Sunday, January 4, 2015

A Two Day Hike

We decided to hike Sunol Regional Park two consecutive days.

The first day started with the gentle stroll alone Ohlone Road until we came to the junction of trails at the Little Yosemite area. From there we made the pleasant climb on the Cerro Este Road.


There are magnificent views of the Ohlone Regional Wilderness from the Cerro Este Road.


Shortly after leaving the Cerro Este Road, we made a descent on the McCorkle Trail into a grove of California Oaks. The McCorkle trail has diverse ecosystems for a hiker to enjoy. After the descent, we climb out of the oaks and up into an area of low growth scrubs with views of the diversity of the surrounding area.


Slowly, we made our descent back to the car along the McCorckle trail. As we headed back, we enjoyed the beauty of Flag Hill, the next day's climb.

McCorckle Trail foreground and Flag Hill center background.
Total miles covered first day were 3.33, the warm up day.

Second day was just as cold and clear as the first day's hike, but the hike was longer due to the footbridge not being accessible due to repair work. We made the climb up McCorckle Trail and took Canyon View trail over to Flag Hill trail. This added 1.31 mile onto the start of the trip. Slowly we made the ascend on Flag Hill trail. Once at the top, we rested on a bench (one of many situated nicely in the park). While eating lunch, we enjoyed the spectacular views.

Looking in direction of Ohlone Wilderness.
Looking in the direction of Maguire Peaks.

After a good rest, we traveled down Flag Hill Road to High Valley Rd. Down by the barn, a group of horseback riders passed us. One lady asked if our dog is a Jindo. After chatting with her awhile, she informed us that she comes here often with her Jindo. Most folks are unable to identify the bred of our dog. Many children will call our dog a fox- too cute. So, it was wonderful talking with this lady about the quirkiness of the Jindo since she totally understands this bred's peculiar traits.

The barn at High Valley Camp.

After the chat, we made our descent on the Hayfield Road passing a grove of cactus near a grove of oaks.

Cactus in front of oaks.
We reach the area where we had planned to traverse the creek to get back to the car, but my dog just didn't want to cross the creek. So, we added another 1.31 miles onto the trip just to get back to the car.

Total miles covered the second day are 6.04.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Reminiscing on the Final Days of 2014

My husband, daughter, and I were able spend one night camping during my daughter's short visit home for the holidays. She wanted to experience one night camping in an RV. So, we loaded up the MT, Midget Trailer, left son and Meeks at home, and headed for beautiful New Hogan Lake.

View of lake with Bear and Hogback Mountains

New Hogan Lake and Acorn Campground are located east of Stockton at the start of the foothills to the Sierra Mountains. The US Army of Corps of Engineers created this 4,400 acre lake in 1964 along with the New Hogan Dam.

I had read that one might not want to camp here on weekends since the campground is usually full. Since the weather was just starting to get colder from the Arctic air mass pushing into California, we didn't have to worry about the campground being full of folks. In fact there were only three other RVs in the campgrounds. We found a very nice spot, site 99, away from the other campers.


 A view of the road next to parking pad to the site.


A couple of views from the site looking down at the lake. Even after all the recent rains, the lake is WAY below normal. It will be a very long time before California is out of this drought.



After getting situated and walking the campground, we headed into the warmth of MT for an evening of Monopoly while eating bowls of Chili.


My daughter owned that corner of the Monopoly board, and yes she won.


After breakfast the next morning, we hiked over to Coyote Point to take in the beauty of the lake from a different view. I'm glad we did the walk to the point since we saw a couple of American Bald Eagles in flight looking for food. This lake is one of their nesting grounds during the winter.

Daughter and her dog.

Our RV is at the point just behind us to the right.



Before heading home, I took a picture of my husband's addition to MT, a water filter by the sink. Even though we filter the water coming into the tank, we want to filter the water once more before using it for cooking and drinking.


Last peek of daughter and her dog enjoying the RV before heading home.



Two days after returning home, the entire family headed up to Brushy Peak for a walk. Here are a couple of group photos from that beautiful day of hiking.