Big Basin Redwoods State Park - Berry Creek Falls ( Hike three )

I am thoroughly enjoying this spree of State Park hikes! This flat path here in the picture to the right was covered in dried leaves. It is here I saw the very first banana slug of my life! A bright almost florescent yellow, long chilly like thing is a slug? I dint know such a thing existed ! All I have ever seen are black thick slugs. These long edible looking slugs on the leafy path, I must say were very attractive. A lot of the path was narrow with space for one person to walk at a time. It was a cold day, but after some walking it was easy to get rid of the fleece. Although, coming down at the end of the hike my hands froze. It's when I couldn't speak clearly, that i realized my face was freezing too. I'll remember to take my gloves next time. Somehow, I was sweating and freezing simultaneously.

We stopped at four different falls on this hike. It was the Cascade Falls, Golden Falls, Silver Falls and the Berry Creek Falls. The Berry Creek Falls was the heaviest. (In the picture to the left.) In contrast to the rest of the hike,the path from one water body to the other was steep and it was protected with ropes and poles and wooden platforms. I saw some horse riders along the way. I also spotted some black lizards in the water. I was freezing too much to take pictures of them. But I will get some next time. Because, it was also my first time to see lizards swimming. I know they crawl and slither around but I dint know they swim! Apparently their black skin was poisonous.  

Up to the falls and back was an 11 miles distance and it took a good 6 hours to get back to the parking lot. It got pretty dark at the end of the path. I remembered to snack and eat my spicy vietnamese Banh Mi sandwiches on our breaks and yet at the end of the day I was ready to reload. White Elephant a decent thai restaurant fed me some prawns with noodles and I felt the skin on my face give out a ton of warmth. It felt like steam was being released from all my pores. This is when I knew, the long hike, the body heat and sweat, the cold and the consistent fueling of food, put my body through pure euphoria.

Mt. Diablo ( Hike two )

 Mount diablo hike was 11 miles long. As you can see in the pictures, the sun shined bright and I was ready to bask in the warmth.The mountain is a little less than 4000 feet high. After Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa this is the only mountain that has a view that is never ending. Apparently, this is because the mountain pops out of nowhere and the land around it is plain flat. This contrast works for a perfect 380 degree view.    

Along the hike, we saw very cool rock formations which are called "Rock City". Diablo in Spanish means Devil and some troops way in the past thought they saw the devil and hence, the mountain today is called 'Mt. Diablo'.  The area we hiked was 'The Grand Loop'. It was at Wall Point that we had our picnic. Horse riders were plentiful and I saw some beautiful stallions. The best part of the hike was the snake that one of the hikers almost stepped on and jumped away pretty impressively. The Alameda Whipsnake with a black stripe is common in the area but I can't be sure the golden yellow snake we saw was the same. I got pretty close to the snake to take pictures but won't be repeating that again. (At the tip of my pinky below is the snake coiled up.)

The path most of the way was paved. Open space was plentiful with green oak woodland in the distance.Climbing some slopes to see a nice view was a decent workout. I was looking forward to seeing mountain lions which are often seen here, but maybe I will have better luck next time.

Celebrating February with Hikes! - Cataract falls hike ( First hike of the month )

              My New Years resolution is to celebrate something new every month. In January, I celebrated traveling and I will update January Celebrations sometime later. This month though, I am celebrating hiking!

    How can I live in California and not go hiking right? So my first hike was the Cataract Trail in the Mount Tamalpais State Park.Hike to the fall had tall steps that went straight up. Since we were hiking up to a waterfall, I was expecting the route to be shaded with trees. Beautiful greenery surrounded the trail and there was water flowing on one side of the walk at all times. Up top at Laurel Bell trail there were picnic tables, where we had a potluck.I devoured some hard boiled eggs and almond butter sandwiches. But, after smelling everyones spicy food I had a desperate craving for salt. So, I ate a kind ladies falafels to satisfy my salt craving among all the sweet bread and sweet butter I got myself! I made a note to myself to bring something salty next hike.

The meditative teachings by the hike leader after the picnic, was food for my soul. We learned about Sukha which is happiness. Blissfully listening to her while soaking up the sun was very easy to do. The Catarct Falls as seen in the picture was gorgeous and the sound of the water was soothing. We walked about 3 to 4 miles straight up and coming down the steep slope, I did feel the need for hiking poles. Even though the distance of the hike wasn't long the challenge of the extreme steep course made that days hike worth my while!

January Celebrations to be updated