Henry Cowell Camping- Annual trip July 2007

Well, the China blog is finished and I am back to the usual hiking, wildlife, and plants stuff. Time for our annual camping trip with our friends, for a total of four families including us. Always fun, it is good to hang with our friends and live in the woods for four days. ("Live in the woods" being defined as car-camping, actually).


Henry Cowell is a nice park near Santa Cruz, CA. It is known for its hiking trails and its giant redwoods. The Redwood Grove Self-Guided Trail is a popular one. Lisa served as our guide, doing a great job reading points of local info at the various numbered spots.


"Hey, Glen and Kayla, go stand by the giant redwood. I'll get your picture! I'll bet no one thought of getting this shot!"

This tree is my favorite. Like the beehive-behind-glass at Knotts Berry Farm that so fascinated me as a kid, this does the same. Seeing the ring that grew during such events as the birth of Jesus, the voyage of Columbus, the signing of the Magna Carta, and the various wars gives me the chills. Just like seeing an entire beehive two inches away safely behind a half inch of glass.

Henry Cowell State Park is a cool place, though a little crowded for me. The redwoods are huge, as expected, but I goofed up and got one of those tree-growing-out-of-the-subject's-head shots.



Lots to do at the park. We like hanging out with our friends Hippo, cooking a great meal, Ellen looking happily retired, Winnie pensive, and angelic Kayla.



There was an impromptu wood-chopping contest. Lisa kicked butt and had the hardest piece of wood. I had a hard time chopping the carrots.



The main part of camping is the tent. It is fun to set up if you like jamming poles through plastic sleeves in the sun, bugs, and dirt. Tents always look cool from a distance.



The second key part of camping is that you have lots of free time, something that I am not unaccustomed to. Other than cooking and hiking, there is not a lot to do, so in my free time, I consider a new career.



Everyone is happy when camping. Lisa and me, Ryan and Win, Kayla and Liz, and the famous painting, the MonaLisa.

Pallas likely laughing at one of my jokes. OK, probably not.

Win decides to cook us up some grubs, beetles, and tree bark. We are, after all, camping. He pours in some moldy pond water just for flavoring.

Fortunately, we all survive Win's stew by sharing a box of this.


Being a police officer, Win is entitled to wear special socks. If a criminal tries to run, Win whips off his shoe and sings the COPS tune. Stops the bad guys cold every time. Actually, Win is the coolest cop I know. He didn't even get mad when I accidentally tossed his club into the fire.

Ellen, Mona, and Lisa decide that they are going to put up the shade tarp.

I decide to help by doing what I do best. Actually, work fascinates me; I could watch it for hours.

In truth, we ate pretty well thanks to everyone's great cooking.

We took several hikes through the park, including an edible plants hike, led by a local naturalist. Here, we picked Huckleberries.

We learn the proper way to eat a Hazelnut.

And a crowd favorite, Wild Ginger.

We wander around the giant redwoods enjoying the big trees.

OK, time for a hiking group photo. Check out this "before" picture. Everyone looks nice and normal.

Then, everyone ate a handful of Poison Oak.

We wander around the trees and see this cutie who seemed mesmerized by the Redwood Grove sights.

We had a great time as usual and spent a lot of time telling everyone about the China trip.

One last group photo with the whole gang, Liz, Kayla,Win, Hippo, Nick, Ryan, Glen, Mona, Ellen, Pallas, Lisa, and me.

Time to leave Henry Cowell and begin planning next year's location.

Robert Sibley Volcanic/Huckleberry Botanical Parks

Yanni and I were able to fit in one last hike before my China trip. I was thrilled to go to Robert Sibley Volcanic Park and also Huckleberry Botanic Park. They sit almost side-by-side in the Berkeley hills and each has its own claim to fame.

In addition, this would likely be my last post for about three weeks when I can post the China pics. And no boring Great Wall tourist BS either! I'm going to capture the seamy underbelly of the Chinese government by sneaking into the Kremlin or whatever they call their government HQ. The shocking photos and expose' that will follow might just win me a Pulitzer or Peabody or an Emmy or a Tony or something. OK, enough on China for now and back to the hike.

Robert Sibely Volcanic Regional Park was home to a big friggin' volcano 10 million years ago. That must have really made the evening news when that thing blew. As we pull into the parking lot, we can hear the din of happy screaming kids from my car . Lots of din, lots of happy screaming kids. We grab our packs and hit the trail.

One small problem: its freezing! Cold fog is blowing in and its nearly raining from the heavy mist. I have no windbreaker since 1) I'm an idiot, and 2) I've been hiking in 100 degree weather for the past several hikes! Yanni says he forgot his as well, but then pulls out an alpine survival jacket. Its 40 degrees out and he tells me, "Don't worry, this baby's rated for ten below! I'll be fine."

We were hoofing it pretty good, when I turn around and see this. Or rather, hear the roar. Their leader, a volunteer geologist, told us we'd best get way ahead of him or we would suffer eardrum damage. (This same guy later told us that he was in a geology club where they sit around and talk about rocks. He tried to explain the local volcanic geology of the park, but my eyes glazed over when he said, "Long ago...")

Sibley is an interesting East Bay park, and has all the usual stuff that I like to see. However, every picture and story concerning this park talks about the mazes or labyrinths that exist there.

There are many stories about the origins of the mazes ranging from aliens to Indians. We stop at a lookout point and begin to feel the mystic cosmos aura seeping up from the center.

Yanni talks me into climbing down the hill to get a closer look. The center of the maze is piled up with various items that hikers have left. We saw Beenie Babies, coins, candles, flowers, notes, and photos in a bottle. Everybody left something. Yanni, swept up in the moment and feeling the power of Moses being channeled through him, reaches into his pack. He tells me that he is going to leave his energy bar and begins to unwrap it. He then eats 4/5th of it and places the rest on the pile. The SF Chronicle wrote a great story about the mazes in Sibley. You can read the article here.

Sibley, like its sister park, Huckleberry, has beautiful wildflowers. My favorite, Chaparral Pea, is here.

I see a Banana Slug, but Yanni says it looks like a male body part that rhymes with weenus.

There always seems to be so much going on in the woods and lots to photo. This peacock feather was in the center of the maze.

Speaking of the maze, I forgot to show you the other big maze. This one is shaped like a heart. OK, here's the kicker, especially if you read the SF Chronicle above: No one knows how or why the mazes were created? Ancient tribal rites? Aliens?

Well, Mr. Geology (leading the kids' hikes) catches us reading about the history of the park. He is now more excited than Martha Stewart at a napkin-folding contest at the prospect of getting to talk about the park's mazes and volcanoes. He tells us that the "main" maze was created by a local artist woman in the 60's who was looking to build a little meditation spot. She originally poured ashes around in his classic pattern, and over the years other hikers have improved on it. Yanni says she was just a hippie looking for a spot to smoke dope.

We continue our hike and wander around this cool area. We stop at a good spot for lunch which we think is the site of another volcano. We then drive 1/4 mile to Huckleberry Botanic Preserve for a two-mile hiking loop.

Here's again, lots to see and learn about. I try to explain to Yanni about the mating habits of the Eastern Yak, but he has some "inner glow" from the maze and won't stop chanting. He says he's going to sell everything and move to Tibet, but I doubt he'll get past Mongolia.

Our second hike of the day sadly ends as we work our way back to the trailhead.

At this point, Yanni is still chanting, glowing, pulsing, spinning, and ZAP! He morphs into a Pink-Flowered Currant shown here. I clipped the plant and put him in a vase with water. I named the plant "Yanni" and gave it to his wife. He's actually doing quite well.

Back to Tilden Park

" I'm back in the saddle again.
Out where a friend is a friend.
Where the long-horn cattle feed
On the lonely jimson weed
Back in the saddle again
I'm riding the range once more
Totin' my old 44
Where you sleep out every night
And the only law is right
Back in the saddle again."



Haven't been hiking for a couple of weeks, so it was great to get back on the trail with Yanni. Yanni is funny, has good perspective, and is very smart. The local college gives me three credits for just hanging around him.

Yanni is very happy. This is because
A) He is glad to be hiking again?
B) He got a new hat?
C) The cheerleaders just walked by?
D) All the above





Now, we are in Tilden Regional Park on this specific hike. (Photos and description are within.) For our 6.3 miles, we hit Jewell Lake after a mile or two and stop to check out the wildlife. Surprisingly, this little "lake" gets an abundance of various animals, fish, and birds. I have some shots of the egrets and herons in a previous blog on Tilden.

We're cruising along and see these - get this - "Red-Eared Slider Turtles." (Remember them as pets?) They are about 8 - 10 inches across and can live to 30 years in the wild. There's a few sliders on the log in the previous pic.

Kids were playing in the water trying to catch these guys.

Although most find discussions of wildflowers akin to watching paint dry, I was thrilled to find three that I had not seen before.

Check out the Wood Rose. On all the hikes we've been on, we had not seen one. Very exciting.

And of course the Teasel. Despite the bum rap this plant gets, I think it looks cool and like a pineapple. This one has a flower skirt and reminds me of Hawaii!

No one likes Teasel and this is always written:
Effects Upon Natural Areas:
Teasel is an aggressive exotic species that has the capacity to take over prairies and savannas if it is allowed to become established. Lack of natural enemies allows teasel to proliferate. If left unchecked, teasel quickly can form large monocultures excluding all native vegetation. Cut-leaved teasel is more aggressive than common teasel and has severely threatened several northern and central Illinois natural areas.

We hiked past this cool flower and upon looking at it, immediately stopped talking about Sports, Guns, and Chicks. We loved it's soft pedals and pretty color. It is a Chaparral Pea.

I should point out that this is a very strenuous hike with a 1,000 foot elevation gain. Only the fittest hikers could make it through this difficult trail.

Yanni likes to keep hiking even after we've reached our destination. In this case it's the top of the hill to the Rotary Club's Peace Grove.

Good views abound, but it was hazy on our day.

Bull Thistles are everywhere and every single one is required to have a bumblebee on it. And every photo of a Bull Thistle must include the bee. It's the law.

We work our way back through the 95 degree heat for our ultimate destination.

Great to be hiking again and to get out among real nature with exotic and rare creatures.