Big Sur, 11/24-11/25

Spent Thanksgiving in Big Sur and Monterey.
Spotted lots of mushrooms this trip.

McWay Falls on a cloudy and rainy day.


Limekiln State Park




Limekiln Falls








Sand Dollar Beach




The next day the weather improved for our visit to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.






Pfeiffer Falls

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Palomarin, Alamere Falls, 11/12/11

9:30am - 5:00pm. 11 mile out-and-back/loop: Palomarin Parking Lot, Coast Trail, unmaintained trail to Alamere Falls, scramble down to beach, beach walk toward Wildcat Camp, Ocean Lake Loop, Coast Trail.

The upper falls


Getting down was a challenge. Sharp pieces of loose rock chunks down a steep grade, with the occasional rock breaking off from the cliff. Those two birds were up to no-good!


The lower falls




Mushrooms along Ocean Lake Loop


Baby mushrooms!

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Deer Island Open Space Preserve, 10/29/11

10:00am - 11:00am. 1.8 mile loop: Deer Island Loop Trail

Birds at the parking area.

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Deer Park County Park, 8/7/11

8:05am - 11:30am. 5.5 mile loop: Deer Park Trail, Buckeye Trail, Yolanda Trail, Shaver Grade, Bald Hill Trail, Junction Trail, Deer Park Road.

Parking area. There were a few parking spaces at a school, and in the smaller lot immediately before the one in the photo. Getting to the park required driving a few blocks on an extremely narrow residential road.


All of the photos of the flowers were taken on Buckeye Trail. There were quite a few baby lizards scuttling around on Yolanda Trail. I was unable to get a decent photo of one though.

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Purisima Creek Redwoods, 7/31/11

Started at about 8:30am from the North Ridge Trailhead Parking lot; ended at about 1:30. 9.9 mile loop: North Ridge Trail, Whittemore Gulch Trail, Prisima Creek Trail, Craig Britton Trail, Harkins Ridge Trail, North Ridge Trail.
North Ridge trail offered the most interesting scenery; lots of moss, vegetation, and fog.





Large parking lot. This was what it looked like when we finished our hike. There were only a handful of cars when we started in the morning.

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Point Reyes, Sky Camp, 7/23/11

Overnight backpacking trip. First once since Boy Scouts (~18 years ago). Hiked 2.8 miles from the Visitor Center to Sky Camp via the Mt. Wittenberg Trail.

Hiked to Sculptured Beach from Sky Camp; Sky Trail, Woodward Valley, Coast Trail to Sculptured Beach, Coast Trail, Fire Lane back to Sky Camp. ~8.8 mile loop.



A dear and a deer.

Sculptured Beach

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Muir Woods, 7/17/11

Parked along Muir Woods Road. Deer Park Fire Road, Dipsea Trail, Muir Woods Road to Muir Woods National Monument Entrance. From there, I don't remember which way we went. I want to say Main Trail, Fern Creek Trail, Alice Eastwood Trail, Troop 80 Trail, TCC Trail, Stapelveldt Trail, Ben Johnson Trail, Bridge 4, Main Trail, Muir Woods Road.

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Mt Tamalpais, 6/25/11

Parked on Belvedere Avenue. There is not a lot of parking; be sure to come early if you want to park by the trailhead.
Matt Davis Trail, Pantoll Ranger Station, Steep Ravine Trail, Dipsea Trail, Highway 1, Belvedere Ave.

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