Silicon Valley humor that nobody else would find humorous: We’ve hiked six miles at Montebello Open Space Preserve and we’re resting up at a trail stop close to the parking lot. A philosophical discussion of Karma arises (nothing but the…
Santa Clara County parks
Beyond the Grizzly Flat trailhead
by tmangan • December 24, 2006 • 1 Comment
Skyline Boulevard, otherwise known as California Route 35, runs along the spine of the Santa Cruz Mountains and is among the prettiest drives in the Bay Area. One of the nice things about Skyline is that if you take a…
All the way to Black Mountain
by tmangan • November 25, 2006 • 3 Comments
There’s an easy way and a hard way to get to Black Mountain, a 2,800-foot summit in the Santa Cruz Mountains west of San Jose. I’ve done the easy route a couple times with Mike and Kathy’s hiking group for…
Out looking for some wreckage
by tmangan • November 18, 2006 • 0 Comments
I’ve hiked up the Monument Peak Trail at Ed Levin County Park dozens of times but only recently did I learn I had been walking right past remnants of a plane crash on the hill back in the 1950s. I…
Winehiker revisited
by tmangan • October 22, 2006 • 1 Comment
This week we revisit Russ Beebe of CaliforniaWineHikes.com, whom I accompanied last month for a swell hike at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, followed by a wine tasting at a vineyard near the park. Russ was a co-conspirator in my…
Back in the hills nearby
by tmangan • October 2, 2006 • 1 Comment
Summer flew the coop while we were wandering around in southern Utah. The weather was cool all week; it was overcast all day Saturday and Sunday dawned much the same. The breeze felt like October, which was convenient, given that…
A silver medal day
by tmangan • July 2, 2006 • 0 Comments
I’ve been fixin’ to get ready to hike at Almaden Quicksilver County Park for months now. The park in the hills southwest of San Jose is not spectacular — no towering redwoods or fascinating rock formations — but it does…
Mother’s Day at Grant County Park
by tmangan • May 14, 2006 • 0 Comments
So it’s Mother’s Day and how’s this for luck: My mom lives 2000 miles away so I’m free to spend the day on the trail. The Diablo Range (official title of the hills east of San Jose) is still mostly…
See more snow
by tmangan • March 12, 2006 • 2 Comments
It snows hard on the hills around Silicon Valley every second year or so. We got zero snow last year so I figured this weekend’s snowstorm — coming this late in the winter — is about the most we can…