The Team Sherpa Blog

By far my favorite hike of the last year was heading up to the Lost Coast - which is located in King Range National Conservational Area, along the Northern California Coastline 150 miles south of the Oregon border. (Click here for photos.) Conditions were grey, wet, and the winds were gusting. About three hours into the hike, we were all pretty much soaked. The nylon, water repellant REI gear could only take so much saturation! But, no matter, the black sands, lush foliage, dark cliff walls, and waves crashing were exceptionally gorgeous. We passed an abandoned light house, beached sea lions that let us approach them, make-shift driftwood shelters, remnants of a pagan ritual and ship wreckage over the course of the 8 hour excursion.

Last weekend my college roommates were in town and we started off the year’s hiking adventures. Plans to hike Muir Woods were moved from Saturday to Monday due to the storm that pummelled the whole California coastlne last weekend. (Good news is it dumped multiple meters of snow in the Sierras!) So, Saturday we headed up to the Skyline Mid-Penninsula Open Space Preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains and found the trails to ourselves. (Click here for photos.) Guess nobody else wanted to hike in winds up to 105 mph that day. When we got to the summit, we would jump facing the winds and be caught in the wind. It reminded me of the sensation of indoor skydiving.

Just Monday we drove up to Muir Woods and Mount Tam State Park, just north of San Francisco. (Click here and here for photos.) We made a 8-10 mile round trip hike that took us up around through the Coast View Trail. The trail was especially lush following the last couple days of storm. Absolutely a gorgeous day for hiking. Didn’t realize it prior, but the trail we were on Saturday, close to Santa Cruz, and the trail we were on Monday, in Marin County north of the Golden Gate, are actually connected. There is a 500-mile trail called the Bay area Ridge Trail that encircles the San Francisco Bay Area.

Speaking of the Golden Gate, on the way home to Silicon Valley, we stopped in Sausalito to take advantage of the clear weather and photo opportunities at the Golden Gate National Recreational Area. Visibility was at 10 miles, sans notorious fog! (Click here for photos.)