Tunnel Mountain hike in Banff National Park, Calgary, Canada

Miles:15

Wright Peak Summit Trail (4,300 ft), Clearlake, 7.0 Miles, Elevation 1650 ft, 1800 Kcal, Time 3.30 hr

Even though it was Memorial wekend, we didn't give up on our weekly hike. We stayed at a vacation home on the shores of Clear Lake, thirty miles north of Napa, with a large group of friends . Right across the lake was Mt. Konocti with Wright Peak at 4300 ft.  A few of us decided to go summit the peak. The drive to starting point of the trail took us through vineyards and beautiful green hills. But the last part of the drive to the starting point involved driving along a dirt and gravel road for over 2.5 miles to a height of 2000 ft.
There was absolutely no traffic or a single person on our way to the start of the trail. The start of the trail took us through a private walnut orchard. The initial 2 miles of the hike involved a steep climb. There was dense fog below us and we could not see the lake on our way to the summit. But fortunately, by the time we reached the summit, the fog had burnt off and left us with stunning views of the lake and vineyards surrounding it.. It made the strenuous hike up worth it. Along the way we took a small diversion to visit the cabin of Mrs. Downen who in the early 1903 lived alone in an apple orchard close to the summit. We also came wreckage of a plane that had crashed close to summit in 1970 killing a couple. The trail was well maintained with signboards having interesting factoids.

With this hike we crossed 100 miles so far. YAY!!!

Time: 3.30 hours
Difficulty: 6/10

The woman's house built in 1900

A small plane crashed in 1970

Observatory deck at the summit

Potato Chip Rock Trail, Poway, San Diego 4.2mi, 900kcal, 2.30hrs

It's long weekend for most of us. We decided to visit our daughter at San Diego. She asked us if we could do Potato Chip Rock hike. I started googling about it and found awesome pictures of the landscape and poses of people who climbed onto Potato  Chip rock. Many blogs also stated that it's a very strenuous hike. So given the busy schedule we had, I was not sure if we could go for it or not. After some research we found another route that can take us to summit. We started the hike at 6 am. It was constant uphill with no shade for most of the hike. But the scenery throughout the hike was breathtaking especially some of the rock formations. After we reached the summit it was a total disappointment for me as I could not climb on to Potato chip rock. To land on to Potato chip rock one has to leap across a deep gap in the rock and at the same time balance on the slope of the rock. To be honest I was very scared as well. My daughter was able to jump on to Potato rock with some hiker's help. I am glad at least someone in the family had a picture of it.


Route: Mt. Woodson Trail
Time: 2.30 hr 
Difficulty: 6 /10

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