preserve, Oyster Point Trail, Aug 10th 2013, 1200 K Cal, 2.30 Hr, 1500 Ft

Oh well, we continue to attract new folks coming in and most importantly continue with us. Today we went on new trail which can take us to the summit. This trail has some good & bad aspects. For the most part of the trail it's very shady so a good trail to go on hot days. The bad part is lots of poison oak  and trail is very narrow so at any time there is a good chance one would touch it. But you know what I guess we are all thick skinned and all of us came down with no issues, except that lots of  thorny seeds stuck to our pants. The trail was beautiful than usual because of the fall colors. After we reached half the way we took a few minutes break, recouped energy and trudged our way back.

Difficulty: 5/10
Time: 2 hrs 30 min

Crew resting for a moment

Early fall colors making it beautiful

May I help you :)

Aug 8th, 2013, Las Trampas Regional Park -Chamise trail loop - Aug 3, 2013 - 1208 K cal, 2hrs 28min, 4.31 miles, 1782 ft

It was supposed to be short, fast hike but didn't exactly turnout that way!. The route involved alternating ascents and descents with both being pretty steep and slippery. This was among one of the more strenuous hikes we have done recently. We had a new member join us, who managed to do a pretty good job of keeping up with the rest of the team. A fog layer hung over the Tri-valley and the early morning views of Mt. Diablo through the fog were ethereal!  We lost our way a little bit and went through a couple of nervous moments before we found our way back. It was an exhausting but very satisfying hike:)

Chamise trail - Mahogany trail - Sulphur springs trail - Del Amigo trail - Las Trampas Ridge trail - Chamise trail
Difficulty: 7/10
Time: 2 hrs 26 min

Fog layer over tri-valley with
Mt. Diablo in the background

At the summit (of what?)

Had to post photo of the colorful
shoes of our most enthusiastic hiker:)

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