Fall at Coe

Fall is a good time of year to be hiking the Diablo Range. With cooling temperatures the exposed high ridge tops and steep elevation changes are not quite the punishing ordeals they can be in the heat of summer. Long range views are usually better simply because of the effect of heat on the photochemical smog that normally permeates the air. The winds pick up a bit overall and there’s more moisture in the air which has a cleansing effect. And of course when the rains begin, the precipitation provides a through bathing of the airspace all the way down to sea level. On a good day the views you can enjoy from the high places are well worth stopping to admire, and you can notice the difference in air quality, especially when you’re breathing hard climbing up some trail.

We like to get out to Henry W. Coe State Park during this quieter time of year. We went to Hunting Hollow at the south end of the park to hike the Steer Ridge loop. We decided to go up the Steer Ridge trail mostly because we both prefer climbing a wicked steep trail section like this to steep descending. And it is quite steep, trust me. The consensus seems to believe that the Hobbs Road "short cut" is steepest, but this trail must be second. There was a bank of fog hanging around along the bottom of Hunting Hollow making it very chilly, but it didn’t take long to get some heat going once we began climbing. And soon we were above the fog which was isolated to that little valley. After that the weather was great as long as the sun was out, but if it moved behind a bit of cloud, then I would contemplate a warmth layer. The skies were mostly blue with thin scattered cloud systems moving slowly eastward. Overall it was just too nice to be inside.

On the way up Steer Ridge I finally spotted an illusive tarantula moving in the grasses. First one I’ve seen this year. This one had more of a brown coloration compared to most of the others I’ve seen in this area which are usually darker, almost black. It occurred to me that the only time we ever actually see the tarantulas is when they happen to be crossing the trail at the same moment we’re hiking past. You might spot something large like a deer or coyote off in the bush, but you could almost walk right over top of a tarantula and not see it when amongst the grasses. Plus this one seemed to be camouflaged fairly well. It was the only one we saw all day, but their migration will continue for a few more weeks.

The views up on the ridge were not the best I’ve seen, but were still a delight. We had a good time visiting Wilson Peak and hiking through to Wagon Road. The serpentine rock along the ridge has brilliant swatches of orange, green, and yellow lichens. The grassy hills in this area have green grasses from the last storm that passed through, the latent effects of a Pacific typhoon. We followed Wagon Road all the way down, giving back all the altitude, to Hunting Hollow trail at the bottom of the valley. A little bit of fall color is evident down here amongst the maple and sycamore, and many oaks are dripping with mosses. There's lots of green grasses that could almost rival even the best manicured lawns back in the city.

Click here to see photos from this hike

Favorite Places

Surely everybody who hikes regularly has one or more favorite spots. Familiar places they keep going back to because they possess some special appeal on a personal level. I don’t mean some far flung location requiring travel and an overnight stay, but rather someplace you keep going back to once in awhile whenever the urge arises. A place you can visit on a spur-of-the-moment basis that you tend to think of as “your place”, or perhaps “our place”. It’s great to have the choices we do in the bay area, but wherever you may live there’s probably someplace that you think is just cool in a special way.

For me Chalk Mountain, in Big Basin, is one of those places. It’s not a marquee destination, but I suppose that fact accounts for some of its appeal, at least for someone like me. It’s extremely quiet and still there. In fact you rarely ever see other people there, whether mountain bikers, horseback riders, or hikers. The summit is only a shade over 1600 feet, but even still, it provides some of the best long range views available in Big Basin easily rivaling the more popular Buzzard’s Roost. The general area around it is mostly exposed making unobstructed viewing possible. On a good day you get an unbroken 360 degree panorama, which unlike Buzzard’s Roost, includes views of the Pacific Ocean off Ano Nuevo, and weather permitting, south to Monterey Bay. The surrounding ridgelines and valleys vary in character from dense mature coniferous groves, to scrubby open terrain having a shale-like quality.

The hike to get there can be challenging depending on which route appeals to you the most. The easiest way is to use the Whitehouse Ridge Trail originating in Ano Nuevo State Park. You will need to drive in to the trailhead using the unpaved Whitehouse Canyon Road. An easy to miss turnoff from highway 1. But I usually prefer to use one of the various more challenging and less traveled routes. And of course the route that Sue and I took on this day was the same one we used for our first hike (alone) together on which we shared our first kiss (blush). We had done an out-and-back along the Westridge Trail originating at Waddell Beach. Access is from the Skyline to the Sea Trail along the hiking only route that follows a little ledge high above the little farms near Rancho del Oso. Before re-joining the fire road past Twin Redwoods trail camp is the Clark Connector which switches back up through the trees allowing you to gain the ridge top. The Westridge Trail is designated as a horse trail. It’s ok to hike it, but I think it’s designated that way because it’s not properly graded for hiking. Rather than being carved into the terrain, it climbs up and over every rise and peak in the natural terrain, and conversely descends into all the little gullies. It’s a roller coaster of a trail, and much of the terrain is very susceptible to erosion damage, which is in great evidence. Some sections are wicked steep down, and then immediately wicked steep back up, and very rough. So to use these trails, you want to be well informed, and up for the challenge.

A funny thing happened when we reached the summit on this hike. We had not seen anyone since leaving the beach area, so were not expecting to. There is a little hill that has a picnic table out at the end. The little trail leading there is hidden by brush on each side. Out at the end is a great view, but you cannot really see down to the trail from there, nor see up to it until you get there. This spot makes a great place to rest up and have a nice trail lunch. This is also the very spot that is special to Sue and I that we remember from our first hike together. As we approached on the trail, there was some movement out at the picnic table. It seems that we had arrived at an awkward moment for some other couple who were not dressed. Hmmm, interesting. I won’t elaborate on what they were doing, but I’m sure you can imagine without much help (wink, wink). Obviously this spot is also quite special to at least one other hiking couple. They scrambled into the bushes grabbing for their clothing and looking sheepish. Sue and I turned around quickly, but didn’t quite know how to deal with this obviously embarrassing situation, so we just walked away over to the other view point near the famous Chalk Mountain outhouse-with-a-view. We took a break there while the others quietly slipped away.

We had a great day and returned to our car with time enough to check out the new location of the Santa Cruz New Leaf store on Fair Street. Just around the corner from their old location. Great place to shop for local produce.

Click here to see the pictures from this hike.
Click here to see the photos from last years solo hike to Chalk Mountain

Shy Spiders

Well, this should be the time of year that we have the opportunity to see the seasonal tarantula migration throughout the Diablo range. At Henry W Coe they even have an annual festival to celebrate the hairy arachnids in early October (already past). Of course it’s not really migration in the purest definition of the term. The spiders don’t pack up and move to a different geographic region. It’s more like a roving mating season. Every year the male tarantulas embark on an odyssey of searching throughout the terrain for available mates. The females rarely leave their burrows whether in the ground or in a tree. The males have the job of finding them, mating, and then escaping before they become lunch. They have been known to travel extraordinary distances in search of their partners. In the parks and wild land areas, they are protected, but thousands of them are killed every year by ignorant humans who mistakenly believe them to be dangerous. But like most any wild creature they are really no threat to humans if you let them be.

We were at Coe last Saturday hoping to get some new photos of large hairy spiders. We’ve been there before when you even had to be careful not to run them over on the road. A couple of years ago we moved several of them off the road to keep them from becoming road kill. This year however we struck out completely. The picture displayed above was taken in 2006. All day we didn’t spot even one tarantula. In talking to one of the volunteer rangers, he told us that at the recent Tarantula Fest, there was only one spider spotted during the whole event. I will not jump to any conclusions about why, but this year, it’s been hard to find them. Maybe some of you other hikers have had better luck. If so please feel free to leave a comment. Anyway it was a really nice day at Coe, with perfect weather. We got a late start, did a short headquarters loop, and were off the trail by about 2:00. Since I didn’t get any (new) spider photos, I settled for a few partial panoramas of Coe terrain.

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

California’s state parks on the whole are vastly underappreciated. But this is especially true of a place like Prairie Creek. This north coast park is one of the tracts within the Redwoods State and National Parks system that contain most of the last remaining old growth coast redwood forests that exist in the world. The sequoia sempervirens, or coast redwood, once covered a range consisting of virtually the entire coastal region of northern California. Today, due to a lack of protection, overharvesting, poor management, and public apathy, old growth redwoods can now only be found in a handful of state and national parks, the creation of which represent the blood, sweat, and tears of a variety of private groups, individuals, donors, and volunteers, whom together had the wisdom and foresight to recognize their importance, and the fortitude to fight tirelessly for their establishment. I personally would be loath to take these things for granted. For me, coming to a place like Prairie Creek is like a pilgrimage. I always make a conscious effort to recognize the privilege of being here at all, and to mentally salute the dedication of that army of naturalists and preservationists who wrested these limited tracts from the jaws of greed and ignorance, preserving them for future generations.

And with that said, I am off my soapbox for now.

With fall beginning, this time of year makes a nice time to visit the north coast now that the tourist season has wound down, and things are quieter. As long as you get your visit in before the rains begin, the weather is still pleasant for hiking the woods during the day. With close proximity to the ocean, evenings during this time here were chilly, with a lot of dampness in the air. The sunny days help to produce a radiation fog (a.k.a. tule fog) in the meadows at night. The coldest temperature we recorded was 36, but it felt colder during the night. Daytime temps were in the 70s. Most of the campsites are closed for the season, and the campsites that remain open are first come first served.

As we rolled in the afternoon we spotted some bull elk grazing in the meadow along the Newton B. Drury parkway. There is a healthy population of Roosevelt elk in this area, and we had elk sightings every day. After snapping a few photos we found a campsite and got situated before going back out to look for more wildlife. The campground where we stayed is located right near the visitor’s center on the edge of Elk Prairie; a long open grassy meadow that supports a lot of the type of vegetation that attract the elk and black tail deer, so there are great opportunities for wildlife viewing there. In the morning this little microclimate produces fairly thick tule fog. The paved road that runs through the park is actually the old highway 101, which has been re-routed around the park. It has been re-named after Newton B. Drury. Many trailheads originate from the general vicinity near the visitor’s center and close by Elk Prairie campground.

On the first day we did a group hike out to the coast. I did not bother to use my GPS at all on this trip because it is notoriously unreliable under tree cover, and Prairie Creek is at least 90% thickly wooded. I would only use it for altitude and maybe the compass. Dave usually gets a nice track log and there is a link to his pictures and stuff below. We hiked along Prairie Creek (the actual creek) until we found the cutoff leading up to Miners Ridge Trail. This trail is an old prospector’s route used to reach the area called Gold Bluffs along the coast. This is former gold mining country. Not a huge strike, but that’s the history. This route passes through glorious virgin temperate rainforest with most areas dominated by coast redwood, accompanied by Douglas fir, Sitka spruce, hemlock, and some deciduous varieties like tanbark oak and big leaf maple. The forest under story is breathtaking in its density and greenery. Thick sword ferns blanket the forest floor everywhere you look. In some areas the sword ferns are as much as 6 feet high and intermingled with sorrel along the ground. I’m not very good with plant species, but the area is rich with greenery of all types. The vegetation is so thick that when you happen to cross a creek over a footbridge, you can hear water running, but can’t really see it. With so little sunlight penetrating, I took my hat off in order to increase my field of vision and better enjoy the scenery. One thing I noticed about the redwoods in this area is that they really do not possess the same rich coloration in their bark as the sequoias that we see in the bay area parks. I’m not sure why this is; maybe less tannin; but the bark seems rather grayish in color compared to the redwood you see here. The fallen trees do show nice coloration in the heartwood though. There are however a great many prime examples of old growth sequoias, and they are magnificent in stature. You can find scores of unique burls, and plenty of freakish looking multiple trunks, fire scared survivors, fallen giants, and trees that appear to be topped by lightning strikes.

The trail rolls up and down, but the elevation change is gentle, with the highest point on the trail being about 700 feet. As you begin to approach the coastal area the tree cover changes to mostly Sitka spruce. Out along the sandy coastal scrub we found more Roosevelt elk grazing the offerings there. A little further down the beach is the entrance to Fern Canyon. A sheer rock canyon with its walls literally covered with dense ferns of various species. The most prevalent of them was the maidenhair or five finger ferns. The creek was very low allowing us to walk its bottom by skirting over, under, or around the tree debris and rocks. This canyon was as a filming location for the movie Jurasic Park II - The Lost World. This canyon is also a popular short loop hike for people who are able to drive in along the unpaved beach road. This beach area is the only place we saw a lot of other people. Not crowds, but there were people around in contrast to the wooded areas where we were virtually alone throughout the day. We used another of the prospector trails called the James Irvine trail to loop back toward the campground. Another rolling hike through lush, green, wild rainforest.

I spent the next day on a solo hike in the areas east of the Drury parkway. The Rhododendron Trail winds around amongst stunning ancient forest with many dedicated groves of trees. I got some nice altitude in by hiking the 3.8 mile round trip C.R.E.A. Trail (California Real Estate Association) of dedicated groves reaching an altitude of just over 1400 feet. Along this trail I spotted a large owl, which flew off making a sweeping arc uppon hearing my footsteps, but the sighting was so brief that I was unsure of the exact species. It was most probably an endangered northern spotted owl. I spent most of the day enjoying the pristine forests and taking pictures, returning to the visitor’s center by way of the Prairie Creek Trail. The trail along the creek is interspersed with deciduous species like big leaf maple, some bay trees, and tanbark oak, and of course there are many prime examples of stately redwoods. I had a great trip, and as usual, I came away wishing I had more time.

Click here to see my photoset on flickr
Click here to see Dave's pictures on pixseal.com

Redwood conservation groups:

Save the Redwoods League
Sempervirens Fund

Peter’s Creek Inverse

Conventional hiking wisdom says that the best way to plan a hike is to try to position your starting point so that you have a mostly downhill return. When you begin, your energy level is higher, but near the end of a hike when you may be more fatigued, downhill is good. Logical enough, but this isn’t always possible. Just ask anyone who’s been to the Grand Canyon. Or for that matter ask anyone who’s ever hiked out of Henry Coe headquarters. If you begin on top of a ridge, you have to go downhill to get anywhere else. As the saying goes, “if it seems like it’s uphill in both directions, you must be at Coe”. But still; seasoned ramblers really love the place. Sometimes it’s nice to break away from conventional wisdom, and do a hike that’s a little bit of a challenge.

Portola State Park has a quiet little off-the-beaten-track area called the Peter’s Creek loop. Peter’s Creek is the same creek that runs right past park headquarters and under the road bridge to join Pescadero Creek. The loop trail is down in a little ravine where Bear Creek runs into Peter’s creek. The area is very moist with lots of ground water; perfect for sustaining tall redwoods. The thickly wooded terrain has a dense and very tall canopy making it cool and moist even on a hot day. The waters make a nice background music of murmuring and babbling sounds, and it’s very peaceful and green. One of my favorite locations.

There’s only one trail in or out, but there’s more than one way to get to Bear Creek Trail which will take you there. The most popular hike to Peter’s Creek is from Portola using the Slate Creek trail to Bear Creek Trail. It’s funny how so many of the trails here are named after creeks. There’s a lot of natural water here, so it’s really no wonder that it supports deep forests hosting lots of redwood. The old time loggers have made their mark here, but after long years of modern protection, the recovery is encouraging. The more of these mountain tracts that get protected the better. But I digress. I decided to hike to Peter’s Creek a different way last Sunday. To get some good leg burn in, and to satisfy my green fetish, I thought I would hike there from a trail head in Long Ridge along Skyline. What makes this route green is the fact that I would not have to drive all the way down to Portola at 400 feet, using up extra gas and carbon credits to get back out. The leg burn would come mostly on the way back up to the highway at about 2600 feet. And of course there’s that pesky 1600 foot Doherty Ridge to get over as well.

All the forecasts were for an offshore flow over the weekend. The unavoidable result of that is always much hotter weather in the bay area. But at least for the weekend the off shore flow was a no-show. Otherwise I probably would not have tried this hike. Ward Road Trail has some wicked steep sections up near the top which are mostly exposed, and the section of Hickory Oaks Trail used for this route is completely exposed while rolling up and up and up. At the end of the day this would be tortuous in the heat. But with mild temps, off I went. I paused at a high point along Hickory Oaks Trail to marvel at the vaporous fog furrowed in amongst the tall trees populating the ridges and valleys to the west. A sure sign of air movement ON-shore. The previous day my wife and I got up super early to hike Black Mountain, and be off the trail before noon. But while we were reaching to top we could see north past Russian Ridge where Pacific style semi-liquid fog was rolling over the hills. What weather reports?

I headed down Ward Road using my trekking poles to save my knees on the steep downhill. The lower sections of Ward Road are nicely wooded. There are two points where you make a turn to stay on the trail. The first turn is easy enough to spot. The second turn is where you transition onto the upper part of Slate Creek Trail. The markers are not well placed and hard to spot when heading in this direction, but there is usually a closed gate on the road which clues you in not to go that way. On this particular day it wasn’t closed, and had opened up by gravity into the brush disappearing from view. Not paying attention as much as should have I missed the cutoff. I was maybe half a mile into private property before noticing that I did not recognize the trail anymore, and realized I must be trespassing. Opps! Time to turn back. Lovely property down there. Too bad it’s not part of the park system or open space district. Beautiful redwoods and even some nice views.

Undaunted, I turned back uphill and found the cutoff. I tried to close the gate, but it just swung open again burring itself in the brush like before. It had been left unlocked. I checked the time and decided to continue down to Slate Creek and the trail camp where the Bear Creek Trail starts. At this point you have lost somewhere over 2000 feet of elevation, so what you have to do now is climb up Doherty Ridge. Then hike down some fairly steep sections all the way down to the junction of the two creeks. But it is a pretty hike. For the daring there is a large fallen tree solidly lodged into the hillsides providing a short cut over Bear Creek. This saves not quite half a mile if you choose to use it. The loop trail is in good shape, and the pleasant sense of isolation provided by this location is palpable, even though you are actually only about 2.5 miles as-the-crow-flies from park headquarters. You are however isolated by steep terrain and deep tree cover. Peter’s creek is still flowing enough to serenade wanderers even this late in the year. The area is festooned with lots of ferns, sorrel, mosses, and fungi. A delight for native plant hunters. It’s cool and fragrant, and I could swear the towering trees are whispering to themselves.

Hiking back out is a nice aerobic climb back over the ridge to the trail camp. But if you’re doing the hike from headquarters, the rest of your return is an easy stroll through the forest. If you’re doing the inverse back to skyline, Doherty Ridge was just the warm-up. The trail along Slate Creek is serene and peaceful, but as soon as you cross the creek and head up, you immediately find an unrelenting steep slope. You still have tree cover though. A few sections level out somewhat, but it basically never stops climbing. When you finally hit Ward Road, another very steep section awaits. As you finally approach Long Ridge, and likely with tiring legs, the trail becomes mostly exposed, and the higher you get the farther away the patches of shade are. Buy the time you reach the BART again you will know you had a challenging hike. Oh, and don’t forget to pat yourself on the back for reducing carbon. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!

Click here to see more pictures from this hike
Click here to see my Peter's Creek photos from 2007

Skyline to the Sea Trail

In 1976 a feat of fairly enormous proportions was accomplished by a loose knit alliance of highly spirited individuals in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. Their efforts didn’t have any commercial, technological, or political value, so it didn’t get a lot of press. But the result of their combined enthusiasm and volunteerism was a gift of lasting value worthy of tribute from any rambling soul. So what am I talking about here? The 29.5 mile long Skyline to the Sea trail, which was completed all in one weekend during the inaugural year of the SCMTA. Other participating groups included the Sierra Club, and hundreds of local Boy Scouts. Portions of the trail were already there, but had never been connected. When I was a volunteer working with the SCMTA I spent many hours helping with maintenance and repair work on the Big Basin trail crew, and also the Skyline to the Sea crew. During that time I had become very familiar with the trail focusing on one small section at a time. I had also hiked the various sections time and time again both for enjoyment as well as trail reconnaissance. Discrete sections of it help facilitate some of my favorite hiking routes. But I had never hiked the entire distance of the trail all at once until Labor Day 2009. I was thinking about doing something kind of special for the holiday weekend so I decided that hiking the Skyline to the Sea would be a good personal tribute for Labor Day, and to finally add the full end to end trek to my trail log. There are other possible routes for getting out to the coast from skyline, but I wanted to stick to the official Skyline to the Sea Trail as my salute to the trail builders.

Many hikers do the trail as a backpacking trip. There are several trail camps along the way to facilitate that kind of hike. But if you want to hike the trail as a single day trek, you need to set up some kind of car shuttle, or arrange to be picked up. Since my wife was going to spend the day working on personal projects, I persuaded her to help me out. She would follow me to Waddell Beach so I could park my car, then shuttle me up to the trail head at Saratoga Gap. Of course this meant getting up at 5:00 am and driving for over 2 hours on a holiday morning. But she not only agreed to do it, but encouraged me. I knew there was a reason I married that woman. So we finally made it up to skyline, and I hit the trail at about 7:40 am.

I had hoped it would be cool, even foggy, but all indications were that it was a beautiful morning with clear skies, and potentially quite warm. I began hiking, already down to a single wicking layer even though the trail is under thick tree cover, but I was prepared for anything. I was feeling great and set my mind to savoring the day’s experience. My goal was to average at least 3 miles per hour including any resting time and lunch, and had planned to refill my water supply at Big Basin headquarters. As it turned out, it didn’t get very hot the whole day. Actually the weather couldn’t have been better. I was having fun just putting in trail miles, and checking out spots along the trail where I remembered doing repairs. It was great to see how well our sweat equity had held up over the years. Soon I came to the first good viewpoint at Sempervirens Point. This view out to Ben Lomond Ridge, and weather permitting, out to Monterey Bay, is great in the early morning. There are usually misty shrouds of fog furrowed amongst the tree lined ridges as the sun casts a subdued yellowish glow. There was no one there, and no cars passing on the highway to disturb the quiet display. I felt like it belonged to me.

Not lingering too long I continued on making up time on the mostly downhill section. The entire upper section stays pretty close to the road. It is after all the state owned easement for the highway that made it possible to build the trail. Most of the property along here is privately owned. The trail stays far enough from the road so it doesn’t become a constant distraction though. At several points the trail crosses the highway, and is sometimes above, and sometimes below it. There is still one short section, maybe less than ¼ of a mile, where you have to hike along the paved highway to the next gate. After passing Waterman Gap you begin gradually climbing uphill and the whole section between there and China Grade is mostly uphill, and still in close proximity to the road. There is one curving switchback along this section where I remembered spending almost an entire day manicuring the trail tread to running standards, and carefully grading to the recommended 7 degrees of slope for runoff. I made me proud to see my handiwork still holding up and in good shape. I hiked up and over China Grade Road and headed down toward park headquarters. I still had not seen any other hikers until then. A little ways down I passed some people hiking up, and happened to recognize someone; none other than Al Lisin of the SCMTA. Al is the crew leader of the Skyline to the Sea Trail volunteer crew, and a member of SCMTA since the 60s. I spoke with him, his wife, and a companion for a little while before continuing on, and like a dummy, forgetting to take a photo. Another great view opportunity is available along this section of trail before you descend into the tall conifers you pass along a lot of sandstone slick-rock and outcroppings which provide a nice vantage point through the sparse knobcone pines. If you have some binoculars you can pick out features like Eagle Peak along Ben Lomond Ridge. Once under the thick canopy of the basin you keep descending all the way down to Opal Creek. In springtime you can find lots of Tiger Lilies along this creek, but it’s really pretty any time. I began to encounter lots of people as I was approaching park headquarters, but this is normal for such a nice day.

I refilled my water supply even though I was not using as much as I anticipated. Bought a chocolate protein shake at the store and ate some lunch relaxing in the shade. I was right on schedule but still didn’t want to waste much time, so off I went at about 1:10 pm headed up to Middle Ridge. This trail had been blocked last winter, but repairs have been carried out. Really the whole trail has been surprisingly free of problems. The volunteer trail crew has been doing a fantastic job even though the parks budget is in constant peril. This is the last uphill section except for incidental nuances in the trail, and it passes by some really awesome ancient trees. After the crossing at the fire road it’s back to downhill for the run down along Kelly Creek and West Waddell Creek. Countless people have picked this section of Big Basin as the best hike in the Bay Area, and I have to agree. With the hillsides thick with ferns, sorrel, and assorted green ground cover, the awesome trees, murmuring creeks, and cool moist air, it’s very storybook like. When the falls are running that’s a huge bonus too, but this late in the year it’s just a trickle. The rest of the way out to the coast seemed really long as I began to feel my legs and feet beginning to tire. I began slowing my pace a little, but was still making enough headway to be within my schedule. I wanted to reach Waddell by no later than 5:00, and I just did make under that. There were a lot of people on the beach flying kites and a few windsurfers out. I was really tempted to jump in the water, but wasn’t sure I had enough energy left.

Clich here to see my pictures on flickr

Hiking a-Fair

I’ve been to a lot of local art fairs. It seems that many localities have a version of it these days. Sometimes it’s combined with wine tasting, or food festivals, or may be connected to a holiday or some ethnic traditions. And sometimes they can all seem like clones of each other when they are strewn about on hot city streets. But there’s a special appeal when artists show their wares in a mountain air setting, and even more enjoyable if it’s literally under the trees complete with a light fog drip. The King’s Mountain Art Fair is held over Labor Day weekend, and is designed to benefit the local fire brigade, and local schools. The whole thing is put on by volunteers, and exhibitors are selected by jury, so it has an interesting sort of ambiance. This was my first visit to this particular fair, but my brother-in-law Dave had an idea for Saturday to combine a hike in Huddart County Park and Phleger Estate with a visit to the fair which made it seem more interesting. And of course hiking to it from below means not having the hassle of parking along skyline road and having to use a shuttle.

Huddart is mostly a popular place for picnicking and large outdoor type gatherings, but it does have a thickly wooded and versatile trail system. Hikes of almost any distance can originate from here, from short hikes with toddlers of no more than a mile, to longer treks reaching beyond the boundaries that connect with other properties and the Skyline Trail. We hiked up the Campground Trail to the Crystal Springs Trail. This route was mostly single track trail under thick cover, and the higher we got the more noticeable the morning fog became. Up on Skyline there was a light drip as the fog condensed in the trees, but it only seemed to add to the mountain ambiance.

When we got to the fair area around the King’s Mountain Community Center there were already cars lined up and down highway 37 with some of the vehicles parked in very irregular positions. One poor woman in a Prius had dumped one rear wheel completely off the road into a gully and was stuck. Someone else with a late model Jeep had parked at about a 60 degree angle to get off the road. Sue found lots of exhibits that peaked her interest, which was kind of funny because she was not really enthusiastic about the fair before we got there. We found a unique bell maker from Half Moon Bay, and I was amused as I watched Sue circulate around his space ringing every one of his bells like a kid. I think we spent about an hour or so before we hit the trail again. We used the Lonely Trail to take us back down into Phleger Estate, part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, for a gentle return through its fragrant woods. Labor Day weekend provides this opportunity to enjoy a relaxing hike in the wooded hills above Woodside with this interesting little distraction in the middle of the day. A perfect excuse not to sit at home.

Click here to see my pictures on flickr
(Added) Click here to see Dave's photos of this hike