February 24, 2010 at 4:03 pm · Filed under Hiking Club
Recap of Newcomer Hike to Cataract Falls
February 20, 2010, we had a wonderful hike at Cataract Falls, on the slopes of Mt. Tam. Hikers were new member Sondra M., Shirley A., Rose T., Angelika S., Sharon K., and guest Joan D. (soon to be new member)
The creek has benefited from all the recent rains and the multiple cascades were better than I ever witnessed. They plunged down the fern and moss covered slopes. We hiked 1.6 miles up to Laurel Dell starting along Alpine Lake and then continuing through a dense forest of redwoods,, tan-oaks, maple and ferns. There were both stone and wooden steeps that helped with the 800 ft climb.
Our picnic was in a meadow clearing, alongside the creek. Our hike took a total of 5 hours (including 1/2 hour for lunch). We stopped NUMEROUS times for photos of the falls, all sorts of mushroom and fungi, wildflowers including sorrel, western trillium, hounds tongue, milkmaids, and fetid adders-tongue (scoliopus bigelovii). [How could I forget that name, Joan?]
February 3, 2010 at 5:40 am · Filed under Hiking Club
Hiking Little Yosemite Falls in Sunol
Sharon, Aleta, Shirley, Muff and Angelika joined me for the hike to Little Yosemite Falls in Sunol. As you can see I don’t have a photo of the falls but Sharon took some good ones and I know she will be sending them on.
We stopped at Bosco’s in Sunol for lunch to say ’so long for now’ to Jacky as she leaves for southern California. Bobbi and Celia joined us for lunch. Our group photo was taken at the restaurant’s bar with Bosco behind Muff in the picture. We well all miss Jacky and hope she comes back to the area.
January 12, 2010 at 11:12 am · Filed under Hiking Club
Trekking the Wilds with Friends
On the Friday hike, Sharon, Bobbi, Muff, Lois, Angelika, Shirley, Aleta joined me for a vigorous, we believe 6 mile, hike. It was a foggy day so we could not see across the Strait and during the last mile we actually had light drizzle. It was refreshing to be out hiking, getting our grove back for our weekly exercise and catching up with each other. What a wonderful group of women! Its a privilege to help lead the hikes with Sharon.
November 30, 2009 at 8:28 am · Filed under Hiking Club
Hiking Around Lake Chabot
I hope your Thanksgiving was as nice as mine. We enjoyed our Turkey and the works and afterwards my husband and I took a walk out along Finley Rd. It was a beautiful day for a walk.
Here is the recap for our last hike on Nov. 20th. Five of us, Shirley, Aleta, Fran, Angelika, and Sharon hiked around the far side of Lake Chabot. The skies were dark but the rain held off until the very end of our hike.
We saw a lot of birds along the lake including a blue heron, egrets, and swans. We crossed a bridge and continued around the lake until we got to a small dock. We turned around where the trail starts to climb up into the hills. The skies told us it was time to head back to the cars. We hiked for 2 hours.
November 22, 2009 at 5:20 am · Filed under Hiking Club
Hiking Point Pinole
Nov. 13, we had a beautiful day for a hike at Point Pinole. The hike took us along the shoreline for most of the 5/2 mile hike which we accomplished in 2 hr. 15 minutes. Along the way we stopped to see what remained of a large explosive manufacturing industry that was in the once remote area from 1880-1960. We saw sunken bunkers, a black powder press, and a the foundation of a dynamite packing building.
Most of the area has been restored to beautiful marshes where we saw egrets, herons, and shorebirds including sandpipers. The area is home to several endangered shorebirds. A “birder” pointed out two peregrine falcons to us and let us look through her binoculars at them. We only saw one monarch butterfly so we were too early to see them in mass like we did when we went in 2005. We also saw one hummingbird.
There were quite a few fishermen fishing for striped bass on or near the pier.
Hikers were Angelika S., Aleta S., Muff C., Bobbi J., Judie B, and Sharon K. AFterwards we had sandwiches at Kinders in Hercules.
November 9, 2009 at 2:16 pm · Filed under Hiking Club
We had very good weather, sunny most of the day and dark clouds gathered only at the end of the hike.
This wide service road took us by Balancing rock, great for our group photo. Shirley, Muff, Sharon, Angelika, Bobbi, and Marie joined me on this up and down hike, not as easy and level as I believed from the hike description, giving us a little workout.
We took the trail to the fence line and then a short right spur to a rock outcropping. Angelika and I climbed around the rocks finding a sandstone cave like section.
October 12, 2009 at 2:33 pm · Filed under Hiking Club
Recap of Friday Newcomer Hike Wall Point Rd Mt. Diablo
Today, Oct 9th we hiked out from the Macedo Ranch staging area at Mt. Diablo. Our hike took us continually uphill on Wall Point Road Trail through the golden grasslands where we saw many ground squirrels gathering their food for the winter. The day started off overcast and then the skies became a beautiful blue as the hike progressed. The early morning clouds hung in the air providing a lovely backdrop for the dark oaks that were in the distance ahead of us. We hiked at a good pace for an hour, retracing our hike at the beginning when we forgot to pay for our parking at the staging area. That gave us a good warm up for a hike that gave us a good aerobic workout. We enjoyed pretty views of the summit along the way. We didn’t see any tarantulas but it is the season so if you are on a hike be on the lookout. They are very timid and interesting to see.
There were 8 hikers today including Aleta, Bobbi, Muff, Lois, Claudia, Barbara, Debby and Sharon. Thank you for driving Debby. Afterwards we went Bagel Street Cafe for lunch.
May 13, 2008 at 12:43 pm · Filed under Hiking Club
This Friday, May 9th, we enjoyed a leisurely day of hiking at Ring Mountain Nature Preserve in Corte Madera.
The weather was warm and the sky blue but slightly hazy. We had several guests and newer members with us today enjoying the 360 degree view on top of the 600 ft. hill called Ring Mountain. We searched for the elusive Tiburon Mariposa Lily that only grows at this preserve but alas it remained elusive. There were many other flowers to enjoy including flax, checkbloom mallow, Wally baskets, several kinds of lupines, CA poppies, madia, rattlesnake grass, tidy tips, blue eyed grass, sunflowers, coyote mint, and more. The hillsides were not as heavily covered with wildflowers as in past years. The grasses were tall and golden. It appears that we were too late for many of them. It has been a very dry spring all over the bay area.
We hiked to the top where we could see the city in the distance along with Belvedere, San Quentin, Richmond San Raphael Bridge, a tiny island near the bridge (it’s for sale). We hiked to petroglyph rock where Emmie I. (soon to be new member) climbed to the top.
Today’s hikers were Barbara C., Gretta T., Jacky H., Rose T., Suzy R., Sharon K. and Thang I. Guests were Emmie L., Sheri S., and Tina H. Welcome to the club Thang. Emmie is joining us soon.
After lunch we enjoyed lunch by the water at Sam’s in Tiburon, What a wonderful way to end the day. Thank you Jacky for driving!
February 20, 2010, we had a wonderful hike at Cataract Falls, on the slopes of Mt. Tam. Hikers were new member Sondra M., Shirley A., Rose T., Angelika S., Sharon K., and guest Joan D. (soon to be new member)
Today, Oct 9th we hiked out from the Macedo Ranch staging area at Mt. Diablo. Our hike took us continually uphill on Wall Point Road Trail through the golden grasslands where we saw many ground squirrels gathering their food for the winter. The day started off overcast and then the skies became a beautiful blue as the hike progressed. The early morning clouds hung in the air providing a lovely backdrop for the dark oaks that were in the distance ahead of us. We hiked at a good pace for an hour, retracing our hike at the beginning when we forgot to pay for our parking at the staging area. That gave us a good warm up for a hike that gave us a good aerobic workout. We enjoyed pretty views of the summit along the way. We didn’t see any tarantulas but it is the season so if you are on a hike be on the lookout. They are very timid and interesting to see.
This Friday, May 9th, we enjoyed a leisurely day of hiking at Ring Mountain Nature Preserve in Corte Madera. 
Today’s hikers were Barbara C., Gretta T., Jacky H., Rose T., Suzy R., Sharon K. and Thang I. Guests were Emmie L., Sheri S., and Tina H. Welcome to the club Thang. Emmie is joining us soon. 