The last couple years I’ve done a First Day Hike with Mike Wimble and his wife, Kathy, and their hiking group (called FOMFOK, for Friends of Mike, Friends of Kathy).

The hike is at the Monte Bello Ridge Open Space Preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains west of Palo Alto. It’s a fairly short hike, only about 3 miles to Black Mountain (pictured above from the Flickr photostream of bubbletea1, a Bay Area hiker and photographer) and back to the trailhead.

This year I’m proposing some of us Two-Heel Drive types meeting the FOMFOK folks at the Monte Bello Ridge trailhead. If like me you are not an Amateur Night imbiber who needs a holiday for an excuse to get plowed, you won’t be hung over on New Years Day, so you won’t have any trouble making it to the trailhead at, say, 10 in the morning.

Mike hasn’t set the actual time for his hike yet but his group almost always hikes in the morning. They also bring Champagne on New Years Day and often howl while standing on the rocks pictured above. Great fun.

This is an excellent hike — I’ve done it both in good weather and bad, and each is equally worthwhile. Click “add your feedback” if you’re interested.