Tag: California

Pinnacles–Our Newest National Park

Posted on by Joy

Hi everyone! We have a lot of catching up to do so let’s get started.  Last December a friend and I visited Pinnacles National Park, California, our newest National Park. Pinnacles is the fifth smallest park encompassing approximately 26,606 acres. It is about 50 miles inland from the coast and 80 miles south of San Jose in the Gabilan Mountain Range. It is also only a few miles west of the San Andreas Fault which we’ll talk of later.

In 2003 Pinnacles joined the California Condor Recovery Program when the bird was close to extinction. The park currently co-manages 86 wild condors in central California. It is also home to a number of threatened species including bats, amphibians, and reptiles. I sure hope we see a condor today on our walk to the pinnacles! Check out the green rock used to make the welcome sign.  We’ll discuss geology as we go and, of course, the famous fault.

Entrance

Let’s go, lots to see . . .

Roundabout Ramble in Henry Coe

Posted on by Joy

I’m sitting here at home, watching the snow fall and the temperature drop. Currently the snow is almost 10 inches deep registering a balmy 1° and forecast to hit -24° overnight. Taking a rest from shoveling, which is best done in 3-4 inch increments, let’s reminisce about a delightful day hike in California’s beautiful Henry Coe State Park this past November. With the unusually high, and desperately needed, rainfall levels in October, the greens have sprung back to springtime shades. Henry Coe is California’s second largest state park (largest in Northern CA) encompassing 89,164 acres. It is a sprawling wilderness of ridges and steep canyons in the Diablo Range. Today we will wander a bit and see what we can see, so grab your gear and let’s go.

Come along into the woods . . .

Mummy Mountain Meander

Posted on by Joy

There is one thing I can always count on when I make my biannual visit to California, and that’s another great hike with my good friend. This time we head to Coyote Lake-Harvey Bear Ranch, a 4,595-acre regional recreation area off U.S. Highway 101 in the hills east of Gilroy. We are at the southern end of the park entering through the Mendoza Ranch Entrance. It is early afternoon on an overcast day, but the Bay Area has had so much rain in the last month the bright green grasses look more like spring rather than mid-November. Let’s see what other surprises await us as we climb Mummy Mountain.

1-parking-lot

Continue to the trailhead . . .

California Getting It Right!

Posted on by Joy

I’d like to recognize a true achievement by the state and counties of California, namely, their commitment to state parklands and open space preserves set aside for everyone’s enjoyment. On my recent visit to family and friends who live in Santa Clara County, home of Silicon Valley and over one million residents, I visited one of the newest open spaces–the 348-acre Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve in the rolling hills just west of US101. And what could be better than taking this hike with a good friend, so into the mountains we go!

robin trailhead1-

Continue walking . . .