Last week Mary and I went to downtown San Jose to walk around Christmas in the Park (see above). They have a lot of the same decorations each year, but the trees are all different. It was pretty chilly so we both really enjoyed a Mexican hot chocolate. It’s kind of like hot horchata with chocolate in it. It’s pretty yummy. For more pictures see Christmas in the Park 2007.

The rest of last week was rather uneventful. I went up to Berkeley nearly every day to work with Nate since he’s heading out of town for the holidays. I did have lunch with Ron and Steve in Mountain View on Wednesday. After lunch Ron and I went to Tide House to check out some Yuletide brew. THey don’t seem to make it anymore. I tried their current holiday brew, but it wasn’t very good. Saturday was pretty normal. I played basketball and Mary hiked Mission.

On Sunday, Mary and I went to Pinnacles National Monument. We hiked a loop starting at the Bear Gulch Visitor Center which included Condor Gulch Trail, High Peaks Trail (Steep and Narrow section), Rim Trail, Bear Gulch Cave Trail, Moses Spring Trail and Bear Gulch Trail. The total loop is about 6.1 miles. We saw a couple condors in the distance while hiking up the Condor Gulch Trail. We stopped for lunch on the Steep and Narrow section of the High Peaks Trail. While we were there, we had a really nice fly-by from a condor. For more pictures, see the Pinnacles and Condor galleries.

On Monday, Christmas Eve, Mary and I took a drive up to Berkeley. I needed to get a PC from the office so we decided to make a day of it. We planned to eat at a New Orleans restaurant there, but it was closed. We ended up at I. B.’s Cheesesteak. After lunch we walked along a street fair on Telegraph Ave. After our walk, we hit Cafe Strada for some coffee, then headed out. Before driving home we stopped in Emeryville to look for Espie, one of the falcons born in San Jose this past spring. She had been spotted there for the last couple weeks. We managed to find her and had a nice visit. More pictures in San Jose Peregrines 2007. We had a nice Christmas Eve dinner at Mary’s parents.

For Christmas Day we went looking for falcons in San Jose. We tried a couple new locations, such as the Five Wounds Church. We didn’t find any falcons, but we did see a nice red-tailed hawk on top of the church (picture left). After striking out downtown, we headed to Don Edwards. We were checking out a burrowing owl when a large bird flew by. We’re pretty sure it was a golden eagle, but I didn’t manage to get a picture. The park gate was closed, so we walked out and around the boardwalk. We saw a white-tailed kite at the bend in the road and a black-tailed jackrabbit along the boardwalk. Now we’re ready for a nice, quiet dinner at home.

Happy Holidays!

Mary and I wanted to go to Death Valley National Park for the long Thanksgiving weekend, but we were having trouble finding a place to stay. We were even starting to consider camping. Then we thought if we were going to camp, we might as well go somewhere new where we would have to camp. We started thinking about Mojave National Preserve. We had driven through there many years ago, but never really spent any time there. The problem was, it gets really cold at night, and the forecast called for below freezing. Brrrrr. In the end, Mary managed to find a room at Furnace Creek Ranch in Death Valley, so that’s where we went.

Thursday, November 22 (Thanksgiving Day)

We had a bit of a slow start in the morning (as usual) and didn’t manage to get on the road until around 11 AM. We had stopped for a few supplies (including ever important coffee and donuts) then hit the road for our nearly 500 mile. We took US101 south and cut across CA152 to the east. As expected, we hit some traffic here, so I made a couple holiday calls to family. We finally hit I-5 and headed south on the most boring stretch of the drive (and stinky too, especially near Coalinga). The donuts and coffee had worn off by the time we hit the cutoff for CA46, so we pulled into the only place around, a gas station with a Subway sign. The subway was closed for the holiday, but they did have a few pre-made sandwiches. We got a couple, one of which was turkey. We were afraid it may be our only turkey of the day since we didn’t think we’d make it in to the park before the few restaurants closed. We took 46 to 99 to 56 to 14 (so many numbers!). By now we had rounded the southern end of the Sierras and we heading north. Up 14 to US395 then 190 in to the park. We made it to Stovepipe Wells in time to have a nice turkey dinner with pumpkin pie! We got to the Furnace Creek Ranch after 10 PM.

Friday, November 23

On Friday we decided to explore a new area of the park. We headed south on Badwater Road through the heart of the valley to hike Sidewinder Canyon. We read about this hike in Hiking California’s Desert Parks. One of the main attractions to this hike was the mention of bighorn sheep. We looked for them every time we went to the park, but had never seen one. Following the directions to the trailhead, we missed the dirt road since my odometer seemed to be off by 2 miles compared to the book. After backtracking, we managed to find it easily enough (it’s pretty much the only road out there). There are a bunch of canyons in this area, so it took a little time to find the right one. We hiked all the way up a short but steep one before we realized we wanted the next canyon over. It is definitely bighorn sheep country, there are droppings all over the place. A few minutes up the canyon, we saw a bighorn up above us on the north canyon wall. Damn, we had just been up there a little while ago after following the previous canyon to its end. Oh well, it was pretty cool seeing the bighorn. The canyon is pretty cool. There are a few narrow, twisted areas and quite a few slot canyons along the side. We hiked up to the end and also explored one of the slot canyons. On the way out, we saw two more sheep on the canyon wall, this time a bit closer. For more pictures from this hike, check out my Sidewinder Canyon and Bighorn Sheep galleries.

Saturday, November 24

For today we planned to explore another new area of the park. We drove up the Emigrant Canyon Road to Wildrose to see the Charcoal Kilns and hike Hummingbird Canyon. The Charcoal Kilns are pretty cool (see picture near the top of this post). They were built in 1877 to make charcoal which was used for smelting. They are about 25′ tall with a 30′ circumference. They were only used for about a year, so they are still in good shape. After checking out the kilns, we set off to find the Hummingbird Canyon trail. After searching for a while, we found the dirt road to the trail head, but decided the road was too rough, so we headed back to the valley to see the sand dunes. On the way back to the valley, we stopped for a picture of my Escape on Emigrant Valley Road (see left). For more pictures, check the Wildrose Charcoal Kilns gallery.

The sand dunes are one of our favorite features in Death Valley. There are a few different sets of dunes, but we went to the easiest to access, the ones on Mesquite Flat near Stovepipe Wells. These dunes start not far off the road and the tallest dune is about 2 miles out. We hiked around the dunes looking for wildlife, but saw only tracks of birds, rodents, insects and possibly canines. The various patters in the sand re really cool, both the small ripples and the large dunes themselves. We sat on the dunes for a while, watching the sun set and the moon rise. There were some people doing some sort of strange photo shoot a couple dunes over. Something to do with a long red cloth, purple wings and no clothing. For more pictures from the dunes, check out the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes gallery.

Sunday, November 25

For our last day we decided to do one of our favorite hikes, Mosaic Canyon. But first we decided to check out a feature we had not visited before, the Devil’s Cornfield. The “corn stalks” of the Devil’s Cornfield are really stacks of arroweed. The weeds grow in a sandy area near the sand dunes on Mesquite Flat. Some of the weeds grow on mounds of sand, and their roots go deep searching for water. Sometimes the wind blows the sand away, and a section of the roots are exposed leaving tall stacks. There were tons of animal tracks around this area, and many holes that I guess housed kangaroo rats and other small critters. Unfortunately we didn’t see any. Check the Devil’s Cornfield gallery for more pictures.

The hike up Mosaic Canyon was quite nice. It’s a really great hike through a diverse canyon. In some areas it’s really wide with golden walls. In others it’s a narrow channel of polished rock. And of course there are sections with various colored stones embedded in the canyon wall, creating the mosaics it is named for. We stopped for lunch in the widest part of the canyon, enjoying the cool but sunny weather. After lunch we hiked up to a dry fall that we couldn’t climb. It seems like there might be a way around it, but we never seem to leave time to explore further. We still had a long drive ahead of us. We really like the narrow chutes in this canyon; they’re as smooth as marble. There are more shots in the Mosaic Canyon gallery.

After a quick stop at the store at Stovepipe Wells to stock up on caffeine, we hit the road for the long drive home. Driving home on I-5 on the Sunday after Thankgiving is not the smartest thing to do. We were in hours of bumper to bumper traffic. We had done the same thing last year so we brought a few books on CD to take our mind off the traffic. It was well worth it to spend a four-day weekend in one of the great National Parks in California.

I took Mary to Big Sur for her birthday this past weekend. She worked from home on Friday, so we were able to leave early to beat the weekend traffic. We had never been to Big Sur before so we were pretty excited. The drive was pretty uneventful, I’m glad we got out of San Jose before the mad rush. We hit highway 1 just north of Monterey. We decided to take a slight detour to see something called Itsyville.

Itsyville is a display of small, odd houses and various carvings. It is the work of Steve Blanchard. Itsyville is a small “town” next to the wood shop. The residents are Itsies and one Podot. In addition to Itsyville there are other carvings at Blanchard’s Wood Sculpture shop as well. I especially like the bears.

After a short stop for some groceries near Carmel Valley we headed down highway 1. I guess we hit the Big Sur area when we crossed the Bixby Bridge. The coast line is really beautiful here. The Lucia Mountains jump right out of the ocean. Rocky points and sandy coves abound. We watched the sun set from highway 1. We found our hotel, Glen Oaks, in Big Sur Valley and checked in. We ate dinner at the Big Sur Roadhouse then turned in for the night.

On Saturday we headed south to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. On the way we spotted something we have been looking forward to seeing for a long time, a California Condor. An organization called the Ventana Wildlife Society has been reintroducing condors to the Big Sur area since 1995. We caught a glimpse of a large, black bird along the ridge above the highway. We pulled off the side of the road to check it out. It was a condor! We watched it soar along the ridge. It was soon joined by a second, but then they flew over the ridge and out of sight. I did get a few pictures.

Once we reached the park we got ready for a 4.5 mile hike on the Edwoldsen Trail. We read about it on Hiking in Big Sur, which is a really great resource for trails in the area. The trail starts out in the redwoods along McWay Creek. After following the creek for a while the trail climbs up to the ridge line. We went clockwise around the loop portion of the trail, which was pretty steep at times. At one point the trail follows a ridge with awesome views down to the Pacific. After more climbing along a side trail we reached the end of the trail with more spectacular views. On our way back down we took another side trail to see Canyon Falls then headed back to the parking lot.

After a short break we took another stroll, this time towards the ocean and McWay Falls. It was a short walk so we brought the spotting scope I got for Mary’s birthday. The falls are pretty cool, dropping about 80 feet from a cliff to the beach. We were glad we brought the scope when we saw a couple of quick flying birds land on a distant tree. The scope showed them to be a pair of peregrine falcons! We watched them until they flew off. We headed back to the car and drove to the hotel to clean up, stopping for a coffee and snack at the Big Sur Bakery. After a rest and showers, we went to the Big Sur Lodge for dinner. There are more pictures from Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park in the gallery.

On Sunday we went for a hike at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. We actually did 2 hikes in one, Pfeiffer Falls and Valley View for a total of 2.4 miles. Again the trail started in the redwoods along a creek, Pfeiffer-Redwood Creek. We crossed the creek four times before reaching the falls. After a bit of climbing we reached the viewpoint which overlooks the Big Sur Valley. The trail crosses the creek a total of seven times. We tried to stop at the visitors center after the hike, but it was closed. I did get a picture of a mountain lion on display through the window. There are more pictures from Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park in the gallery.

After the hike we drove south on highway 1 looking for condors. We were awarded with seeing one not far from where we saw some the previous day. It circled overhead for a while the soared off to the south. We drove further south but did not spot it again. We did stop for another view of McWay Falls then turned back north at Lucia.

We made a few stops along the ocean on our way back north. One stop was at the Bixby Bridge for a photo op. We stopped at Point Lobos to look for sea otters. I was sure we would find some at Whaler Cove. We saw a funny seal floating head-up in the cove, but no otters. We drove around to Bird Island and found a mother and pup foraging for dinner. We watched them for a bit until they rounded a rocky point. We stayed there to watch the sun set, then drove back home. We made it home in time to clean up then head out to dinner. It was a really nice weekend.

Today Mary and I went to Point Reyes National Seashore to hike the Tomales Point Trail. We stopped at Safeway to pick up some sandwiches for lunch (Chicago South Sider for me and the Primo Italiano for Mary) and also got some Peet’s Coffee next door. It’s about a 1 hour and 40 minute drive from San Jose. We got to the trail head around 12:30 PM and decided to eat our lunch before hiking. We were on the trail by 1. Despite the weather forecast of clear, sunny skies, we were treated to a chilly fog. Fortunately, we were prepared with layers of clothing.

The Tomales Point Trail starts at the Historic Pierce Point Ranch. There’s a short interpretive trail around some of the old ranch buildings. We walked through the main barn hoping to spot a barn owl. No such luck. I’ve never really spent much time looking around the old ranch, so I cant tell you much about it. I mostly just come here for the hiking and the wildlife. I know there are quite a few ranches around Point Reyes. I believe most of those still in operation are dairy farms.

That main attraction of this trail is the Tule Elk Reserve. Apparently there used to be thousands of tule elk around California in the 1800’s, but were hunted nearly to extinction. The last tule elk in Point Reyes was killed in the 1860’s. By 1874 only a few of the animals were left in the state. Discovered in San Joaquin Valley, they protected and served as the breeding stock to rebuild the California population. They were reintroduced to Point Reyes in 1978. Today there are more than 400 elk in Point Reyes and more than 3,000 in the state. Once you pass the cattle guard at the start of the reserve, you have a great chance of seeing them along the road before you reach the Pierce Ranch.

I’ve been on the Tomales Point Trail many times before, but I have never gone all the way to the end at Tomales Bluff. I usually visit the Tule Elk Reserve after visiting other parts of the park and the trail is 4.7 miles to the bluff (8.4 miles round trip). This time we did go all the way to Tomales Bluff. fortunately, the fog cleared for a bit while we were near the end of the point, so we had some nice views of Tomales Bay to the East and Bodega Bay to the North (see picture on left). During the hike we saw some Northern harriers and a red-tailed hawk, but not much else (besides the elk of course).

In spite of the fog we had a great hike. We saw a lot of elk on the drive in and along the hike. For more pictures, check out my Point Reyes October 2007 Galley. You can also see a map of this trail I made at Gmaps Pedometer.

This past weekend Mary and I went to Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park for our annual pilgrimage. We usually go for my birthday but were a bit delayed this year due to my CCTO business competition. We went for three days, October 6-8. Better late than never.

October 6 (Saturday) - We got a late start, around noon, and didn’t make our usual stop at Casa de Fruta. We did stop for lunch at Quizno’s in Los Banos. We saw a lot of red-tailed hawks on the drive. We got to our hotel, the Lazy J Ranch in Three Rivers, by around 4. Went to check out their pygmy goats and sheep. The goats have huge middles (picture on upper right). They look pregnant, but we were assured they were not. While checking out the goats we spotted two red-shouldered hawks chasing after each other. I took a few pictures of one with the S3 (picture on lower right) then went to get my 10D. By the time I got back, it had flown off. The other one was still around, but never let us get close enough for a picture. We drove up to the South Fork area of the park. We had never been to this area of the park before and we wanted to check it out for a hike the next day. It’s about a 30 minute drive on a windy road, some of which is not paved. We took a short hike to find a cave on the trail to Ladybug Camp. It was getting dark so we gave up. On the drive back down we saw two small owls flying all over the dirt road. I think they were screech owls, but neither stayed around long enough to verify. We had dinner at a place called the Cider Mill then went back to our room to watch Samurai Jack on DVD and turn in for the night.

October 7 (Sunday) - We went back to the South Fork area to hike to Garfield Grove. It was a fairly steep three mile hike to the grove with another mile or so among the trees. There was a bit of snow on the ground from a storm a couple days before. The “grove” was more like a string of small groups of sequoias sprinkled among various pines. There were some pretty nice sequoias though (picture on right). We ate a light lunch while admiring a few. The hike out was an uneventful trudge down hill. Once we reached the car we drove back down to the highway then into the park proper. Due to some road construction it took us a while to get to the Wuksachi Lodge. We cleaned up, had a nice dinner at the lodge, then turned in for the night. There are more pictures from the hike in the Garfield Grove Trail Gallery.

October 8 (Monday) - In the morning there were quite a few deer around the parking lot. After watching them we checked out an headed up the road. We stopped near the park boundary to hike to Big Baldy. We were both a little sore from the previous day’s hike and this hike was near 8000 feet of elevation, so we took our time. The hike passed though some nice forest with occasional views out to the Central Valley. At 2.1 miles we made it to the top of the rocky dome called Big Baldy at 8,209 feet. We had lunch at the top. From there we went another 0.7 miles to the end of the ridge for more great views. From here we could see a pillar of rock called Chimney Rock off in the distance. We stayed there a while to enjoy the view. On the hike back we saw a red-tailed hawk, but not much else. There are more pictures from this hike in the Big Baldy Ridge Trail Gallery.

We drove to Grant Grove to enjoy more sequoias while eating a small snack. After a quick stop at the Grant Grove Gift Shop to pick up a sequoia seedling to grow at home and the Market for drinks and a treat, we started the drive home. We stopped for some nectarines at a stand along highway 180. A bit further along we spotted a red-shouldered hawk near the road, but it flew off we we turned back for a view. We watched the sun set as we drove west across 152. We made it home by 8:30. Another great trip to Sequoia National Park was at an end. The full set of pictures from this trip are in the Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park October 2007 Gallery.