Chris had a class in San Francisco the first week of December, so we decided to try and find a hike to do on our way north. Henry W. Coe State Park, one of California’s largest, lies in the Diablo Range between San Jose and Gilroy – containing more than 40 miles of hiking…
Our last full day in Pismo before heading home for Thanksgiving got a late start. We had talked about doing Cerro Alto for the third time, plus an extension of that hike eastward to Tassajera Peak, but that 10+-mile effort would require a fair amount of elevation gain and loss that we were a…
Okay, it’s time to buy a bigger 4WD vehicle. Our day began with an ambitious plan to hike both Big Falls and Little Falls Canyons northeast of Lopez Lake near Arroyo Grande, an 8+-mile endeavor that would require a drive up Lopez Canyon Road – though a county road, this route crosses Lopez Creek…
Back in October, we had intended to do this 5-mile out-and-back hike, even driving to the trailhead before deciding it was too warm a day to enjoy the steep climb. So, with the temperature forecasted to be in the 60s, we returned about noon to the Reservoir Creek trailhead just north of San Luis…
A second hike we wanted to do with the boys was another boardwalk-based walk through the Elfin Forest Preserve in Baywood Park. Tucked between residential housing and the southeastern corner of Morro Bay State Park, the preserve is accessed via multiple footpaths extending from various neighborhood cul-de-sacs, each of them reaching a boardwalk constructed…
Chelsea and the boys had spent most of the week with Jane at the trailer in Pismo, and Chris drove over to join them Friday night. There are a handful of stroller-friendly hikes in the area, so we had talked about taking Jude and Ollie on a walk or two before they went back…
We had talked this morning about maybe doing a hike after church, but couldn’t really come up with a good option that didn’t involve a two-hour drive which would limit the amount of daylight we’d have. However, we got a wild hair about 4pm to go walk somewhere before it got dark, so we…
During our various hikes around Mt. Pinos, we have often looked southward across the scenic valleys and canyons of the southern Los Padres region to a long line of mountaintops – the western end of this range is Pine Mountain, over which Hwy 33 crosses between Maricopa and Ojai. Despite driving on Hwy 166…
Whiting Ranch Regional Park lies adjacent to the housing tract where Jane’s brother, Kevin, lives with his family in the hills above Irvine in Orange County – the park gained notoriety back in 2004 when the most recent fatal attack by a mountain lion in California occurred here. One of the more remote canyons within…
Our 28th wedding anniversary being November 3rd, we wanted to spend the weekend away somewhere, and we initially targeted Wrightwood, a mountain community of 5,000 residents in the eastern San Gabriels. We had made a day visit here a couple of years ago and wanted to look at vacation homes as well as explore…