Chilling on the California Coast
Glaciers that drifted across the upper Midwest tens of thousands of years ago bypassed the southwestern corner of Wisconsin. Instead of the flatlands that distinguish much of the region, a land of rugged bluffs overlooking shallow river valleys survived – Driftless Wisconsin.
Continue reading “Architectural Genius & the Bizarre in Driftless Wisconsin”
The Bay Area Ridge trail at Trione-Annadel State Park begins on a connector path through Howarth and Spring Lake parks in Santa Rosa. It snakes past a pair of reservoirs – Ralphine and Spring lakes – wraps around a bevy of water tanks and crosses an earthen dam. Upon reaching the state park, the trail parallels Spring Creek before rising into wooded highlands on the east side of Bennett Mountain. As the rocky track descends, it passes through a marshy meadow and finally a series of switchbacks through a blackened redwood forest. Portions of the state park were damaged by the 2017 Nuns fire and 2020 Glass fire.
We are hiking the 407-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail. Sign up to follow our progress here.
Continue reading “A Deadfall Scramble on the Ridge Trail at Trione-Annadel”
Duluth and Minnesota’s North Shore may rank among the Midwest’s best kept secrets.
Dan and his brother visited in 2018 as a diversion on a trip to North Dakota . A stop in Fargo netted Dan and his brother their 49th and 50th states, respectively. (Find that post here.) Smitten by Duluth, less so by Fargo, Dan returned to the North Shore with Dawn on their 2023 Great Lakes road trip for a second helping of “Minnesota nice.”
Continue reading “Duluth and ‘Root Beer’ Cascades on the North Shore”
Shipwrecks have taken some 6,000 ships and 30,000 lives on the Great Lakes over the past 250 years. The maritime museums that dot the shorelines are replete with tales of fierce storms and dense fog, bravery and bravado, negligence and incompetence. Divers can explore the remains at more than a dozen watery sanctuaries. And several glass bottom boat vendors offer glimpses of wrecks located in lakeshore shallows.
The itinerary of our three-week visit to the Midwest last spring did not include getting wet. So, we confined our shipwreck explores in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to a morning at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, MI, and a pasty-fueled cruise aboard a glass-bottomed boat in the shallows of Lake Superior near Munising, MI.
Continue reading “Pasties Fuel Great Lakes Shipwreck Explore”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail at Sierra Vista Open Space Preserve begins on a ridge 2,000 feet above the Santa Clara Valley. The trail traverses the face of a steep hillside before rising and then dropping steadily into the valley below. It ends abruptly just past the park’s historic homestead, where a locked gate, yellow caution tape and sign with skull and cross bones make clear that the last two miles are closed indefinitely.
We are hiking the 407-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail. Sign up to follow our progress here.
Continue reading “A Sea of Clouds below the Ridge Trail at Sierra Vista Open Space”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail winds past parking and picnic tables along the wooded banks of Penitencia Creek at Alum Rock Park before ascending, more steeply than anticipated, more than 1,500 feet into the pastures and chaparral of the Sierra Vista Open Space Preserve. The parking lot was full when we arrived at 10 a.m. on a weekday. But we found a curbside spot in the San Jose neighborhood just outside the park. Trail traffic was minimal once we began hiking uphill.
We are hiking the 407-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail. Sign up to follow our progress here.
Continue reading “A Ridge Trail Toe Jammer at Alum Rock Park”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail at Mount Umunhum climbs steadily and occasionally steeply through a mixed forest of madrone, bay laurel and oak. The 3,486-foot peak, pushed skyward by a left bend in the San Andreas fault, is the fourth highest in the Santa Cruz Mountains. In addition to the requisite views and a large parking lot, the summit contains “The Cube,” the shell of a Cold War era radar installation that was decommissioned in 1980.
We are hiking the 410-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail. Sign up to follow our progress here.
Continue reading “Logistics Complicate Ridge Trail Hike at Mount Umunhum”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail grew nearly four miles this summer with the grand opening of the Máyyan ‘Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge Open Space Preserve. The five-mile loop that encompasses the Ridge Trail begins with a steep ascent – nearly 900 feet in the first mile – through grasslands to Máyyan ‘Ooyákma, which means “Coyote Ridge” in the native Chochenyo language. The trail runs along the ridge for about a mile before looping back to the trailhead. The Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority requires a “Butterfly Pass” for the Ridge Trail segment. Hikers also must clean their boots before entering the sensitive preserve.
We are hiking the 424-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail. Sign up to follow our progress here.
Continue reading “Bay Area Ridge Trail Grows at Máyyan ‘Ooyákma”
Looking for something completely different from the National Park Service? Head for the Great Lakes to see the three national Lakeshores – Sleeping Bear, Pictured Rocks and Apostle Islands. And stop by Indiana Dunes National Park while you’re in the area.
Continue reading “National Lakeshores Boast Dunes, Crags, Cliffs & Color”
Seeking spectacular desert landscapes or ocean breezes? You won’t find them at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Looking for amazing mountain vistas? Look elsewhere. Hoping to get away from it all? Not here. But you can find a nice selection of walks in the woods with food and lodging nearby.
Continue reading “Falls & Ledges at Cuyahoga, Ohio’s Only National Park”
Perched on the backside of a 361-foot tall volcanic rock between the Pacific Ocean and a sea of private pastureland, the Point Sur Lighthouse is barely visible from California Highway 1. Most visitors to the Big Sur coastline cruise past without a glance.
We drove down from our hotel in Monterey and lined up on the shoulder of Highway 1 for the 10 a.m. tour on a sunny Saturday in April. As the gate swung open, about a dozen cars crept past grazing cows to a dusty staging area at the base of the rock. Our windswept, three-hour tour began with a trudge up a narrow road to the top of the rock. Our cap-clip accessorized docents admonished us to hang onto our hats. Access has never been easy.
Continue reading “Point Sur Lighthouse Hides in Plain Sight”
Quick. Think of a national park in California. Did Pinnacles National Park in the Gabilan Mountains east of the Salinas Valley come to mind? Probably not. We paid a visit.
A national monument elevated to national park status in 2013, Pinnacles is roughly three hours of bad traffic southeast of our home on the San Francisco Peninsula. Fractured volcanic cliffs, talus caves and California condors comprise the most prominent features. The park is hot in summer and cold in winter. Nearby lodging is scarce.
Continue reading “Props for Underappreciated Pinnacles National Park”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail at Joseph D. Grant County Park rises and falls along a ridgeline with a view of San Jose to the west and the Lick Observatory atop Mount Hamilton to the east. Large and lovely meadows bookend the trail at the north and south ends of the trail. Watch out for feral pigs.
We are hiking the 405-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail. Sign up to follow our progress here.
Continue reading “Big Sky & Wild Pigs at Grant Park on the Ridge Trail”
The core of the Bay Area Ridge Trail across Mission Peak Regional Preserve rises 1,600 feet in just three miles from the parking lot at Ohlone College. It then rises some more. The trail flattens out as it bypasses Mission and two other peaks before diving steeply down the west side of the mountain toward Ed R. Levin County Park. The views and elevation gain are breath-taking. Recent trail extensions meander through neighboring hills at the college and county park.
We are hiking the 400-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail. Sign up to follow our progress here.
Continue reading “Battling Ridge Trail Anxiety at Mission Peak”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail at Hood Mountain begins with a gentle climb from the St. Francis Winery and Vineyard in Santa Rosa toward Hood Mountain Regional Park and Open Space Preserve. Upon entering the preserve, the trail spikes skyward to a ridge about 300-feet short of the 2,730 foot summit. Fire damage from 2020 and storm damage from 2023 litter the mountain. The views of Sonoma Valley are lovely.
We are hiking the 405-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail. Sign up to follow our progress here.
Continue reading “Hood Mountain Jump Starts Ridge Trail Trek”
Cape Flattery stretches into the Pacific Ocean from the Makah Reservation in the northwest corner of the contiguous 48 states. The indigenous people call it “The Beginning of the World.” The geographic distinction alone sold us on a visit. But we found lots to do at this remote outpost on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula:
The 70-mile drive on State Route 12 from Port Los Angeles along the Strait of Juan de Fuca is slow and sometimes winding. The natural, cultural and culinary points of interest made it well worth the effort.
Continue reading “A Visit to the ‘Beginning of the World’ at Cape Flattery”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail parallels Penitencia Creek for nearly four miles through two large community parks and beneath Highway 101 in San Jose.
We are hiking the 405-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail. Sign up to follow our progress here.
Continue reading “Urban Hiking at Penitencia Creek on the Ridge Trail”
Some people bag peaks. We bag lighthouses. The New Dungeness Lighthouse off the coast of Sequim, WA, poses a unique challenge.
The light station sits in the Strait of Juan de Fuca at the end of the Dungeness Spit – the longest sand spit in the United States. Lighthouse visitors must make the 10-mile round-trip trek at low tide or get swamped in a jagged thread of tumbled rocks and driftwood that crown the spit’s high water mark.
Dungeness Spit Trail (Aug. 25, 2022) – 10.2 miles
Continue reading “A Hike to the Light at the Tip of the Dungeness Spit”
A glacial valley that boasts 140 inches of rain per year cradles the Hoh Rain Forest in Olympic National Park. Moss and lichen-covered spruce, hemlock, fir and other native tree varieties rise from the valley floor along the banks of the Hoh River and its South Fork. A layer of ferns and shrubs undergirds the canopy. The South Fork Hoh Trail is a less-traveled alternative to the Hall of Mosses and other trails located near the Visitor Center on the Hoh River’s main branch.
South Fork Hoh Trail (Aug 20, 2022) – 8.1 miles, 265 feet of elevation gain
Continue reading “A Trail Less Traveled in the Hoh Rain Forest”
The Bay Area Ridge Trail across Sonoma Mountain climbs a series of switchbacks at North Sonoma Mountain Regional Park and Open Space before crossing a narrow isthmus of dedicated open space and plunging headlong into the forest at Jack London State Historic Park. The “wall” was purely psychological as we crossed the 80 percent completion threshold on our Ridge Trail trek.
We are hiking the 405-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail. Sign up to follow our progress here.
Continue reading “Battling the Ridge Trail ‘Wall’ on Sonoma Mountain”