Yanni's back after a two-week break and we celebrated by attempting the McGuire Peaks loop in Sunol Regional Park. The trail follows the Flag hill I did recently (see previous post for Flag Hill in Sunol.) After climbing up Flag Hill and then walking to the trailhead, we had already gone 3.5 miles. Completing the 5.5-mile loop and then walking back another 3.5 miles? Hmm....time for a decision: Uh...no way. Over 12 miles of "a whole lotta up" in the 80 degrees sounded, well...bad. So we decided to do another loop and just take some interesting photos.
...like this one of the goofy happy face on the way up Flag Hill. In geology, they call this 'Happy Face Rock", a common phenomena caused by the Earth's inner core when beer is spilled on the ground. It's true, look it up.
Yanni was very excited to get back into the woods. Here, he has made it to the top of Flag Hill and is celebrating by trying to spear one of the birds flying overhead with his hiking stick. No luck, fortunately.
Cruising on, I saw one of the best examples of the aptly-named Indian Paintbrush. This plant always looks good to me. (And, I guess also to the State of Wyoming, who adopted it as it's state flower in 1917). The local Indians believed that the flower was given to a young warrior by the Great Spirit. I wasn't there, but reportedly the warrior was having trouble painting the sunset with his war paints, so unable to compete with Nature, he asked for help from the Great Spirit. The flowers dotting the hillsides today are the leftover paintbrushes used by this warrior.
Back on the trail, we wander around the High Valley Camp, Cave Rocks, and all the other things that make Sunol such an interesting place. You can read about the park's history and everything else here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunol_Regional_Wilderness
Here I am holding down the park sign wearing my dork hat, but it protects my ears from the sun. Lisa bought me this great yellow hiking shirt that is loved by me (and really loved by every bee in the woods.."hey look Buzz, a giant dumb-looking new flower!")
People sometimes ask me what I carry in my pack. I take nearly the same items every time. They are: bandana, TP, maps, snacks, hiker's stool (22 0z), hat, waterbottles, small tripod, glasses, flashlight, Leatherman multi-tool, first-aid kit, plastic bags, rope, compass, waterproof matches, flint, spark-striker, sunblock, spare camera battery, camera, whistle, hiking stick, windbreaker, Kleenex, eyeglass packet cleaners, small bungees, monocular, and bug repellent.
For this trip, however, I only carried two items....
We finally made it back to the car after four and a half hours of hiking. I checked my pedometer for the distance (another gift from my cute wife) and it read 9.8 miles Yanni refused to accept this and made me walk around the parking lot for another two tenths, so we did 10 miles!
Yanni's back after a two-week break and we celebrated by attempting the McGuire Peaks loop in Sunol Regional Park. The trail follows the Flag hill I did recently (see previous post for Flag Hill in Sunol.) After climbing up Flag Hill and then walking to the trailhead, we had already gone 3.5 miles. Completing the 5.5-mile loop and then walking back another 3.5 miles? Hmm....time for a decision: Uh...no way. Over 12 miles of "a whole lotta up" in the 80 degrees sounded, well...bad. So we decided to do another loop and just take some interesting photos.
...like this one of the goofy happy face on the way up Flag Hill. In geology, they call this 'Happy Face Rock", a common phenomena caused by the Earth's inner core when beer is spilled on the ground. It's true, look it up.
Yanni was very excited to get back into the woods. Here, he has made it to the top of Flag Hill and is celebrating by trying to spear one of the birds flying overhead with his hiking stick. No luck, fortunately.
Cruising on, I saw one of the best examples of the aptly-named Indian Paintbrush. This plant always looks good to me. (And, I guess also to the State of Wyoming, who adopted it as it's state flower in 1917). The local Indians believed that the flower was given to a young warrior by the Great Spirit. I wasn't there, but reportedly the warrior was having trouble painting the sunset with his war paints, so unable to compete with Nature, he asked for help from the Great Spirit. The flowers dotting the hillsides today are the leftover paintbrushes used by this warrior.
Back on the trail, we wander around the High Valley Camp, Cave Rocks, and all the other things that make Sunol such an interesting place. You can read about the park's history and everything else here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunol_Regional_Wilderness
Here I am holding down the park sign wearing my dork hat, but it protects my ears from the sun. Lisa bought me this great yellow hiking shirt that is loved by me (and really loved by every bee in the woods.."hey look Buzz, a giant dumb-looking new flower!")
People sometimes ask me what I carry in my pack. I take nearly the same items every time. They are: bandana, TP, maps, snacks, hiker's stool (22 0z), hat, waterbottles, small tripod, glasses, flashlight, Leatherman multi-tool, first-aid kit, plastic bags, rope, compass, waterproof matches, flint, spark-striker, sunblock, spare camera battery, camera, whistle, hiking stick, windbreaker, Kleenex, eyeglass packet cleaners, small bungees, monocular, and bug repellent.
For this trip, however, I only carried two items....
We finally made it back to the car after four and a half hours of hiking. I checked my pedometer for the distance (another gift from my cute wife) and it read 9.8 miles Yanni refused to accept this and made me walk around the parking lot for another two tenths, so we did 10 miles!
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