Hiking Around San Francisco Bay Area and Beyond

I happened to be in Santa Rosa and had few hours of free time. Hence, I looked around to see where my son and I could hike. Google showed that Annadel State park was nearby. We decided to give the place a vist. The park has many trails and loops. We decided to do combination of loop trail for Lake Ilsanjo. While entering the park we saw a parking lot where lot of cars were parked, and we also parked our car there. The actual entrance of the park was about half mile from there. We realized that most of bicyclists park their cars there and cycle around the park. At the park entrance, we checked out a map and decided our route. We started with Channel trail at the trailhead. This trail goes alongside the road. After we 0.3 miles the trail turns right and starts a gradual ascent. After another 0.7 miles, the path forks, where we decided to take a left on the North Burma trail. On this trail we saw many live oaks, black oaks, and madrones. Around the end of the Burma trail, we saw a big g

Today we decided to do a short hike due to time constraints, so we decided to do a short hike on Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park.   We drove there along a scenic road by Route 84 east, which runs along the Niles River.   We turned left at Main Street in Sonoma and took a right on Foothill Drive via Bond Street. We soon reached at the park trailhead at the southern end of the park. It seems that this park is heavily used based on the number of cars parked in the parking lot. This trail has many loop options, long and short. We started the hike on Oak Tree Trail. This hike ascends gradually on a paved way with many cyclists going along.   As you go up you start seeing beautiful rolling hills. We also heard the I-680 highway noise. As we crossed Point #5, we saw a nice view of Sunol valley and Mission Peak. Although it got very hot today, the trail does provide some oak tree shade along the way. We did not see any cows grazing as you often see in the east bay hills. As we

This week we decided to trek Black Mountain Trail in Rancho San Antonia Open Space Preserve. The return loop trail to Black Mountain is around 9.4 miles from the entrance of the park. We left for the park early morning, and reached the entrance at Rhus Ridge Trail by 8.15 am.  The park has only 11 parking spots, and by the time we reached the lot was already full. So we had to drive towards the Foothill College, we found the parking around half a mile away from the entrance.  We walked back to the park. At the entrance, a gentleman followed us in the car, and warned us about mountain lion sighting 2 days earlier. There were few posters at the entrance warning mountain lion threat. We still decided to go on with our trek with the hope that we get to see the mountain lion. Weather was little cloudy but comfortable. The first part of Rhus Ridge Trail is is pretty steep for 0.9 miles and goes through wooded area. We saw few deers on the way. On the way up, you get to see a beautiful vie

  This week we we were planning to hike Mt. Diablo, but the daytime temperature in Concord was in the high 80s. Hence, we decided to hike in a wooded area. My friend suggested The Big Basin Redwoods Park.  We left home early in the morning and  reached the park by nine-thirty in the morning. The drive to Big Basin State Park is very beautiful. We got there by taking the Saratoga South exit on highway 85, and then continuing on route 9 for another fourteen miles. After that, we took route 236 which was an 8.5 mile long winding road in the forest. Among ourselves, we decided to take the The Waterfall Loop, a strenuous hike in the woods, which the park ranger told us would take around five to six hours.   The trail starts at the park headquarters and goes via Sunset trail downhill. The park is full of large redwood trees. After turning on Drool trail and then back on the Sunset trail, we followed a stream of water. In areas with stagnant water, the clarity of the water is mind-boggling

I had to spend 2 whole days on the Labor Day weekend for my son’s chess tournament, so naturally I had quite a bit of time to kill. Normally during his tournaments, I work on my laptop, watch chess games, watch movies, and talk to other parents. This time I decided that I would take a walking tour of the city I love so much. The first day,  was a typical San Francisco day, cold and cloudy with temperatures in low 60s. When the first game started, I decided to start my walk from Van Ness and California St. crossing to Coit Tower via Lombard and Crooked Street. It was fun, since this was the first time I was not visiting either places as a tourist. Watching other tourists was quite amusing. Since an hour had already passed by the time I strolled to Coit tower, I took a 2 minute break and then started my journey back to the tournament hall. Overall, it was a little over 5 miles based on my NewYu. I made it back just in time to wish my son luck in his second game. In the afternoon I deci

We have been wanting to a longer route for a while now, so today we decided to start from Sandy Wool Lake in the Ed Levine Park on Calveras in Milpitas, and end at Mission Peak. Based on the map, Sandy Wool Lake to Mission Peak to Stanford is almost 11 miles. We arranged to be dropped off at the lake. It was hot but being late afternoon, it was sure to become cooler soon. We started at 4:45 P.M., but later found that this was a mistake. We started on the Calaveras Ridge trail for 0.6 miles and then turned left on to the Tularcitos trail, where we were greeted by a very noisy rattlesnake. Once I went near the snake, he decided to allow us passage, but nevertheless, he stood alert and  rattled away . As if this was not enough, another long (almost 5+ feet) snake greeted us just 20 feet ahead. He looked like he just had a big meal and crossed the path slowly. We moved ahead on the Tularcitos trail and turned right onto the Aqua Caliente trail, which is almost a mile and half. There, we

Today my friends, my kids, and I decided to go Mission Peak via Ohlone College. This route is my favorite since it is less strenuous compared to the Stanford route. In addition, This route is also less crowded and it has more plant life and shade.  I was happy to choose this route, since it was almost 80 degrees outside when we started the hike. In the beginning of the hike, there is a very nice cave (above). After the initial steepness, the trail becomes a pleasant walk in a valley. On the east side of the hills, there is a thick forest . From that side, we overlooked the Sunol wilderness, and were able to see a hazy Mt. Diablo in the distance. Beyond the trees, the trail converges in to a gravel road, which we followed for a mile and a half. Then, it diverged and lead us back to the Sunol-Stanford trail. On the way, we passed the takeoff zone for the hang gliders and para gliders. Soon after, we found ourselves at the base of Mission Peak. The climb to the summit, although only a q

I plan to start blogging about my experiences to improve my health, wellness, and fitness. As most of you probably know, I am very much interested in activities such as walking and hiking. Initially, my blogs will be focused on those areas. Just to give you a background, I have been using Wellcore's activity monitoring device (early incarnation of NewYu: Check out http://newyu.com) for over last year and I have walked more 1053 miles (over 2 million steps) from July 2010 to end of June 2011. That's almost a round trip to San Diego from bay area or a one way trip to Grand Junction, CO! I would say that I have seen many subtle health benefits over the past year, like my higher fitness level, reduced cholesterol levels, etc. Now I am tracking all my activities by NewYu, my connected fitness monitor.  It also allows me to track my food/diet. Furthermore, I have tightened my fitness and wellness goals. While achieving those goals, I will take you to some exotic local hiking places