May 11th, Yosemite Mist Trail (Vernal & Nevada falls) & John Muir Trail, 3,300 K cal, 9.25 Miles, Elevation-6,060Ft

We are all excited to do Yosemite Mist Trail & John Muir trail hike. We have been thinking of doing this since last year. We rented a beautiful vacation home at Pine Mountain Lake. Well, even though it was a one day hike, we packed plenty of food as if we are going to a desert :).   We  left on Friday around 3.30 PM and reached around 5.50 PM. We refreshed and few of us biked and others walked to lake which is 1 mile away. We came across many Deer on our way. After that we played basket ball and revisited childhood activities swinging and climbing to arcade etc..

05/12th- We started hike at 8 AM. The weather was just perfect when we set off from the Happy Isles trailhead. We quickly reached the bridge and had our first glimpse of Vernal Falls. Form thereon the trail quickly climbed and we felt the first hint of the mist from the falls on our faces. We wore our ponchos, and slowly climbed up the so wet, slippery steps to the top of Vernal Falls. The early morning sun filtering trough the mist created many beautiful rainbows.  We spent a few minutes admiring Vernal Falls from the top and then resumed our climb up to Nevada Falls. The route was pretty tricky, involving climbing over granite steps that could be barely seen. Along the way, we stopped many times to admire Nevada Falls which was in full flow. We reached the top at around 11:30 am and found ourselves a nice shady spot next to the Merced river to have a leisurely lunch. The views from the top of Nevada Falls were magnificent and awe inspiring. We then started the loop back on John Muir trail, which was pretty wet, muddy and slippery. Just after Clarks point, we found ourselves looking at a trail that had been wiped out by a rockslide the previous night. We nervously climbed over broken rocks, trees and foliage. It was pretty nerve racking, since we could still see rocks rolling down the hillside. In fact, after we had navigated through the rockslide, we came across a ranger who was on his way up to close the trail to all hikers. It was 3 pm by the time we finished the hike of 9.25 miles.  Well done Team!!

Difficulty: 07/10
Total hike time: 5.00 hr

Early morning sun rays falling on trees
with Vernal Falls in the Background

On Mist Trail,getting ready for the waterfall spray

Vernal Falls

In spite of ponchos we were fully soaked

                             

Nevada falls with Half Dome in the background

Taking one of the many snack breaks

Rainbow formation

Rock slide happened on previous day
swept  approx a mile of John Muir Trail

Fallen tress all over

Mother's day horse riding  through Chapparal forest:)

Nevada Falls from the top

May 4th, Pleasanton Ridge Trail, 4.56 Miles, 845 Kcal, 1.42 Hrs, 1344 ft

 We couldn't hike last week as we had to travel to San Diego. With our big hike approaching, we had to hike even though high temperatures were predicted. We started early at 6.30 AM and it was already getting warm. The trail was very dry & dusty and many of us had severe allergies and had tough time with the dust.
The olive trees were in full bloom. On our way down we met quite a few hikers trudging up in the heat.

Difficulty: 4/10

Apr 21st, Redwood Regional Park 4 Miles, 850 K cal, 1365 ft Altitude, 1hr 50min

It was expected to be a hot Sunday, so we decided to go to Redwood Regional Park. This was our first time and the park was not open by the time we reached. We had to wait for 15 mins to enter but it was worth it. Except for the uphill hike to the ridge, it was pretty easy.  The redwood trees were gorgeous and it was very quiet, except for a few bikers, hikers and dogs... It ended up being a pretty short hike but we intend to go back another day for a larger loop.

Canyon Meadow staging area- Orchard Trail - West Ridge Trail - Fern Trail, French Loop trail - Briddle trail
Total hike time: 1 hr 50 Min
Difficulty: 4.0/10

Redwood trees all around

 

Banana Slug

Eucalyptus trees shedding bark

beautiful when sun rays stream through the foliage

Apr 15th, Mission Peak, 6.45 miles, 3 hr, 1400 K cal, Elevation 2,507 ft

We gave rest to our feet for the past 2-3 weeks either because of weather not permitting or due to other activities that we were engaged in. You know what I am talking about :). We had hiked exactly a year back to Mission peak  from the Ohlone side, which was less steeper but distance was longer. This time we wanted to experience the hike from the shorter but much steeper Stanford Ave entrance. Well, we paid for the 2 weeks rest we took. It was a little bit difficult and there was absolutely no shade throughout the hike. This route is probably one of the most popular hikes in East Bay, so there were hundreds of hikers though out. One would never feel left out or feel as if we were going too slow. You can always find someone who is behind you taking a break or struggling to hike. Since we have the upcoming Yosemite hike, we decided not to take break for the next few weeks to prepare for it. We also have a new member in our team who did very well while the old timers were gasping for breath. Well done everyone!!

Total hike time: 3 hr
Difficulty: 7.0/10

Before the last 0.5 mile to reach peak

Time to FB check-in @summit

Crew taking rest for few minutes@summit

Greeenery all around

San Ramon cows give way to hiker but Fremont cows
don't seem to care

Mar 16th, Mt Diablo State Park, 14 miles, 4000 ft elevation, 3,500KCal

It's been our burning desire to summit Mt Diablo this year, especially since we have been seeing it on every hike we have been on. Though I was a bit skeptical about my own ability to complete the loop, I tried not to reveal my fear to the others. But I guess our motivation and the inner desire helped us to pull it off. All of us were better equipped  for this hike with hiking poles, boots, ample food and water. It was very foggy when we started off on the hike at 8:30 AM from the Mitchell Canyon Staging area, Clayton. While there were a number of options to go up, we took the Back Creek trail and it was nearly 7 miles of uphill hike. I wished the there was some breeze so that we wouldn't feel that exhausted. At every mile we felt summit is closer to us but even after 5 mile of constant climb it felt  as if we had not reached any closer. We met other hiking teams who hiked several times in a year to the summit to see the wild flowers in bloom. But for some of us it seemed like once in year was more than enough while for others in the group, once in a life time was more than enough :). With a few 5 min breaks, we reached summit at 12.45 PM and quickly polished off the food & ice cream. Few of the people who had driven up to the summit, commended us for the hike we did. The views along the trail were spectacular and the photos do no justice to it. The trail allowed us to get a 360 view of Bay Area.

The hike downhill was no less spectacular, but we had to keep a close watch on the trail, since loose rocks and pebbles made it very slippery. One of the team members slipped and fell, but was fortunate not to get too hurt. The constant downhill hike put severe stress on our knees and calf muscles. We finished the downhill 7 mile portion of the hike in less than 3 hours. Even though we were exhausted, we were already planning our next big hike at Yosemite in mid-May. A bit crazy isn't it? We recovered some of the last carbs by having pizza and crashed to bed @8.30PM while some of us added Advil and/or chilled beers:).
Total Hike time - 7Hr

Most of the downhill trail  is like this

View of Summit from where we are

Lonely CA poppy

View of Summit from another point

At the summit

on our way back

Mt Diablo State Park- Mitchell Canyon Staging Area - Back Creek trail - Bald Eagle Trail - North Peak Trail - Summit Trail - Summit - Juniper Trail - Deer Flat Road - Mitchell Canyon Road - Mitchell Canyon Staging Area

Difficulty: 8.5/10

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