Cliff Dr., Santa Cruz 2015-05-06

Natural Bridges State Beach

West Cliff Dr. in Santa Cruz is an awesome urban walk by the Pacific Ocean. Apollo and I decided to check it out on a perfect cool, sunny spring day. To do the entire stretch, it would be best to park near Natural Bridges Beach. Plenty of road side parking is available on Swanton Rd as well as on W. Cliff Dr. 

W Cliff Dr

We started our walk right at the top from the Natural Bridges Beach area. The majestic Pacific Ocean was simply breathtaking today. The winding road and sidewalk hugged the pacific ocean as we walked east. There is just one house located right by the cliff - otherwise, there is little that comes in between you and the views of the ocean. 

There were plenty of walkers, joggers, and bicyclists here, even on a weekday. On weekends, especially on a nice day, this place would probably be swarming with people. We started our walk in the late morning, but the sea breeze pretty much offset any discomfort from the sun. 

Today was my lucky day - I spotted a huge humpback whale and was able to follow it for several minutes as it moved north. For Apollo, the exciting thing was a trip to the beach and the water.

Lighthouse Field State Beach

There are two beaches that you will come across during the walk. Walking eastward, the first is Mitchell Cove Beach. That happened to be empty today. Little ahead is the Lighthouse Field State Beach. There were several people and their dogs down there. Apollo didn't need a second invitation to head to the beach and run around off leash for some time. Anyone seeing Apollo frolicking in the water today would hardly guess that he runs the other way if he suspects a bath is on the cards for him!

The stretch after Lighthouse State Beach is a popular surfing spot. There are several places with steps to the ocean and there were more than a handful of surfers enjoying the wind and surf today.

We continued ahead until Bay St. and turned around. If you like, you could continue walking another half mile or so to reach Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. The out and back trip of 5.5 miles took us about an hour and thirty five minutes. While we didn't do it today, Natural Bridges State Beach would be an excellent place to spend couple of hours. 

Pictures from the hike. 
#Hiking #HikingWithDogs #CliffDr #SantaCruz #CoastalTrail

Coyote Hills Regional Park 2015-05-05

Coyote Hills Regional Park is best reached by Patterson Ranch Rd (off Paseo Padre Pkwy in Fremont). We, however, chose to park near Newark slough and hike a small portion from Day 2 of my SF Bay Walkabout. A quarter-mile hike by the quarry trail crossing over Hwy 84 Dumbarton bridge toll plaza will lead you into the park. 

We headed north on Apay Way. The dirt trail is bordered by gentle rolling hills on one side and the bay on the other, providing great views of the bridge and beyond. You will find a couple of hills on the left with benches at the top if you would like to sit and enjoy the views. Another 1.5 miles later, Apay Way reached a junction that provided plenty of options for us.

I had hiked the Bayview Trail the last time. Apollo and I chose to hike the Red Hill Trail. Also a dirt trail, this one went right through the hills and made us climb up and down multiple times. Each climb is probably no more than 200 feet, but we had to do this at least three times over the next 1.5 miles. However, the reward is outstanding views of the bay as well as the entire trail system in the park. 

A little more than three miles into the hike, we started our return and turned right into Bay View Trail. This is a paved trail that leads you to the visitor center. There is a bird and butterfly garden in this area (Nectar Garden) that is open at specific times. 

We continued our way back by Quail Trail, connecting to Bayview Trail and Apay Way to where I'd parked the car. We hiked about 6.8 miles in 2 hours. The park has more trails we could spend time in, though. It also connects with the Alameda Creek Trail, allowing you to customize a hike to however long you want it to be. Most trails are open to dogs, but some of them aren't. There are clear signs where dogs are not allowed. 

Apollo recently turned 5; the hike today was a special one celebrating his birthday!

Pictures from the hike today.
#Hiking #HikingWithDogs #CoyoteHillsRegionalPark #EBRPD

Bedwell Bayfront Park 2015-04-29

I had passed by Bedwell Bayfront Park in Menlo Park a couple of days ago as part of my SF Bay Walkabout. The park sounded interesting so I was back there today with Apollo to check it out - and am I glad did! The park is located off the Marsh Rd exit from Hwy 101 / Bayfront Expwy. With plenty of parking in three separate lots, I doubt that anyone would ever have to turn back because of parking issues.

We started out by doing the perimeter loop around the park. This 2.3 mile loop is a flat trail, partly dirt and partly paved. This segment is also part of the San Francisco Bay Trail. When we started the hike, it was cool and cloudy, but the sun was out by the time we finished the perimeter loop. 

If that were it, the hike would have been quick, easy, and somewhat dry. Fortunately, the park also has several smaller trail segments across the small hill around which the perimeter trail runs. Apollo and I decided to experiment on as many of these trails as possible. 

We first came up on a hobby helicopter pilot who didn't mind me taking a photo of his toy. In fact, he was kind enough to get the helicopter close enough to me and keep it steady, allowing me to take some good photos. 

There is also three-fourths of a mile-long trail called Great Spirit Path. When Bedwell Park was created, a local artist designed this section. The easiest way for me to describe this is: an American woman's interpretation of Native American pictographs with a poem and stone formations promoting harmony within oneself and with nature. Apollo enjoyed the walk; I enjoyed the poem and the stone formations and history behind this unique presentation. 

Capping the hike today was an opportunity to meet my good friend, Robin, who drove by from the office to meet me and Apollo. Apollo was glad to meet her, as was she to meet him. He put on a fine show for her that involved posing for photographs, demonstrating his running ability and then some!

We ended up doing 5.4 miles in about 100 minutes. Since the trail is predominantly exposed, I'd recommend hiking it when it is cool outside - early mornings on hot days.

Pictures from the hike today.
#Hiking #HikingWithDogs #BedwellBayfrontPark #SFBayTrail

Los Gatos Creek Trail (North) 2015-04-23

Taking a break from my Walkabout SF bay project, I took Apollo to Campbell Park by Los Gatos Creek Trail, parking at the same place where we hiked the middle section of this trail in February - Campbell & Gilman Ave. The northern portion that we hiked today runs from Campbell to San Jose and ends at Meridian Ave.

From Campbell Park, turn left after crossing the bridge and follow the trail north. As with the other segments, this is a paved trail in an urban setting and is popular with cyclists, joggers with strollers, and dog owners. 

After crossing a long wooden bridge in the first mile, you will also go through four underpasses. After another three-fourths of a mile, you will reach Blackford School. As always, Apollo was a very willing subject for my photographs.

We continued further, crossing over the bridge, and went as far as the trail would go - to Meridian Ave. This section is about three-fourths of a mile from Blackford School. There is nothing much to add to the description from before.

We turned back and made our way to Campbell Park. If you want some variety, I'd recommend taking the dirt trail that runs close enough to the blacktop trail once you cross the bridge on the return. This dirt trail veers close to the creek at a couple of spots - Apollo didn't get to jump into the creek even though he thought he was going to! At one point, it makes an interesting climb over rocks before joining the paved trail again. I'd say this dirt trail section is probably no more than half a mile, if at that.

With this, we've completed the entire Los Gatos Creek Trail, running from Meridian Ave in San Jose all the way to Lexington Reservoir and passing through Campbell and Los Gatos - the middle section on Feb 7 and southern section on Feb 9.

The 5 mile out and back hike we did today is really easy, and we completed it in about 90 minutes. Here is a link to the map of the hike.

Update 2016-01-27

Apollo and I walked the north segment after long break. It was good to see the recent rains had resulted in lush green grass by the trail. I just realized that this stretch is away from Hwy 17 and thus got much less road noise compared the middle section that we hike more frequently.

It was also good to see the efforts of South Bay Creek Coalition resulting in a much cleaner creek side. There was also an art work to top the clean up efforts of this group.

Apollo and I made excellent time, running a reasonable portion of this 5 mile out and back trail. The cool, crisp winter morning provided ideal running conditions and I was glad that I could actually take advantage of it, shaving 19 minutes off how long it took us the last time we did this walk.

Here are some more pictures  from our hikes.

#Hiking #HikingWithDogs #LosGatosCreekTrail

Stevens Creek County Park 2015-04-13

Apollo and I were back at Stevens Creek County Park, this time prepared for the lack of maps at the southern end of the park. We started our hike today from the Sycamore picnic area at the Lookout Trail. This shaded, narrow dirt trail climbed uphill for a little more than half a mile before entering Fremont Older Open Preserve. 

We took the narrow dirt trail on our right, called Wedding Trail (which wasn't marked). This will take you right next to Garrod Farms, which offers horse riding classes. Sure enough, when we came to Garrod Farms, there was a group of young kids enjoying a riding lesson. The group continued on Coyote Ridge Trail, so we left them alone by taking the Vista Loop Trail and Fern Trail to catch Coyote Ridge Trail a little ahead.

We had hiked portions of these trails a while ago. The difference in scenery between Fremont Older Open Preserve and Stevens Creek County Park was quite stark! While the county park was largely green, with narrow dirt trails and plenty of shade, the open preserve trails were dirt/fire roads, largely exposed. We were back in the county park zone soon; we decided to skip the Chestnut parking area and head left towards the dam and reservoir.

Stevens Creek reservoir was a sight for sore eyes in this drought. It seemed very full to me, so I came home and checked the water levels - this reservoir is filled to 96% capacity! We were heading back south from here and the Stevens Creek Tony Look Trail provided us with awesome views of the reservoir as well as plenty of shade.

There was a 0.3 mile loop by the reservoir - I'd recommend not missing it. It took us right down to the reservoir waters.

Apollo was glad to jump in and wet his feet while I  kept him on leash. A couple of miles of hiking on Tony Look Trail had us back at the Madrone picnic area, right next to the Sycamore picnic area. I'd parked the car in Stevens Canyon Road where there were no parking restrictions. All picnic and parking areas were closed - cost-saving measures? 

Cell phone coverage was spotty in the park (AT&T last Friday, T-Mobile today). I ended up doing the map of the hike differently this time. You have to click on the link to see it, but it does allow you to zoom in and see more details than the .jpg images of hiking routes from Sports Tracker. 

This was a 6.5 mile hike that involved lots of climbing and took probably just shy of 2.5 hours. Not having a tool like Sports Tracker to constantly monitor the hike was somewhat liberating - while the total elapsed time was shy of 3 hours, I guess I must've spent the remaining time in a long conversation with a Santa Clara County park volunteer right at the beginning of my hike and once again near the dam. She was an older lady, happy to talk, and had a docile lab/pitbull mutt with her. 

More pictures from the hike. And a map of the hike.
#Hiking #HikingWithDogs #StevensCreekCountyPark #TonyLookTrail 

Stevens Creek County Park 2015-04-10

This is the hike that was not meant to be! 

Don't get me wrong, I did intend to hike Stevens Creek County Park, especially after multiple hikes on urban trails recently. However, I had intended to do an 8-miler going from south to north and straddling Fremont Older Preserve. Instead, we ended up doing a few short trails located by the Cooley and Canyon picnic areas. The trails may have been short, but that doesn't take away from the beauty of this park.

We parked in a street-side spot on Stevens Canyon Road (just off Mt. Eden Road). Stevens Creek County Park does have a parking fee if the vehicle is parked inside the park. The Creek Trail runs by Stevens Creek for about half a mile. Be careful to avoid the Zinfandel Trail as it takes you into Pichetti Open Preserve, where dogs are not allowed. 

I had intended to cross the Stevens Canyon Road and catch the lookout trail to go north, but there were no maps or signs and I couldn't quickly figure out the intended path. So, after crossing over the creek a couple of times, Apollo and I were back at the place we had parked. 

Right opposite the Cooley picnic area is the Canyon picnic area. We went  there and followed the Canyon Trail for about 1.3 miles to the end at Stevens Canyon Road. This trail put me through the paces, softened by multiple hikes that were essentially flat. About three-fourths of a mile of the trail is a steady climb uphill followed by a steady descent down to the road. 

Along the way, there are a couple of nice vista points overlooking the valley and a very nice rock structure that had been worked on, potentially by some youngsters. Graffiti? Art work? You decide! 

It was very clear that this trail sees very little traffic. We didn't see anyone going up or down. Where the trail ends at Stevens Canyon Road is impressive and made for some rough climbing. Stevens Creek was flowing with a respectable force at this point.

On our way back, we decided to add another 0.6 miles to our hike by doing the Mt. Eden Trail. Essentially, we did an out and back on three short trails in the southern end of the park. This added up to about 4.5 miles overall. I am sure we'd have found better directions if we had started at the Chestnut parking lot at the northern end. Then again, I now know exactly where to start from south to go north the next time around. The Lookout Trail I was looking out for starts from the Sycamore picnic area, very close to where we parked.

Apollo couldn't care less where we hiked. He had great fun crossing over the creek and enjoyed the absolute solitude all the way!

More pictures from the hike. 
#Hiking #HikingWithDogs #StevensCreekCountyPark #CanyonTrail #Mt.EdenTrail

Penitencia Creek Trail 2015-04-06

The hike that was meant to be! 

I hadn't yet decided where to go when I woke up this morning, but soon, I noticed an injured bird in our backyard when Apollo stepped outside.

After a rapid-fire learning session on how to deal with injured birds, who cares for them, and how to reach them as soon as possible, Apollo and I were at Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley, right by Penitencia Creek Trail. After handing the bird, a Robin, to their care, we took to the trail to check it out.

WCSV is located by the Penitencia Creek Park. We started off by doing a loop around the park, about a mile long, and then joined the trail going in a southwestern direction. A paved blacktop trail, this is located in the residential area of East San Jose. The setting meant that we were probably one of the few who were not residents of the neighborhood walking the trail. The next mile or so of the trail was bordered by Penitencia Creek Rd on one side and Stonecrest Way on the other before we eventually reached N. Capitol Ave. 

The urban setting was further pronounced by the Penitencia Light Rail Station on Capitol Ave that separates two sections of the trail.

After crossing over Capitol Ave, the trail continues crossing Hwy 680 onto Jackson Ave. Located at Jackson Ave is Penitencia Creek County Park. With another break at Mabury Ave, the trail goes a little further ahead until King Rd. We chose to turn around at the County Park, making our way back to WCSV, where we'd parked the car.

The trail also goes in a northeastern direction from where we parked, leading you into Alum Rock Park and the eastern foothills. Without doubt, I can tell you that section would've been more interesting than the one we ended up doing. I was focused on ensuring the injured bird would be okay and not so much on where we hiked today. I am certain that Alum Rock Park is dog friendly, although the bordering Sierra Vista Open Preserve is not.

I'd still say that the 5.2 mile hike we did with little planning was not shabby by any means. 

More pictures from the hike.

#Hiking #HikingWithDogs #PenitenciaCreekTrail