Montara State Beach

We all drove to the coast today and stopped at Montara State Beach, and I decided to bring my backpack just in case. I'm glad I did, because Tristyn and I ended up going on a nice (short) hike while Allison and Maria went down to the beach!

While short, it wasnt an easy hike. It was hot, and fairly steep. The start of the trail wound through some thick brush with some interesting plants.

Tristyn walked on this own. The grass was higher than him.

It wasn't long before the trail looped back to face west, and we had the ocean in front of us. You can see the parking lot below.

The trail looped back east again for a very, very steep 1/4 mile. I almost slipped a few times it was so steep. The view at the top was worth it.

Looking south towards Half Moon Bay

And north to Pacifica

We continued on, getting higher

And had the entire Pacific in front of us. Be sure to click on the panorama for the full size view.

We continued another half mile and turned around

We went all the way back down to the beach to find Allison and Maria. There were some interesting remnants of yore

The sand felt great

Allison and Tristyn played in the sand

The marine layer of fog rolled over the top of the hills

It was a windy day, and the waves crashed into the beach

Time Lapse video of the waves

A few more of the waves, and a rock cove to the south

We got back into the car and headed North on Highway #1 into San Francisco. We went he the sunset district for Asian food.

Houses are expensive in San Fran

We went to a Chinese Dumpling restaurant. The food was amazing.

• Steamed Dumplings
• Sizzling Chicken
• Sweet and Sour Chicken
• Pepper Fried Chicken

The chicken really did sizzle - it came out on a hot cast iron dish

We headed home and saw a blanket of fog coming over the Santa Cruz mountains on Skyline Blvd. Can you spot something looking at us in the distance?

The End

Ed Levin Country Park

Tristyn and I got up early today. May 28th 2016, and made the long trek down 101, across Silicon Valley on the 237 and up into the hills to Ed Levin County park.  You can see the hills in the distance as you travel 237.

This is one of my favorite places - I used to go here a lot by myself. Its the "Back Door" to Mission Peak - much less crowded and quiet. It was Tristyns first time here!

We started at the Tularctos Trailhead. 

Its getting later in the Spring, but some wild flowers were still out

Tristyn started off on his own, walking with me and throwing rocks.

The path is fairly steep to begin with. You can see how it "Rolls". It didn't take long before he got into the backpack.

The path cuts through grazing fields for cattle. Tristyn loves the "Moo Cows". He points at cow dung and yells "Horsies" or "Cows". 

Even the wildflowers have a shitty life. Or, there is beauty everywhere :)

We stopped after a couple miles for a drink. I had a half frozen coconut juice. Nothing better in the hot sun (it was in the 80's).

We took a couple pictures overlooking the Bay.

Tristyn slipped just as we took this picture

We continued on our way over the dry, cracked, ground. This was supposed to be an "El Nino" year, but its still pretty dry

We stopped after 3 miles in an oak grove (there isn't much shade on this path). It was still about 3 miles to Mission Peak. I wanted to go, but it was too hot for Tristyn.

Tristyn got out and walked with me for awhile.

There is a hang glider launch site near the trail. Tristyn was blown away by them flowing through the air. He talked about "Hang glider" for days.

We got back to the trailhead and stopped at the playground. The static electricty on the slide made for some interesting hair!

And we made one final stop at 7/11 for our usual post hike re-hydration (Tristyn got the chocolate milk)

Our final stats:

5 1/2 miles over 2.5 hours with 1000 feet of elevation gain/loss