The hike is still on. The Illustrious Fedak sends his regrets but Dan Mitchell is a go. The first to volunteer was Tom Clifton. Could we see a Steve Sergeant appearance? I’m guessing that w/all the snow that’s arrived in the Sierra of late, he’ll be out skiing all weekend. But maybe he’ll surprise us.
Remember, this is not a blogger-only event. If you read this blog, you’re welcome to to join.
The key facts, in review:
- Start time is 10 a.m.
- Rain does not cancel.
- Trailhead is at Monte Bello Open Space Preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
- To get there: Take the Page Mill Road exit off Interstate 280, go west
on Page Mill for about seven miles up into the hills. For door to door (well,
trail) directions, check this Google Maps link. Page Mill is curvy and apt
to be crowded with road bikers, so leave yourself a half-hour to complete
this stretch of road. - It’s an easy hike to Black Mountain summit, five or six miles (round trip)
max and minor elevation change.
More details from a previous post are here.
For those of you unfortunate enough to live outside the Bay Area of Northern California: Manage your grief by having a First Hike of your very own. If you post pictures, send me a URL and I’ll share the link love here next week. If you’re snowbound, well, perhaps this is your chance to take up snowshoeing. All the cool people are doing it this year.
Too many people cancelled on my snow camping trip. I went skiing for the day today, but I’m back. I don’t have a big bacchanalia planned for News Year’s Eve, so I might even be awake early enough to meet you at the Wednesday night stomping grounds of my fellow amateur astronomers.
When I lived in SoCal, I had a number of Japanese friends. One of their traditions was to climb a mountain before dawn on New Year’s Day to watch the first sunrise of the year. They’d bring along various picnic breakfast snacks as part of the celebration, and green tea in a thermos bottle. I’m glad you aren’t starting that early.