Marin Headlands Again

Ok, kids. Last one. A week ago we went back to the Marin Headlands in the hopes of going to Hawk Hill, without knowing that you can't really walk there. So instead we wandered up to the top of a hill overlooking the Golden Gate. The whole hike took about four hours and was approx. nine miles, and at one point I fell down and now have a fairly large bruise on my arm that my housemate has nicknamed Bruise Wayne.

So that's all she wrote. No more hikes, no more prep. We fly to Europe on Wednesday. Thank you to any and all who stopped by this blog and followed along. Most likely I will post some pictures of the Camino itself when we get back in October. Hasta luego.

Taylor Mountain: First Time Back

Hello, friends. Last weekend's hike was pretty quick, since Dad and I both had a baby shower to attend in the afternoon. We just took a quick jaunt up Taylor Mountain, using the park's recently opened second entrance on Petaluma Hill Rd. It added a little length to our hike- in the end we hit about 5.6 miles, which took us a little over two hours. It was also the first mountain I climbed with my backpack on, so... there's that.

Here are the five pictures I took:

Annadel

Oh, hi gang. My apologies for just now managing this baby post for last weekend's hike at Annadel State Park. This was my first time trying out my backpack (ideally I would have liked to have busted it out earlier, but what with my knees I really wanted to make sure I was firing all cylinders before introducing 25 more pounds into the mix). Overall everything went smoothly. I found that one definitely sweats more when hauling a large pack around, but other than that the larger pack didn't feel much different than my normal camelback.

I was a complete failure and did not clock this hike, but I believe it was between nine and ten miles, and took about four hours.

Also, really the only pictures dad took were of the two coyotes we saw. So here: enjoy some coyotes.

Sonoma Mountain

Hello! So this is actually last weekend's post, which I was frankly too lazy to get to until today. And today seemed like a great time to do it because in fact there is no post for this weekend. Dad went camping and I went to visit my grandma. Yes. Big training weekend.

So here's what's up with Sonoma Mountain. We have actually hiked this glorious beast before, but the first time we accessed it from Jack London State Park (which is excellent and definitely worth a visit, but has kind of weird hours if you're an early-morning hiker). A few months ago (possibly closer to a year ago? I don't know.) a new trail opened up off of Bennet Valley Road that eventually spits you out on Sonoma Mountain, and we've been aching to give it a shot.

So, by gum, we did. It took us about four hours and came up just shy of ten miles, and I spent probably the last four and a half miles thinking solely about the Slurpee I desperately wanted. (It was amazing, by the way).

All pictures below supplied by Dad.

Dad also tried to take a selfie of the two of us, but accidentally turned the camera off instead.

Return to the Goodspeed Trail

This trail has kind of been like the holy grail in terms of my recovery process. It basically feels like it's what I've been working toward being able to do again. Prior to my injury Dad and I were doing this trail once a month, as a way to gauge how our training was going (based on whether it got any easier from month to month... it didn't). But my word, let me tell you- taking four months off only made it way harder. Although, the condition of my knees was definitely a contributing factor to its difficulty.

But we did it! It took longer than usual at 3.5 hours (7.1 miles), but we got it done! It was super foggy the entire way up and most of the way down, but I think we were both grateful 'cause it kept us much cooler than we would have been otherwise.

 

 

 

Alamere Falls

Sunday we went back to Alamere Falls at Point Reyes. (Two Sundays ago- Father's Day- we did a ten mile hike at Annadel, but neither of us really took any pictures, so there was no post). So! We hiked to Alamere Falls, and then from there continued to the Wildcat Camp Ground before heading back to the car. It was an 11.4 mile hike and it took about four hours.