Mar 9th Las trampas 6.5miles, 2050ft, 1340 KCal 2.45 hrs, over 4000ft of ascent and descent

By the time the we ladies finished dance class, our hiking leader had made hot Indian breakfast for us. With last week's episode of light headedness and dehydration for some of us we did not think twice before digging in.  With our biggest hike just a week away we decided to hike up the more harder trail.  We had done portions of this trail last year. At some point during our hike we missed the route we planned and ended up on a trail that required prior permits. Some areas were just like rock slide areas with steep slopes and 2 of us froze without taking a step :). Our partners helped us and somehow we again landed up on the correct trail. But the areas we went through were breathtaking and one could spend hours just looking at the views of the bay, San Francisco (we even caught a glimpse of GG bridge), and the mountains.

Las Trampas Regional Park-Rocky ridge trail - Sycamore trail - Devils Hole trail - Elderberry Trail
Difficulty: 7.5/10

Mar 2nd, Sunol Reginal Park, Elevation 2073 Ft, 6.11 Miles, 2.31 Hrs, 1127 Kcal

The ladies were exhausted after one and half hours of dance class, but gamely came for the hike. The initial mile and a half of the hike was along a creek and we crisscrossed it quite a few times while continuously climbing uphill. It was a pretty intense climb and we needed to stop and rest more more frequently than usual. But the views were fantastic and the weather just right. On the way back we took a break at Little Yosemite. It is a hidden gem and there was quite a rush of people to visit it. Of course, we followed it up with a delicious and well deserved lunch at Pakhwan!

Indian Joe Creek Trail - Cave Rock Road- Cerro Estes Trail - Camp Ohlone Road
Difficulty: 7/10

small creek crossing

Distant view of Mt Diablo from Sunol

California state flower Poppy

enjoying the view

Trio resting

little Yosemite

Feb 23rd, Mt. Diablo State Park, Elevation 1760 Ft, 7.16 Miles, 2.32 Hrs, 1137 Kcal

This year our target is to hike to the summit of Mt. Diablo.  As part of that goal, we decided to tackle a moderate hike on Mt. Diablo. The drive to Mt. Diablo is very scenic. With the rains over the last few days, the hills had turned full lush green all around making it extremely beautiful. There were a few areas along the trail that were still wet and slushy to walk. For most part of our hike we didn't see a single hiker and nor any animals as we usually come across in other hikes. Although, we were compensated on the way back by a bald eagle and a baby green snake. We had decided that whenever we hike more than 7 miles, we would treat ourselves with a grand lunch & we kept our promise :). 4-5 weeks from now our goal is to reach the summit of Mt. Diablo. Stay tuned..

South Gate Rd- Curry point- Curry Canyon Trail- Frog Pond Trail and the same way back.
Difficulty: 6/10

A small  pond along the way

Long shot view of the summit

scenic view from one point

Valley view

 

on our way back

this creek had cut through the trail

Feb 16th, Del Valle Regional Park, Elevation 2050 Ft, 4.11 Miles, 1.40Hrs, 745Kcal,

It was a perfect day for a good hike and we didn't want to miss the opportunity. Some of my team members had prior commitments and early morning mishaps. In spite of that, we gathered after the dance class and drove to Del Valle Regional Park. The drive was beautiful with vineyards on either side of the road.  There were already several folks with their fishing rods around the lake. Even though distance wise it was not much there were some steep climbs that we had to do which exhausted us due to lack of any breeze and some of the highest temperatures we have seen this winter.

Del Valle Marina - Squirrel Gulch Trail  - Ridgeview Trail  - Eagle Crest Trail - Hetch Hetchey Trail - Del Valle Marina

Difficulty: 6/10

Lake view from above

Wild purple flowers

Trying to practice just learnt dance step

One of the steep climb.

Feb 10th, Mount Tamalpais State Park, total elevation 4,400Ft, 7.6Miles, 3Hr 27Min, 1400Kcal

What a Team!!! We started on our drive to Mount Tamalpais right after we finished our dance class. It was  our long held desire to hike the Stinson beach trails as we have heard from our wing leader that it's one of the most beautiful hikes. Some of us were sick for the past few days, still our persistence to do this on Sunday should definitely be applauded. This hike was a pretty strenuous as we did around 4.5 miles downhill first and then 3 mile uphill. The uphill was even more beautiful with the pleasant background music of waterfalls through out the redwood forest. There is no doubt that this trail used pretty much every muscle of our body.
While coming back we stopped at Viks at Berkeley and had a late lunch. After this hike should we still consider ourselves amateurs or pro's? I leave the decision to the readers!!

View from Dipsea Trail. Start of uphill hike

                                                     

This ladder is designed different.The steps are just 3 in wide. 

Several places we had to watch our head

Matt Davis trail scenic view

           









Pantoll Ranger station - Matt Davis trail (4.5mi) - Stinson beach - Dipsea trail - Steep Ravine trail (3.0mi) loop
Difficulty level: 7/10

Jan 26th, Windemere Ranch RidgeTrail, 5.06 Miles, 801FT, 501Kcal, 1.35Hr

It was raining for the past few days so all the trails were wet and would have made it difficult to hike. But rain or shine we decided to go for hike this week. and so we decided to go on paved trail. We chose to hike on Windemere Ranch Ridge Trail and walked  for a total of 5 miles. It was very cloudy and temperature was below 55. Hopefully, the weather next week will allow us to challenge ourselves a bit more.

Jan 19th, Tassajara RidgeTrail, 4.22 Miles, 984Ft, 771Kcal, 1.36Hr

After a  6 month long break,  we finally restarted hiking in year 2013.  Today's hike was a trial to test our fitness levels. The temperature in the morning was in the high 20's. so we delayed the hike to 10.30 AM.  We were excited to start it even though in the back of our mind we doubted whether we could do it or not.  We started from the staging area at Tassajara & Windemere and cruised through. All the hills had again turned green and the 360 views were beautiful. We saw a  few cows and calves that stared at us for longtime as if we were aliens.  Great we made it!!!