Broines Missing Links

The last two Briones hikes have been somewhat familiar. Parts of the trails we have hiked before and other parts were connector trails. There is something nice about familiarity, you remember certain landmarks, steep uphills, slopping downhills, and which way the trail bends. With new territory, you wonder how high a hill goes, if the downhill on the other side of the hill will cram your toes in your boots, or if there will be a post marker telling you where to go.



Today's hike was the second shortest in distance, but took the prize for the hottest temperature hiked in yet. The temperature was close to 100 today. Thankfully, most of the hike was under the canopy of the trees giving huge relief from the blistering heat. Last time we hiked the Pine Tree trail, it was foggy and cold and we slogged through deep thick mud. Today the ground was nothing but leaves and fine dust.







The poison oak is alive and well this year. Oaks and poison oak seem to go hand in hand. Poison oak and I don't have a good relationship with each other. I have done a pretty good job this year to stay clear even though there has been a ton of the poisonous plants on every trail we have hiked. I have had 3 or 4 tiny isolated spots of poison oak this season. I do not want a repeat outbreak like I had in high school a few times. The leaves are real pretty at this time of year, especially when the sun hits the leaves from a certain angle.




On the hikes, we have discovered lush, green, protected areas and we have been out with the grass (very dead and dry at this time of year) with not a tree in sight. From the hikes, I have discovered that I like the lush and cool areas better than the open hillsides.

The second to last hike we took was on the last day of July. There was a flock of turkey's looking for food. There were two "Tom's" in this bunch. One was on the fence and the other is the one with his head up checking us out. The Tom's are pretty protective of their hens. They make a bunch of noise too.

Briones- Getting Closer

Last Friday, Suzy and I, took on another chunk of our goal to finish all the trails in Broines Regional Park by 11/11/10. By far, this was our longest and most time consuming hike we have done. We parked the car at the last staging area that we had not started a trail at, the Lafayette Ridge Staging Area. By the mileage on the trail map we did 7.03 miles and took a few wrong turns adding about .50 miles. Our feet hiked the Lafayette Ridge Trail, Buckeye Ranch Trail, Springhill Trail and back to the Lafayette Ridge Trail.

The first major chunk of the trail seemed to not be scale according to the map. The map has it at 2.85 miles but it seriously took us over two hours. The ridge trail was the first ridge trail we have taken in the park, and I now understand better why it was a ridge trail. Most of the trail was up and down, up and down, steep downhills on either side. The trail was very deceiving, when you got to the top of one hill, you thought you were done with uphill for awhile, but you saw a down and then up again.

Both Suzanne and I were tired and did not think we could make it up another hill top. We must have done 20 hill tops and it was taking a very long time compared to other hikes we had taken. Finally, we saw a trail marker that gave us good news, we did not have to hike up the next hill top which was big and steep. "Oh we are blessed, blessed indeed", was all we could utter.

At one point, we decided to change the Law of Newton to, "what goes down must go up" and called it Newton's Reverse Law of Gravity. The trail looped at the end of our time on the ridge and we knew that we had to go back the way we came to get to the car. On the side of the hill we saw distinct deer trails that cut off the top of the hill and kinda leveled out the up and downs, so we decided to take the deer trails. NOTE TO SELF: Don't take the deer trail again, scratched legs and a tiny bit of poison oak is not worth it.

The last point of worth noting about this hike was confusing guideposts or missing all together guide posts. There were several trails we took, thinking we were going the right direction because the sign said so or we guessed when there was no real clear sign. The sign here to the left is one such example of the confusion, every side of the sign had different arrows point which way to go. So, we know for next time but it was trial by error this time.

Got a blister on my right heel bone again this time. Need to get some new socks I think.

Another great hike. Think we have about 6 left, maybe we will hike a small one to tie up loose ends in the morning.

I'm loving exploring God's amazing and beautiful creation.

Briones Goal Update

Even though I have been behind on my blogging, I still have been keeping up with finishing all the trails in Briones Regional Park. Suzy and I have walked 3 separate hikes since my last trail update, Kim and Freddy, her American Bulldog, joined us on our last venture. From my estimation of the map, 2/3 of the trials have been completed.

Part of the enjoyment of the hikes is to see how the scenery and landscape changes with each passing month and season. The first hikes were in late fall, the weather was turning cooler, the hills and trees were going into dormant state, then we hiked in the cold and fog, to bright and vibrant hillsides in the early spring (early spring here is late winter in anywhere but California), to a few months later- California's golden hills, to our last hike, dry, dusty and hot.

Each hike has brought some new sighting of wildlife and changes in the oak trees.

Another thing that has increased is the amount of mileage hiked on each hike. The hikes started out smaller and now are getting progressively longer (just a head's up Suzy, the next few I have planned are in the 6-8 mile range).

The three above pictures were taken on 3/7/10 on a 4.7 mile hike. I love this picture right above. On an earlier post, I have this same tree and fence post in the fog. This day the sky was mostly clear and you could see Mt. Diablo in the background from the top of our hike.

The below three photos were taken on 5/30/10. More critters. I think this fat lizard just ate it's breakfast, he was just sunning and taking in a little Vitamin D. The snake was seriously in the middle of the trail and I almost stepped right on him. I think I let out a little yelp. My curiosity won the best of me and I had to poke him with a stick. Somehow he had just died recently, don't know how but he was soft and not moving. When we got back to the trail head there was a sign telling the difference between a rattle snake and another snake (I think it was a whippet snake). The snake we encountered did not have a diamond shaped head so it was not a rattle snake.

The hills were turning golden or as my sister says, "brown". She and I have had the debate of the color of the hills in California for some time now. I insist since California is called Golden State(that comes from the color of the hills) that even though the hills are brown, they are golden. This hike started on the Bear Creek Trail Head, a side we had not hiked before and was about 3.71 miles (2nd shortest hike)

The last hike we did was 7/7/10 and I did not have my camera. Not sure what I was thinking because I have been taking pictures each time out. I think the reason was because we did this hike as part of the normal morning walking routine. Thankfully, almost each week day morning a group of ladies from church have been getting up and walking 4.5-6.5 miles each time. A month into my summer vacation and we have already put in some serious miles, getting close to 80-100 miles if I was to count them up.

Thankfully, the weather was cooler and there was some fog off on the coast, which traveled up to the hill tops we climbed. The first 30-45 minutes was pretty much all up hill and my heart was jumping out of my heart. We ascended about 1000' getting close to the highest peak which we climbed on another previous hike. Of the 5 trial heads, the Gloria Terrace is by far the steepest uphill at the beginning and the steepest downhill at the end. I actually prefer the steep uphill to the steep downhill. My knees and feet take a beating on the steep downhill. There was a little extra unplanned chunk of trail that we also did so that we would not have to come back to it later to finish the goal. When all was said and we got back to the car, we hiked about 7.25 miles. The hills were really dry now and the wooded areas on the west side of the hills were lush and green.

Maybe we'll get another hike in this week, if not this week, maybe next week. The adventure and hiking goal continues. Thank you Suzanne for the challenge, thank God for His beautiful creation to be able to explore.

Briones Goal 1/2/10

My vacation started and ended with hikes chipping away at hiking each and every trail in Briones Regional Park in a year. Again today we were slogging through the mud, more mud today than last time, but still equally as beautiful. The morning started out with a warmer fog than last time, we saw many newts (had to be careful not to step on them), this time we saw several red tailed hawks up close. They had incredible markings on their backsides. Suzy and I have almost finished off all the trails in the Northern part of the park. Today's hike was 4.67 miles. My body is starting to really feel good with the hiking. I praise the Lord to be able to explore His incredible creation.

Today, for some reason, both Suzy and I were on the quieter side and that allowed us to listen to the creation and to use our senses. When we attuned our ears and focused we could hear the droplets of rain and dew fall off the bay leaves and fall to the ground below, the swooping of the wings of the hawks, the chirping of the little birds in the bushes and leaves, and the trickle of the stream. There was also the squishing of mud with each step we took, and the exhaling of labored breathing with each uphill step I took and the exclamation of, "This is so incredibly beautiful".

Very nice end to my vacation. Longing for the next hike. The next 4 are already planned.

Wonderful Start to My Vacation

My walking partner (and beloved sister in the Lord from my church), Suzanne, took me hiking just over a month ago to Briones Regional Park in the East Bay. That day, we made a pack that we would hike every trail in the park within a year's time. Beingtoday is my first day on Christmas Break from work, I decided there would be no better way to start off my vacation than with a good hike in the morning fog and to work on our trail goal.

This morning we parked off Briones Road, hiked a big loop on the Old Briones Road Trail to Briones Crest to Lagoon to Toyon Canyon to Tree and back to Old Briones Road.

On our travels we saw several newts along the way. A trail sign highlighted newts and stated "newts are traveling salamanders". I have not had the chance to look up what the difference is between a newt and a salamander (Tim Davis could give a good answer to this). When I felt the newt this morning he appeared to have firm and dry skin unlike a salamander who has loose and slimy skin.

The fog gave the landscape a mysterious feel. I decided to edit this shot and try black and white film.

The dew from the fog beaded so beautifully on the spider's web displaying her creativity.

The colors of fall/winter, the fog and the gloom, and the sunlight trying to burn through were incredible to the naked eye. The camera just can not capture the depth and hues of the true picture.

At some points, we were slogging through some mud and our boots were caked with mud making us a few inches taller.