Pedro point and a Pacifica sunset

This weekend saw yet another hike. This one turned out to me more interesting than we had planned.

There were no benches on this one but a small cut log which made for a great view point.. We could sit there for hours and enjoy the breeze!

The idea was to drive to the Devil's slide parking lot and hike to Pedro's point and get a scenic view of the bay and the sunset and come back. The one word in that previous sentence that did not work our way ? "PARKING"

It took us an hour to get there because of the traffic. It was 80 degrees in Cupertino and a nice 71 in the coast. So the entire bay area decided to go there! There was no parking. We tried four different lots around the area and after 50 minutes, we decided to start from the beach by walking along the road to a different trail head. 

Parked outside a strip mall opposite to the beach (there was no beach parking either and there were plenty of bad and irate drivers to make it dangerous to just wait in the parking lot!). That added another mile to the plan each way.. and given we had lost an hour to find parking.. we hiked like never before. 

Amazing views from all sides!

took this picture as we were running down.. 

Things were going great till we went to the top of the view point and realized we were very late. So we decided to take a "private trail" that showed up on Alltrails map that would go directly from the top to Devils slide. This thing turned out to be not much of a trail and was downright dangerous. We were slipping and almost fell. So we decided to climb back up, double up our speed to make it to Devils slide. 

We did get 15 minutes to watch the sun and drink chai before racing back!

It was a pretty steep hike right at the start but the views made up for it. We barely made it to Devils slide as the sun was setting. So we rushed back to the parking (it was all downhill but we had to be careful) and caught the post sunset hues in the beach before driving back!

On a normal day when we would have had an extra hour and parked at the right place, this would have been easy and pleasant. Think we should revisit it on a working day by taking leave just to get parking! 

The sunset experience was refreshing as usual.. 

Strongly recommend this (minus the private trail) on a non busy day!

Alamere Falls - an amazing hike

We finally made it to Alamere falls. It has been on our wish list for a long time and we were planning to do this with the full group sometime in spring.. A last minute pre birthday request from wife to give this a shot, made me say yes!

This was the longest hike for me in post Covid times. I am told that I have now graduated to try Black mountain and Falls rest. We will see about that.. have managed to pull the muscle on the left leg and have been limping around since yesterday. Hopefully the hot room will heal this quickly!

Started at 6AM sharp from Cupertino and drove almost 2 hours to the Palomarin trailhead which is past the Point Reyes bird observatory. Got to see the sunrise just as we were crossing SFO into Marin on the golden gate bridge!

Drove past a lot of scenery and started hiking exactly at 8AM... 

We hiked 12+ miles over 5+ hours with a 20 min eating break at the falls. There is a shortcut where you can climb down and climb back up to the falls, but it is not recommended by the park service. Lots of accidents in that section as the shale rocks break into little pieces on the cliff sides. 

We decided to go through the coastal scenic route, bypass only the last 0.1 miles to avoid the Wildcat campground and walk along the beach the last mile to the falls. As fate would have it the tide was closing in on us even as we made it to the falls. 

We hike past two lakes, Bass lake and Pelican lake. They were both really beautiful!

We crossed the creek like three times and the rushing water was good to hear.. last few hikes, we didn't see any water in the creeks!

You can see Point Reyes from the high point on the Coastal trail (if you take the shortcut you will miss this!)

The fog, the water spray from the falls, the overlapping cliff faces.. the approach to the falls on the beach side is simply breathtaking.. 

But, there is a catch.. We had to time it and run through stretches to avoid the waves as they came all the way to the cliff faces!

Have to try long exposure shots when we are a waterfall !!! 

Could not get all three upper falls in one shot with long exposure.. too many people. With photoshop averaging, can try it.. but don't have the time. There is a definite chance we will revisit this while we are still able to climb up.. will give it a shot then!

Given we had wet feet and pants, there was no way to walk back along the beach and we decided to climb up to make it back to the trail. This made the 14 mile hike into a 12 mile hike which was also welcome! It was challenging to climb back up but we were glad. Got to see the three upper falls (which you can only if you do this climbing up business). You can see it in the video below..

Some more photos..

this was my attempt at an artistic shillouette..

Once back in the parking lot, we got to eat a packed lunch, have some hot tea and drove back for 2 1/2 hours as we got caught both in local traffic around Stinson beach and San Francisco city. 

We expected to see more people given it was a long weekend. There was not much of a crowd. We practially had the beach to ourselves on the way to the falls and were met by 10 people, all of them had taken the shortcut climb down! 

Strongly recommend this place! However, try to read tide timings and go along the beach to the falls and climb up to see the upper falls. It is worth it. That said, wear the right shoes and gloves if possible so you don't cut your hands while climbing up. Also it would be a good idea to switch to sandals for the walk along the beach! 

Strongly recommend this for a day trip, on the right day with the right tide!

Final roundup of Mendocino Photos

The last of the photos from Mendocino trip.

The Skunk Train which took us most of day two. Get on the train if you want, but make sure you take lunch with you, especially if you are a veggie desi! It is a good four hour ride on a train that was built in 1918 and is still being maintained and run. One of the oldest pieces of machinery owned by the US Railways that is working.

Just at the edge of Fort Bragg they have built this little tress over the river entry point into the ocean. It is a memorable walk, especially if the weather is nice.

The train ride in the open got back so many memories of the Varanasi Express going through the jungles of Madhya Pradesh for hours on end.. Betul to Itarsi Junction to Katni to .... Need to get back on that train sometime!

Fort Bragg, Mendocino coast, strongly recommended for a day or weekend trip.

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Mendocino Coast

The last time we were there to take in the sunset at the glass beach in Fort Bragg, San was 7 months pregnant and it was going to be our last trip before Jr. was going to make her grand entrance.

After almost 7 years, we revisited Fort Bragg, the Mendocino coast in northern california (3 hours north of San Francisco) and a bunch of memories.

Had a great time with the kids. Now that all that non stop driving on windy roads for hours on end is over, it is time to literally chill with my girl Volini.

Leaving you with the panorama shots. Like the saying goes, a stitch in time..

Tried that one lying down on the ground under the bridge on the sand sweeping from left to right. Next time, have better ideas for this shot.. there are very few places where there is such an opportunity to be directly under the bridge to take a panoramic shot like that.. (just have to pick a cloudy day..)

Except for the botanical gardens which closed so early we saw all the main points of interest over the 25 or so mile coastline.

It was a strenuous trip but we made it back within two days and still had a day to recover!

We have some choice glass pieces to show for the trip as well. Here is a shot of the glass on the beach (all courtesy of old glass bottles dumped thirty years ago on the shore and letting the waves do their job).

The glass beach is strongly recommended!

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Morro Bay

Just before you reach Pismo Beach, you cross Morro bay. What appears to be a quiet little fishing town.

There is a huge rock that stands out, called the Morro Rock. There is an esturary and the calm sea water that stands between the sand bars and the highway are a treat to watch..


Here is the Morro rock from the viewpoint..


The smokestacks added another dimension to the backdrop..


There was also this weird looking plant on this corner house facing the bay which was worth capturing..


There is an anchor on display at the bay which weighs a few thousand tonnes. It was a gift to the city of Morro Bay.


We were there Christmas morning, so the town was pretty much shut down. We still managed to have fun with the kids. Stopped by a few vista points further down as well.

Another day, another time, we will visit Morro Bay and make a longer stay.

ps. This was part of a series of photoblogs on our Christmas long weekend trip to Solvang and other sites on Route 1 in California.