Redwood Regional Park Hike - Jan 2007

Earlier this month, Lisa and I went on a great hike with our friends Win and Mona through Redwood Regional Park near the Oakland Hills. The weather was great and we were glad to be able to hang with our good buds Win and Moe.

Here I am ready to go and get some shots! Looking pretty geeked out.

We hiked along the Westridge Trail to the Tres Sendas trail that took us down into the Redwoods. Quiet and serene, we hiked along the fern-covered hillsides and the creek. It was peaceful and gave us a chance to talk, walk, and get caught up. The trail was covered with ice starting out, but later warmed up.

Mona & Lisa checking out the ice.

We cruised on and really enjoyed the big trees and the beauty of that part of the park. One could see the change in plant life and feel the temperature change under the canopy.

Win decided to traverse the creek the exciting way.

We continued on and came to what became everyone's favorite part: the ladybug beetles! Thousands of them clustered around the signs and bench. Very interesting seeing so many in one place.

In the sun, they moved more, but in the cool spots they just huddled together and were more still.

We continued on through the loop trail onto the Eastridge Trail to complete the loop. That's where we ran into Wendy Takuda from Channel 5 pulling out Scotch Broom, a non-native plant crowding out the native plants. She and her sweet dog worked in the sun to rip out these stubborn weeds (OK, the dog just begged food and wouldn't leave Win's beef jerky-filled pocket).

It was the perfect hike!

At the end of the trail, we were ready to head out for Thai food and recover from our grueling 3.7 miles. We had a ball.