Short hike in Almaden Quicksilver - 24 Jan 2009

Last weekend, the weather was getting better on Saturday, and I decided to go for a short hike in Almaden Quicksilver (McAbee entrance, Senador mines, Guadalupe reservoir, and back using Mine Hill trail).
The grass was still wet from the week's rain and the trails were muddy at places but it was not too bad.
I was very happy to see my first poppy of the year. Yay!
The hike was a little over 5 miles, with about 1000 feet of elevation gain.

The pictures are here.

Interactive track log:

Hiking Kennedy Trail - 10 Jan 2009

I've been meaning to go back to Sierra Azul OSP and hike up Kennedy Trail for a while. CC was interested, so was Aggiejen and Wildbun so we all met on this beautiful Saturday morning, ready for the steep climb. Reaching the summit (or more exactly the junction with Priest Rock Trail) took us 3 hours (we took it slow and stopped for every geocache along the way). The climb is about 4 miles long with an elevation gain of about 1800 feet.
We actually past our original goal and went as far as the incredible area we call "Kennedy Meadow", before going back down, dropping a new cache (by CC) on the way.
We saw interesting mushrooms and fungi.

My photos are here.

Interactive track log:

First hike of the year: Castle Rock State Park - 03 Jan 2009

It was a gorgeous Saturday, and a bunch of us decided to hike in Castle Rock to grab a few caches including the new GC1KCZH-Castle Rock Cable Co. by Bullit, who was part of the group.
The park was beautiful, with great views of the Monterey Bay. No rain that day, but it was so cold that I was happy to wear my gloves.
The hike was about 6 miles long, and the elevation gain was about 1200 feet.
The group was made of Bullit, CC, Calipidder, Drunken Marmot, Nazgul, and myself.

My photos are here.

Interactive track log: