I couldn’t wait to get in among the trees to test my new GPS unit. Castle Rock State Park has abundant tree cover, though nothing as thick as, say Big Basin Redwoods, which is back in the rotation again (though…
Day hikes I’ve done
Mercury News article on ranching history of nearby parks
by tom • November 20, 2008 • 0 Comments
Lisa Krieger’s latest Wanderlust report covers ground trodden many times over around here. She starts at Grant County Park and ranges over to the Skyline Boulevard open space preserves. While the pioneers who toiled on our old family farms are…
Bonus hike at Ed Levin County Park
by tom • November 12, 2008 • 15 Comments
I saw the little black angus calf wandering about, baying for its mom, about 100 yards down the trail. I wondered where mom was because the only time a cow will trouble itself to stop grazing is if you block…
First hike: Garin-Dry Creek Pioneer Regional Park
by tom • November 2, 2008 • 6 Comments
Garin-Dry Creek Pioneer Regional Park is mostly former ranch land, like most of the East Bay parks, which means a fair share of old Jeep trails better attuned to the internal combustion engine. The park is in lies in the…
Mount Sizer in Henry Coe: Among the best hard hikes in the Bay Area
by tom • October 20, 2008 • 6 Comments
What makes Mount Sizer a must-see? Check out Baychic’s pictures from Saturday. She went with a group that put in a 16-mile version of the Sizer loop (just about any Sizer hike is a minimum of 12 miles, all of…
New hike video: Sunol Wilderness
by tom • October 13, 2008 • 8 Comments
About time I got some actual hiking done around here. After a four-week break (the longest in four years) I decided Sunol Regional Wilderness would be an excellent re-entry point. Sunol is my default venue if I’m too lazy to…
News flash: Monte Bello Open Space gets hot in the summertime
by tom • August 11, 2008 • 2 Comments
Chalk this up to market capitalism: when you hike for pay you do things like: Go solo because you can’t afford to be distracted. Walk fast but stop constantly to take scads of meticulously framed pictures in the hope that…
Addressing my public at Sunol Wilderness
by tom • August 4, 2008 • 5 Comments
This is a first: meeting not one but two Two-Heel Drive readers for the first time on the same day. I decided to tag along with Mike Wimble’s FOMFOK gang because they were heading out to my all-time favorite Bay…
Final Hikes column: Pescadero Creek County Park
by tom • July 21, 2008 • 1 Comment
This’ll be the last one I do for the San Jose Mercury News. Tucked into a remote section of the Santa Cruz Mountains south of La Honda, the park is one of three grouped nearby. The other two – Sam…