Happy Valentines day

Valentines day, celebrated with another hike. We have managed to do what I call the "grand slam" of Bay area hikes.. of the 4 tallest peaks (Umunhum, Hamilton, Tamalpais and Diablo). 

We started at the State Park entrance parking lot (don't forget to take 10$ cash for the parking!)  and hiked up 2500 feet, 8 miles round trip over 3.5 hours. There was plenty of photo stops and a good 15 minutes spent at the summit tower. We got beautiful views of the area. Given the hour drive each way, the entire day has gone for this hike. 

There was a quick packed lunch in picnic tables right at the parking lot before driving back. 

Those were the Valentines photos.. She got a good hike with her hubby in tow.. I got some amazing photos.. win win situation!

This is a 300 degree Pano shot from the center of the summit tower.. 

Got a few panorama shots today that were pleasing 

One of my favorite photos from the day

Today was perfect. It was cold but not very windy. The sun was behind clouds and we were walking in a mist for the most part. It was not a strenous hike given we took 4 or 5 breaks of 5 minutes each after every steep section to take pictures. 

The rest of the pictures are in this slide show..

Could not have asked for a better way to spend the day!

Once again, wishing everyone a happy Valentines day! 

Three additional miles

The most recent hike was to Saratoga gap trail and on to the long ridge loop trail. 

The plan, as explained to me by my darling wife, much along the lines of a squadron leader explaining the simple plan to attack the death star and return.. was to go through the gap trail and then to a point along the long ridge trail and return. Total miles approximately 7 and total elevation 1400 feet. 

I played along like a true rebel soldier and went along.. then the plan changed to doing the loop on the long ridge trail through a creekside walk and for a good 2 hours I kept hearing we were only 3 miles from the parking lot. 

At one point all I wanted was to see the car. We left before sunrise to start the hike and given my 60 day challenge and my inability to hydrate while being asleep, the extra three miles became quite a challenge. 

To top things off, had to come home and do a yoga class, which actually went better than my expectations. 

The gap and long ridge trail are actually beautiful and there is a turtle rock point with amazing views. However, there is a however.. there is a long stretch of the trail with no tree cover and if you are walking under the sun after having walked 8 miles, it can get to you. So if you are like me, take a water bottle on this one, wear a proper cap and pace yourself. 

This is one hike I feel would be better for late afternoon so that the return is in the shade!

Here are the pictures..

Usually I dont do stuff like this.. but with some encouragement I decided to do a small jump off that rock..

The trails alternate between shade and sun throughout..

The rolling hills have a view that is great in the earlier part of the day

by the time we were coming back on the loop through the creek, the sun was reflecting off the water trickles. this part of the trail is vibrant!

the trickles all add up to a lake.. there is a Zen budhist center inside the park. We walked along the lake and took pictures..

That was my last smile for another hour or so when I realized that there was still 3 miles to go.. 

In any case, all is well that ends well and after two days of enough hydration and yoga, I was back to my normal self.  My gums have also recovered resonably well now. 

Have also come to the realization that if I walk every day for 30 minutes at least, these weekend hikes are more bearable. If I skip walking because of the rainy weather for a few days, these things become ordeals. 

Practice makes perfect.. 

Here's to more hikes!

Watching a sunrise after a long long time

As a person who is so used to watching sunsets on the west coast over the ocean, it was odd for us to go chase a sunrise. Two weeks ago, we had to drop Jr. at SFO early in the morning. It had been a day since my gum surgery and the pain was starting to show.  Also I was on a mission to get off pain killers within a day so the 60 day Yoga challenge could continue. Taking painkillers and doing yoga is like drunk driving your body.. never ends well. 

I was also sad to see Jr. go. Not that I saw her when she was home during the last month. We had maybe a 30 minute overlap of our waking hours on a daily basis. 

San got us some help and info from a couple of friends who had recently shared snaps of Golden gate sunrises and Kirby cove views. 

managed a smile with my face still looking like an "idli paanai"! Both these are iPhone selfies .. so you can see the auto color changes..

We dropped Jr. at the airport and drove in the dark to Battery Spencer. A former military installation that apparently had canons mounted during World War times and never used. You get amazing views of the bridge from here. We were the first ones there after we used a flashlight and made our way. Within 20 minutes a dozen photographers showed up out of nowhere. It was like they knew exactly when to come and set up shop, click and disappear. It was hard to tell if they were wearing masks, so we moved out of the area.  We had been standing there for a good half hour already to enjoy the gradual brightening and once we saw the horizon light up, decided to go out and down to Kirby cove. 

We were the only ones on that road and it was probably a mile and a half walk down to the beach. This time only three other folks came to join us. We had enough gaps to put our tripods and take pictures. 

Have put the photos as a slideshow..

There were a few iPhone photos that I shared on Facebook but was waiting for a laptop and Photoshop to get the pictures from the Canon downloaded. The iPhone is good, but it auto adjusts the brightness, contrast and color to be able to "see" everything. When you take a photo of the bridge where everything else is dark because is the sun is not out yet, the pictures look like broad daylight and all the hues are gone!

It was frustrating. (you can see it in the video taken with the Phone and compare to the photos from the Canon). I had to adjust the iPhone photos to make it close to what we saw.

It is a just a question of tiem before I click a picture of me and San and the iPhone shows me a picture of Shah Rukh and Kajol instead of our faces.. so much for AI !

All said and done, the sunrise was breathtaking. We really enjoyed it and it provided me a good distraction from pain physical and emotional. 

We did check the tides for that morning and saw it was okay for 7AM. The tides have washed ashore so many people in last few months and we were warned by friends to be careful. 

We will definitely visit this place again! The Cove and beach are beautiful!