We took a gamble by not making a camping reservation for a Saturday night, and we got lucky! Arriving early, around 10 AM Saturday morning, worked out to our advantage. We were able to snag a spot in Valley View 2.
We just managed to situate the RV into site 219 for optimum leveling. Most of the longer and more level sites were already taken. After a lazy morning relaxing at our site, we headed out for a hike from Valley View 2 campground to Tan Oak campground. We had never explored the Tan Oak area of the park during our last visits to Mt. Madonna.
Walking under the canopy of redwoods and manzanitas was so peaceful. And even though all of the campgrounds were busy with folks enjoying the park, few folks were out hiking the magnificent trail system of Mt Madonna.
We hiked by a couple of dried up seasonal streams that cross the trails.
And we marveled at mother-nature's work of art.
Some of the woodland plants were in bloom, along with the meadow flowers that we saw as we crossed a small meadow near the Blue Springs Trail and Meadow Trail junction.
Back under the canopy of redwoods near the Tan Oak camping area, we came across this structure that looks like a fairy hut. Some kids must have had hours of fun entertaining themselves...unless there really are fairies living here.
After a delightful time of exploring the trails, we headed back to camp for a relaxing evening and pizza! We tried our new Biolite Camp Base oven, which worked wonderfully after we got the hang of keeping the fire going.
Cooking the Trader Joe's Gluten Free Cauliflower pizza with added toppings on the Biolite made the BEST gluten free pizza. The crust was crispy, not soggy like in the oven at home. The wood gave the pizza a nice smoky flavor to the crust too! I topped the pizza with small mozzarella balls, olives, basil, artichokes, smoked cooked red bell peppers, and garlic. It was so Yummy!
The next morning we headed out for a short 3 mile loop before packing up camp. We hiked from Valley View 2 to Blackhawk trail to hike a loop: Blackhawk, Iron Springs, Ridge, and Contour trails.
Nestled beside some of the trails are archery range areas. We still haven't seen anyone using the archery ranges; this is our third visit to the park.
It's very difficult to get lost here since the trails are very well marked and informative on a trail's route.
While hiking the loop, we came across a gnarly, root structure that looks like a gargoyle of the forest. The gargoyle is pointing one down the Contour trail in the direction to a very small waterfall.
We heard the water falling over the logs before spotting the falls.
We are looking forward to many more hikes in this magical forest with beautiful treasures.
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