A long gap

It has been a month and a half since I blogged about any hiking or trails.. We did go on three trails.. one a little strenous and two were more little walks than serious hikes. 

I started a new job during COVID times and that has been an interesting transition in itself. Still for a guy who always posts something every week, it has been odd not to go type anything. 

Well, here we are. Things have not been easy as every day we wake up to news of someone passing away in India from COVID in the last few weeks. It is not unknown people anymore this time around. So did not feel like writing anything. Sometimes if you have nothing postive to share, silence is golden!

The three hikes we went on were a walk to Mori Point in Pacifica to see the sunset, a short stroll in Quarry Trail in Saratoga (which was 15 minute drive from home and a rather short but intense climb to see the valley from a nice vantage point) and the last one to Little Yosemite in Sunol area after a rave FB recommendation from a friend. 

Here are some pictures and a slide show from the three hikes..

a picture that sums up sunset at Mori point..

A early morning foggy view of silicon valley from Quarry trail hike..

Sunlight coming through the lone tree on an otherwise barren landscape in Little Yosemite trail

A watering hole on Little Yosemite trail for cows that made for a reflection photo spot..

Views of the reservoir from the top of the hills..

Mori piont was amazing. The flowers, the swing at the end of the trail, the sunset, the moon rise, it was something!

Little Yosemite would have been more fun if we had taken the opposite route on the trail. We went on the hike up the hill first and then came to the falls that is only a mile from the parking lot. It was a long hike without a clear path in most places in the barren heat.. the falls ended up being too crowded because by the time we headed back, it was a lunch picnic spot. Lots of folks without masks. So we just kept moving to the car and drove back. (this was almost 3 weeks ago). 

Since then any attempts to go hiking have been put on hold. The yoga studio has opened with a lottery system. I have been lucky enough to get through a dozen times in the last month and that is good. It is still not open anywhere close to capacity and hope the day arrives where you go and walk in and don't have to be lucky to do hot yoga. I could always do it at home with the space heater, but once you go to the studio a few times, it becomes harder mentally to fire up the space heater. When there was no studio, the space heater was a blessing. That shows I have a lot more yoga to do to treat the space heater and yellow walls with the respect they deserve! 

It is just a question of days before we go back to office again and that means things get even more interesting with time management, lottery management etc. My hiking shoes may have seen their last days for some time to come. If there is one thing I would choose between doing Yoga and hiking, it is always yoga. Sitting still is something that I have to work hard for and I plan to keep trying my best to do that!

Hope this post brings me back to blogging about things on a more regular basis!

Cataract Falls - tough but enjoyable

Last week we made it to Cataract Falls. Had posted the waterfall pictures taken with the long exposure option on the iPhone. Never got the time to write the blog post as work just caught up and kept me busy.

Finally get around to it!

This falls is in the Mount Tamalpais park north of San Francisco. You have to go on the windy Bolinas Fairfax road a fair bit to get to this park. It took us an hour and forty minutes to get there. We parked next to the Alpine lake edge and started walking the trail. There were few other people that day on the trail and it was beautiful. The highlight is this MGR Saroja Devi moment captured on camera!

We went along the creek and were treated to at least 5 falls on the way. Once we went up the trail there is a meadow we end up in where there is a restroom. We took a short break there and decided to do the extended loop through High Marsh trail. This is a trail where only one person can walk on the edge. Single file walking is not a strong suit for our hiking group, but we did reasonably well and were treated to amazing views. 

Then we went on the Kent trail and Helen Markt trails to reach the lake. We had the entire lake to ourselves and took pictures and enjoyed the scenery.

Then the reality hit.. we had come back down to lake level and that meant, going back up to the top and coming down to the parking lot on the other side of the lake in what was the most challengiing climb this group had done to date. We huffed and puffed, called out for mommy, thirupathi Balaji, etc. etc. and at one point walked one step at a time and finally made it towards the parking lot. This was totally doable, but the fact that we had already been hiking up and down for the last 2 1/2 hours made this very challenging. 

Eventually we got the food down to the lake and ate a very late lunch there before the long drive back home.

Thachchi mammu never tasted so good! No, I am kidding. It always tastes good!

We went to the lake front on the logic of "we never know when we will visit this park next or we will ever visit it given we are seeing a new place every week! might as well...".. next time somone in the group starts using that logic.. I am going to have a prepared speech ready with all the talking points!

We did have a great time at the lake and the pictures don't do justice to how beautiful the day was! We should have started an hour early and that would have made it easier for us. 

Cataract falls and Alpine lake get two thumbs up!

A new trick on the iPhone

After visiting Maple falls and playing with some pictures, learned a new trick on the iPhone to get long exposure shots! Usually this needs my Canon 5D mark ii and the heavy tripod and a lot of post processing.. 

Now it is just a lot of post processing.

We went on a hike to Cataract Falls yesterday. I got exhausted from the climbing. It was the toughest trail we went on to date during COVID times.. but .. but.. it was a great experience. Will recover from that and post a blog..

In the meantime, here are some milky waterfall shots!

I tried to do a toe stand on that log and it was not a good idea. . . 

This thing is going to come in handy on future waterfall trails as well as ripping ponds and lakes! 

Well played Apple, well played!