Introduction

The purpose of this blog is to document a few hikes in CA/WA & more, while displaying landscape photos.

Sources:
1. Personal experience, inspiration from family/friends
2. Stienstra/Brown, California Hiking
3. alltrails.com, bahiker.com
4. Reader's Digest, Scenic Wonders of America
5. Hiking course I took at Foothill
6. Google, WikiPedia
7. Meetup (5 hikes in 2016, 2 in 2017)
8. Lik, Peter, America

Disclaimer: Use common sense during a hike and stay safe (for example bring a friend, cell phone, trail map, warm clothing, water/energy bars, flashlight, leave before sunset, don't provoke large animals, and so forth). Hikers are accountable for their own actions.

Calero Reservoir County Park, San Jose, CA

Lots of horses here.

Las Trampas, San Ramon, CA (Bollinger Creek Trail)

Good for a family hike.

Point Lobos State Park, Carmel, CA

Nice coastal scenery. Bring a warm jacket.

Almaden Lake Park, San Jose, CA

Urban lake with small playground area. Good for jogging.

Dunes Beach, Half Moon Bay, CA

Almaden Quicksilver County park, San Jose, CA (Hacienda entrance)

From this entrance, day hikers can do a 2.5 mile loop including parts of Deep Gulch trail, English Camp trail, and Mine Hill trail. This is a steep, moderately strenuous hike, so please leave plenty of daylight to finish (3 hours minimum), wear good shoes, and get a trail map to plan your hike beforehand.

Henry Cowell Redwoods State park

Situated near Felton, CA, this park provides great views of redwoods.

Mission Peak (via Ohlone College)

Ed R. Levin County Park

Pacific Grove, CA

San Mateo Central Park

Rancho San Antonio Park

Montara State Beach, CA

This beach is nice, but it gets chilly here. Dress accordingly.

★ Lassen National Park, CA

Kelsey Creek Park, WA

This park is great for family. Lots of sheep, horses, and other farm animals to look at.

Lake Elizabeth, Fremont, CA

Good for a casual stroll. It gets a bit crowded and there are also lots of geese.

Central Park

Sanborn County Park, Saratoga, CA

This is a pleasant, moderately steep forest hike. There is a $6 vehicle entry fee.

Cuesta Park

Seal Point Park, San Mateo, CA

Great views of the bay. Best in summer as it gets somewhat breezy. Parking is easy and plentiful. Has a dog park as well.

Byxbee park, Palo Alto, CA

I took the family here for a short walk. It's not crowded here so social distancing (with mask) was not too difficult.

Mission Peak (via Stanford Avenue)

I did a hike at Mission Peak with my brother in early spring.

Uvas Canyon County Park, Morgan Hill, CA

I recently went on this hike with my SO, after my uncle had suggested this park to me. A good place to go in early spring to see waterfalls.

Baylands Park, Sunnyvale, CA

I went here on a Sunday afternoon with my brother. It is flat with a good view of the marshlands. Popular with drone operators.

Lafayette Reservoir, revisited

First hike of the year!

Bishop Ranch Regional Preserve, San Ramon, CA

Dublin Hills Regional Park, v2

During late summer I took a short afternoon hike here.

Morgan Territory Regional Preserve, Livermore, CA

Good for a weekend afternoon. Mt. Diablo is visible from the Volvon trail.



Note: getting to the park requires driving on a narrow 1-lane road. Exercise caution.

Tiger Mountain, Issaquah, WA

The hike to Poo Poo Point features a 1858-foot elevation gain in 3.5 miles (7-mile round trip).

Lafayette Reservoir

This short hike around the reservoir was good for a summer jog.

McWay Falls

This waterfall is one hour south of Monterey, and worth the drive.

Sycamore Valley Regional Open Space Preserve

This park is not crowded, but not isolated either. Good for a 2-3 hour hike.

Somewhere in the tri-valley area

In early June I took an impromptu hike on a sunny afternoon.

Ed R. Levin County Park

On a Sunday in early May, I hiked here. It features beautiful views of a lake and the bay.



Note: Certain trails in this park go near a cell phone tower. I turned back early to avoid it (possible EM radiation exposure risk).

Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park, Pleasanton, CA

On a warm weekend afternoon I hiked here.

Wilder Ranch State Park, Santa Cruz, CA

I took my wife here on a late April weekend. The hike was windy, but pretty.

Bothe-Napa Valley State Park

On a sunny weekend trip to wine country, we took a short hike here.

Lake Chabot, revisited

In mid April I revisited Lake Chabot, with family.

Shoreline Park to Byxbee Park, Mountain View, CA

Today I jogged between the two parks for a nice workout.

Mission Peak (via Stanford Avenue)

On a Saturday in late March, we hiked Mission Peak.

Dublin Hills Regional Park, Dublin, CA

I went here for a walk/jog on a cloudy spring afternoon, and was lucky to make it back to the car before the bulk of the rain hit.

Copper Trail, Albuquerque, NM

On a work trip to Albuquerque, I was able to squeeze in a hike at Copper Trailhead.

Windy Hill, v2

In early February I revisited Windy Hill, this time with my better half.

Vargas Regional Park

In early February I spent a couple hours on a Sunday afternoon at Vargas Regional Park.

Warning: The drive there traverses a narrow road...drive safely and watch for oncoming traffic.
Note: It gets very windy here (thanks to the Venturi effect).

Alum Rock, San Jose, CA

I returned here in early February with my S.O. Here is the view from Eagle Rock.

Del Valle redux

In January I returned to Del Valle for a short hike.

Las Trampas Regional Wilderness, San Ramon, CA

Recently I went hiking in San Ramon. It is windy here during the late fall and the trail is steep, but scenic.

Almaden Quicksilver County Park, San Jose, CA (Mockingbird Hill entrance)

On a late summer afternoon, I took a hike at Almaden Quicksilver County Park.



Trails: Virl O. Norton Trail, Hacienda Trail
Difficulty: >Medium (2.4 miles, hilly)

Ano Nuevo State Park