Hikes

Año Nuevo

2009-06-14T16:56:00.001-07:00

We decided to visit Año Nuevo State Natural Reserve today because it's one of the hundreds of California state parks threatened with closure by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed cuts.

The main attraction of Año Nuevo is the presence of a large colony of elephant seals. At this time of the year you walk a couple of miles where volunteers are available to answer questions and lend binoculars. In the breeding season between December and March you need to book a guided walk at least a day in advance - or at least you will if the park survives.

(As well as my video, check out the streaming Sealcam on Año Nuevo Island.)

Elephant Seals at Año Nuevo.

Gill, with Año Nuevo Island in the background. You can see the ruins of a lighthouse on the island (click the image for a larger version). The original name dating back to 1603 is La Punta de Año Nuevo or New Year's Point (much erosion since then).

One of many lizards encountered on the trail.

(4.18 miles, total elevation gain 268 feet, 1 hour, 48 minutes, average 2.32 mph, view in Google Earth, view in Google Maps.)

Point Reyes - Tomales Point

2009-04-26T11:07:00.000-07:00

Tomales Point is a ten mile hike in Point Reyes. The trailhead is at the end of Pierce Point Road. It's my least favorite topological combination - the trail is mostly downhill on the way out and at the end you turn around and come back. It's worth it for the views of Tomales Bay and the Pacific, also for the flora and fauna along the way.

We did this hike a few years ago with my parents, thinking that we'd avoid some approaching rain. Of course the heavens opened as soon as we reached Tomales Point and it rained solidly for the five mile return leg. I remember emptying water out of boots and pockets and then steaming up the car for the two hour drive back to San Francisco.

A Long-tailed Weasel at the start of the trail. It kept running away and then coming back to take another look at us. Very cute.

Rob and Gill at Tomales Point. It was too windy to find a spot to get the camera to take a photo of both of us at the same time. Tomales Point looks out to Bodega Bay where The Birds was filmed.

This plant looks like a silver thistle with a bright red flower. If you know what it is please leave a comment and let us know! Lots of people were in garden-center mode for the hike, admiring the incredible variety of spring flowers along the trail.

A Turkey Vulture, hoping that we don't make it all the way back to the car...

Tule Elk, native to California and slowly recovering from near-extinction in the late 19th century.

(9.77 miles, total elevation gain 241 feet, 3 hours, 39 minutes, average 2.67 mph, view in Google Earth, view in Google Maps.)

Lands End

2009-03-08T17:01:00.000-07:00

Lands End to Eagle's Point is a stunning section of the Coastal Trail. Park in or near the new lot at Point Lobos Ave and El Camino del Mar. Before or after the walk check out the ruins of Sutro Baths. I'd put some of that American Recovery and Reinvestment Act cash into rebuilding the baths, it looks like they were incredible.

If you follow the trial down the the baths then there's a short but very cool cave to explore which ends in another unique view of the pacific and the mouth of the Golden Gate.

From Sutro Baths follow signs to Eagle's point. There are some very steep cliffs along the trail, so a leash is a really good idea for dogs.

One worthwhile detour is to wonder down to Mile Rock Beach. It's a stony and impressively violent beach with a couple of lookouts on the way down with impressive views.

(3.16 miles, total elevation gain 457 feet, 1 hours, 24 minutes, average 2.24 mph, view in Google Earth, view in Google Maps)

Hill 88

2009-01-03T17:44:00.000-08:00

Hill 88 is the former site of a radar installation in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It's a favorite walk for us (I've blogged this hike before), especially as Rudy can go for a swim at Rodeo Beach at the end.

Start at Fort Cronkhite and head up the coastal trail. Hill 88 is well signed. After visiting the top of the hill you can either walk back the way you came, or take Wolf Ridge Trail (spurs off to the left about half a mile before the top of Hill 88) to Miwok Trail to circle back round to Fort Cronkhite and Rodeo Beach.

When you see this, you're nearly there.

A couple of years ago the alien plant killing fascists pulped the few trees providing shade on the trail. It's unrelentingly hot in the summer now. They could have started with the wreckage at the top of Hill 88, or maybe European descended homo sapiens but no, it was the poor cypress trees that got it.

The aforementioned wreckage at the top of Hill 88.

Rob, Gill and Rudy at the top of Hill 88. Click the picture to get a better view of San Francisco in the background.

Daffodils blooming in January on Wolf Ridge Trail.

A curious raccoon. As I leaned down to take a photo it stood up to check out the camera.

(5.98 miles, 2 hours, 7 minutes, average 2.80 mph, view in Google Earth, view in Google Maps)

Buena Vista Park

2008-12-31T13:28:00.001-08:00

Buena Vista Park is a small but dramatic park above Haight-Ashbury.

I usually start at Buena Vista Ave and Upper Terrace. Walk up the large path which meanders to a small lawn at the top of the park.

From the lawn walk down through the maze of paths. It's a densely wooded park but every time you walk round a corner you're treated to a different city view peeking through the trees.

(0.96 miles, total elevation gain 576 feet, 24 minutes, average 2.40 mph, view in Google Earth, view in Google Maps)

About Hikes

2008-12-30T10:57:00.000-08:00

Hikes indulges my passions for walking and being uncontrollably geeky. I love recording a walk and then looking at it in Google Earth. It's a great way to get context for a walk that isn't always obvious while you're wandering around.

I started the blog with a pretty complex setup. For a hike I'd take my Magellan eXplorist 500 GPS and a point and shoot digital camera (currently the excellent Canon PowerShot SD700 IS). After the hike I'd use a program I knocked up to compile stats from the GPS track log, and GPSBabel to convert the track log to Google Earth KML. Then I'd resize images and write a blog post.

This works well for longer hikes but it's a bit painful for shorter ones. I've got an AT&T Tilt phone which has a pretty decent camera and GPS built in, so over the Christmas holiday this year I wrote a tracking application for the phone. This app is now available as freeware (Catfood Tracker). As well as tracking your location it also generates a KML file and hike statistics at the end of a walk. Perfect. See Golden Gate Park Loop for a hike recorded entirely on the Tilt.

With an easier tracking option available I aim to blog about more hikes in 2009. I've also added an interactive map to the blog, which shows all the posts in Google Maps. This page is generated from the blog RSS feed, with a marker placed on the map at the first track point of each hike.

Golden Gate Park Loop

2008-12-28T14:03:00.000-08:00

This gentle three mile loop is our favorite walk in the Golden Gate Park. Start at JFK and Transverse and walk down JFK to 30th Avenue. Turn right at 30th and then left onto a metaled path before you exit the path. The path takes you to Spreckels Lake.

At Spreckels Lake it's turtles all the way down...

Walk halfway round the Lake and then head off behind the bison paddock (over 36th Avenue and then to the right of the restrooms). You'll pass one of two enclosed off-leash dog areas in the park.

Follow the path right round the paddock and then cross JFK at Chain of Lakes Drive. Immediately turn left on a small path that runs behind Middle Lake. This is a quiet area of the path where we've seen skunks and a lone coyote (although fortunately not at the same time). When you hit a T junction turn left and follow the path behind the angling pond and up to the Polo Fields. Keep going and you'll reach Speedway Meadow.

Follow the path beside Speedway Meadow back up to JFK and then on to the starting point at Transverse.

(2.80 miles, 1 hour, 6 minutes, average 2.53 mph, view in
Google Earth, view in Google Maps)

Crissy Field

2008-12-27T14:06:00.000-08:00

Crissy Field, part of the Golden Gate National Parks, is a recently restored stretch of beach and parkland next to the bay. It's a very popular place to take dogs for a good swim. Currently there is a big debate about dogs in the national parks - see Dog Management at the GGNRA site and SF Dog.

If the weather is vaguely nice then the beaches at Chrissy Field get pretty packed. We go to Fort Funston most weekends, and save Chrissy Field for when the sea is too rough or (like today) when we just can't face climbing back up the sand ladder.

Alcatraz

Golden Gate Bridge

(0.55 miles, total elevation gain 3 feet, 45 minutes, average 0.72 mph, view in Google Earth, view in Google Maps.)

Fort Funston in the rain

2008-12-14T17:45:00.000-08:00

(view in Google Earth).

This is the short version of our Fort Funston walk (the long version is here). Depending on the tide and the height of the sand it's sometimes not easy to get past a couple of sewage outlet pipes. Today's walk was wet with a high tide so we turned left at the bottom of the sand ladder and just walked along the beach and back. The longer version is to turn right and complete a three mile loop.

Glen Park Canyon

2007-08-15T18:26:00.001-07:00

Glen Park Canyon is a short city hike - the trail gets increasingly dense as you walk into the canyon until you need to limbo your way under branches.

(1.51 miles, total elevation gain 909 feet, 47 minutes (average 1.92 mph), view in Google Earth)

Sunol Wilderness

2007-08-12T17:53:00.000-07:00

Really Hot!

(4.81 miles, total elevation gain 1,791 feet, 3 hours 30 minutes (average 1.37 mph), view in Google Earth)

Bon Tempe Lake

2007-08-05T16:57:00.000-07:00

(3.98 miles, total elevation gain 1,306 feet, 1 hour 40 minutes (average 2.39 mph), view in Google Earth)

Fallen Leaf Lake

2006-12-30T18:30:00.000-08:00

A quick outing to Fallen Leaf Lake (close to Lake Tahoe) while skiing over the New Year.

(3.97 miles, total elevation gain 738 feet, 1 hour 36 minutes (average 2.49 mph), view in Google Earth)

Oakland Hills (Longer Walk)

2006-11-23T18:16:00.000-08:00

Longer walk in the Oakland Hills, up the East ridge and then back down the West ridge.

(8.63 miles, total elevation gain 3,976 feet, 3 hours 1 minutes (average 2.86 mph), view in Google Earth)

Fort Funston

2006-10-29T14:58:00.000-08:00

Fort Funston was part of San Francisco's WWII era coastal defenses and is now a dog friendly part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Rudy pegs it down Sand Ladder Trail - the easiest way down to the beach but no so much fun on the way back up.

Battery Davis.

(2.62 miles, total elevation gain 417 feet, 1 hour 25 minutes (average 1.84 mph), view in Google Earth)

Las Trampas Wilderness

2006-07-03T14:00:00.000-07:00

Las Trampas (the Traps - for elk apparently) is a steep climb up to a gorgeous ridge followed by a slow wind back to the staging area. We wimped out of adding a detour to Devil's Hole due to the heat and the advice of a fellow hiker.

Rudy and Gill with Mt. Diablo in the background.

Rudy, forced to walk up the hill again just for a photo.

(4.86 miles, total elevation gain 2,920 feet, 2 hours 7 minutes (average 2.29 mph), view in Google Earth)

Golden Gate Park

2006-04-01T13:32:00.000-08:00

A quick walk around the Golden Gate park, past the Buffalo paddock and stadium.

I only had the camera phone, so this is a very blury picture.

And there are some turtles on this tree, really!

(3.32 miles, total elevation gain 915 feet, 1 hour 14 minutes (average 2.68 mph), view in Google Earth)

Oakland Hills

2006-03-26T13:25:00.000-08:00

Quick walk around the Oakland Hills, no photos this time.

(4.68 miles, total elevation gain 2,697 feet, 2 hours 3 minutes (average 2.28 mph), view in Google Earth)

Point Reyes - Drakes Estero

2005-09-25T16:18:00.000-07:00

A pleasant, undulating hike along Drakes Estero (see north district trails, PDF) to Sunset Beach and back.

Gill illustrates the length of Drakes Estero.

Rob slowly sinking into the mud on Sunset Beach.

I think this is a striped shore crab, saw a couple of these guarding the approach to the beach.

(7.71 miles, total elevation gain 1,594 feet, 2 hours 48 minutes (average 2.76 mph), view in Google Earth)

Hill 88

2005-09-05T16:30:00.000-07:00

Hill 88 is a favorite walk when the Marin headlands are free from fog. Starting from Fort Cronkhite the Coastal Trail winds up to Hill 88 at 960ft, past various WWII era coastal defenses. Cross the ridge and descend down Wolf Ridge Trail and Miwok Trail to complete a 4.5 mile loop.

Rodeo Beach viewed from the Coastal Trail. As you ascend there are views of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco.

Battery Townsley, one of several coastal defenses passed on the walk.

View of Mount Tamalpais as you begin to descend Wolf Ridge Trail.

(4.56 miles, total elevation gain 1,142 feet, 1 hour 38 minutes (average 2.79 mph), view in Google Earth)

Bernal Hill

2005-08-13T14:33:00.000-07:00

Closest walk from home is a quick trip round Bernal Hill for views of downtown San Francisco and three bridges.

(0.83 miles, total elevation gain 292 feet, 23 minutes (average 2.12 mph), view in Google Earth)