county park

Calero county park - Figueroa and Cottle loop trail

This weekend, our hike was an afternoon one. We decided to go post lunch and come down before sunset.

Drove to Calero County park (~30 min drive from our place) and started hiking shortly after 2. We did the 10 mile loop around Oak cove, Figueroa and Cottle loop trails in a little over 4 hours. 

Guess San is getting bored with the usual bench photo that she decided to add some love to it..

As usual, I was the straggler for the early part of the hike and after some time managed to catch up to the group.

This time there was no falling into creeks.. 

There were not many people on the trail today. It was pretty much left to us the entire way. 

We did have a 15 minute chai and bhajji break... It was pretty windy at places but for the most part the weather was cool and it was partly sunny. 

There are a couple of steep climbs that keep on coming, but those were all done on the earlier part of the hike. 

San has declared me unfit for future hikes unless I up my game and give up on rice eating. It is a tough ask.. I am currently saying dialogues like "Give me Rice or give me death!".. 

Right now the legs are saying "enough for the day!". This is a good trail to hike on a cloudy day! strongly recommend it.

Santa Teresa County Park Loop trail

There is this absolute beauty of a trail right in Santa Teresa area. It is the hills next to IBM Almaden. There is a loop trail that starts from Joice trail and goes through Mine trail and Coyote trail, Hidden springs and Bernal Hill to the Vista loop trail. 

It is 8+ mile and pretty steep at places and takes around 4+ hours (by our standards). It is also ~2000 feet elevation gain. A decent workout and a "moderate" trail if you listen to the internet.. if you pace yourself! 

There is a part of this trail at the end that has zero cover. So it is best to do this as a very early morning or late evening hike. The sun setting over the valley is beautiful to watch from the ridge!

The flowers have started blooming across the hillsides.. the poppies should be there in a week or two to add a ton of orange to the yellows.. 

Strongly recommend this provided you have the right hiking shoes!

There is a one mile stretch on the way back where you are just walking on rocks and gravel. Not much of a path and the feet don't land evenly. Many of us almost twisted our ankles, but would still recommend it. 

Here are more pictures.. 

Thoroughly enjoyed this hike.. and the chai at the top of the summit! That is one good thing that has become tradition already over a year and a half of hiking! 

COVID got us started on hiking every weekend to a new trail in the local area. The fact that we have plenty of unexplored trails for months to come says a lot about the natural beauty of this area, the resources used to maintain these places and our luck in ending up in a place like this, in a time like this!

More trails to follow...

Monument Peak - aka Cow Paradise

After the Yosemite Firefall adventure, finishing a 60 day yoga challenge and getting a week off from hiking, we went to Monument Peak. 

Started in the morning and were waiting for the Ed R Levin park gates to open at 8AM (there is a parking fee of 6 dollars and they accept cards!). Started hiking right away after parking as we knew the 10 miles of hiking across some steep ascent areas would take us 4+ hours and it did. There was also some time for photos planned in for once!

This is ~2200 feet climb and the wind can make it feel pretty cold past a point. You feel you are above the clouds once you reach the peak. (the photo below is not at the peak, but on the way down..)

This is at the peak..

The views were amazing throughout!

Two things stood out.. 

Cows everywhere, some blocking the hiking path and we had to ask them to move nicely or in some cases go close so they wandered off the trails. This also meant cow dung on the entire trail.. so we were all doing a dance, stepping past the dung.. at the end of the trail, we were all cow dung experts! 

Presenting .. The Monumental cows..

The second thing that stood out was the fields of yellow, white and lavender flowers which made for amazing backdrops but the photos somehow did not even come close to what we saw with our eyes! It was just magical walking through that! 

We were the only ones on the trail on the return loop and that made it interesting for the group! 

The place has no cover and this was the right time to go, given it had rained yesterday.  This hike in summer would have been a lot more challenging. The rolling green hills and rain clouds also made it beautiful..

We had chai on top of Monument peak which was a highlight! Chai tastes amazing after a long hike when your fingers are frozen from the cold winds and altitude!

Here are some more pictures! A beautiful golf course you walk along when coming back to the parking lot..

a flower carpet as far as the eye can see with green rolling hills on one side!

A lone tree on the way back from the peak..

watching the clouds move on top and on the reflections in the water below! 

This is an amazing place for a view of the bay!

the vibrant colors on all the rocks on the hillsides..

the clouds shadows moving over the hills..

A view of snow covered peaks and mountains on the next range, from the top!

interesting rock faces..

and last but not the least.. a candid shot .. didn't know the camera was still rolling.. or I would have gotten into this as well..this is my favorite photo from this hike!

all said and dung, loved this hike!  It was a great feeling getting to the top of Monument peak and staring at nature on one side and what humans have created with the sprawling city scape on the other side!

Wandered off to the edge to take a picture and saw this on a rock!! Was just amazed by how much work has gone into creating and preserving these open spaces so we can enjoy it! 

This made my day!

Today was an interesting day of highs and lows. This blog always presents the positive highlights.. and that is a good thing! The lesson we have learnt recently is to grab opportunities to go outdoors when we can..

Strongly recommend Monument peak hike as a loop by going in reverse, from Agua Caliente trail, as an all morning hike.. this time of the year!