Leave a comment Posted on 05/13/201306/17/2013 Peak a Week

To the M | Week 8 | Peak a Week

This is the third time we’ve hiked Madonna since starting Peak a Week, tho each time has been a little different (see Week 1 and Week 5). This time we hiked to the “M” which most people think stands for Madonna, but really stands for Mission College Prep, which is near this peak’s base.

A note about the name. Everyone will know which peak you mean when you say Madonna Mountain. Even the most die-hards among us will probably slip up and call it that once in a while. This is for the Madonna Inn/Madonna Family that seem to own much of the hill and make a big splash in its south end.

Many people will call it San Luis Mountain, tho truthfully, I hear that less. We normally call it Cerro San Luis, its proper name.

This is the view from about 1/3 up, looking south down broad street. Islay Hill is off in the distance.

Growing up, I always hit the trail at the base of Tassajara on the north side of the peak. But that trail isn’t used nearly as much (I wonder — has that entrance been removed?). Almost everybody enters from the Marsh Street entrance, off the 101 offramp.

The students of Mission College Prep (a private catholic high school affiliated with Mission San Luis Obispo de Telosa, our local mission) take care of it.

I mentioned in the last hiking post that I really had a thing for Black Sage this year. It’s seemed to have bloomed more this year than I remember before (or maybe this is the year I decided to notice). The blooms are just beginning to wane.

On the way down, looking towards Laguna Lake.

The cactus is in full bloom. (I would love to know the story of this stand of prickly pear. How did they get here? Who planted them? Why?)

This isn’t really on the trail, but on the path that takes you back downtown. It just made me chuckle: a fence to keep the weeds out.

4 Comments Posted on 05/10/201305/11/2013 Peak a Week

Los Osos Oak | Week 7 | Peak a Week

I feel obligated to state once again that Peak a Week is really just a weekly hike. Many of these jaunts will not include any gain of elevation. Case in point, our week 7 outing to the Los Osos Oaks (Sunday, May 5).

This would be a great place to bring paints or pens. It’s a place that is lovely to simply be in. (See Joe Linton’s Los Osos Oaks Pieces for examples.)

But hiking… That’s a tough one. The trails are poorly marked. Steve and I found ourselves backtracking quite a bit… And we never actually “got” anywhere (not that we needed to… the paths seemed to meander to nowhere, gradually petering out to nothing.). The trails are also poorly maintained. Poison oak boarders long stretches of path, reaching its evil tendrils into the trails, so consider wearing long pants.

That said, it was quite pretty. I’d go again.

I love black sage. This year has been an exceptional year for the flowering of the black sage — the season seems to have lasted longer and the blooms are prolific. Huge stands of sage covered in lavender-colored spikes. And the scent. When it gets hot, the scent gets more intense (I’m not sure why). I find myself walking a path — either on a hike, around campus, or even on my walk home — and suddenly surrounded by the strong smell of black sage.

The blooms are just starting to fade now, and I think the green of the sage will dull a bit, too. Soon these will just be big, green-brownish bushes, so I make a point of really taking in the blooms and the scent right now.

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1 Comment Posted on 05/09/2013 Beach a Week

Cal Poly Pier | Week 9 | Beach a Week

The Cal Poly Pier opens to the public twice a year. Professors, instructors, and students man touch tanks and research stations to educate the public about the research they conduct via the program. Super geared for kids, the day provides up-close-and-personal looks into the lives of sea creatures as well as campus projects.

The pier was donated to Cal Poly by Unocal and is a little more than a half-mile long. You can still see, along the side, the pipes that used to carry oil from ocean to shore.

The seaweed below the pier.

Looking from the pier to Avila Beach proper. That beach way over yonder is the main beach people visit when they come to Avila.

This is the beach we went to for Beach a Week #7, Dog Beach.

I was really excited to see all of the exhibits once we got onto the pier. This seastar touch tank had a huge crowd with one brave soul holding a many-legged sea star (nee starfish) and people were encouraging a little one to touch it.

Turned out that the brave soul was my mom and the little one refusing to touch it was my niece, Ysabel. The moment when I figured it out is caught here by the folks at Coast News (photo credit, Christopher Gardner/Coast News).

Here’s my mom, holding the sea star.

Here’s my niece refusing to touch the sea star.

Nathan, my nephew, was brave enough to touch the sea star and game enough to show me his missing teeth.

Six going on seven is a great age.

Me, mom, Bec, Nathan and Ysabel (thanks Steve for taking the photo).

Leave a comment Posted on 05/02/201305/02/2013 Peak a Week

Bluff Trail | Week 6 | Peak a Week

So it wasn’t a peak. And it was three days past week 6, but the days before I had been pretty sick and one-with-my-couch. The hike, it would have to wait. And when it did come it would have to be an easy one. At the first sign of breathing freely and hints of energy, I grabbed my mom for a nice, long, leisurely walk along the California coast line.

Leave a comment Posted on 04/26/201304/26/2013 Beach a Week

Corallina Cove | Week 8 | Beach a Week

Corallina Cove is a little beach along the Montana de Oro Bluff Trail. I went there with a long-time Flickr friend who lives in Alaska, John H, visiting California. Going to the beach was fun, but more fun I think was driving around in the convertible John rented for his trip along the California coast.

4 Comments Posted on 04/22/201304/22/2013 Beach a Week

Avila’s Dog Beach | Week 7 | Beach a Week

Shane put out the call. He wanted a beach day and he wanted friends there. So we hupped to and had a fun afternoon at Dog Beach in Avila.

Camp Happy Face, beach version

It was little Josie’s first time in a kayak.

Leave a comment Posted on 04/21/201304/21/2013 Sur a Month

Treebones & Ragged Point | Month 2 | Sur a Month

I wanted KB to join me on a Beach a Week adventure and I thought going to San Simeon Cove would be perfect. It’s a family beach with only a few people on the beach at any time. She was game and we headed up the coast with her recently turned one-year-old, Ryder (aka happiest baby ever.). He’d nap as we drove north.

We got close to San Simeon and Ryder was still fast asleep. Kristin didn’t have the heart to wake him (also known as did have the common sense to let him sleep). I said, “let’s keep going north!” And so we did. Piedras Blancas? Ryder was still asleep. Ragged Point? Still asleep. Gorda?

Gorda meant close enough to Treebones, so we decided to hit up yurt central to take in the views, the little shop, and maybe some lunch.

I mean most definitely lunch. And most definitely this counted as my April Sur a Month visit.

We split an organic beet salad (grown there) and a killer BLT+A. We had the pick of spots so chose front and center at the bar overlooking the ocean. We wanted whales, but only saw swallows and humming birds. (An aside: one of the groundskeepers said that he heard the swallows show up once the whales’ migration finished, so maybe that explains the early swallow sightings.)

April may well be the height of the Pride of Madeira blooming season. Blooming Pride of Madeira is one of the things I look forward to the most when winter is winding down and spring is gearing up. This year has been epic. Best blooms ever, up and down the coast.

I have to give a quick shout out to Monica at Treebones. She was really nice and made our little stop even better because she was so friendly. Thanks for the awesome service, Monica. After lunch we bid Treebones adieu and headed back down the road towards Ragged Point.

Which was also sporting a lot of Pride of Madeira.

KB and Ryder

We did finally make it to San Simeon (featured last Sunday in Week 5 Beach a Week). A great day all around.

1 Comment Posted on 04/21/201304/21/2013 Peak a Week

Lemon Grove Loop | Week 5 | Peak a Week

Week 5 already and I love this challenge. So glad I started all of these (Peak, Beach, Sur). This week was a bit of a repeat as we did parts of trails that wind about Cerro San Luis (aka San Luis Mountain aka Madonna Mountain.). While Steve calls this Lemon Grove Loop, when I looked at maps I realized we do half of Lemon Grove Loop, jump on an alternate trail that takes us all the way around the peak and then back down the main road for a longer hike.

This was also the first group hike of my Peak a Week challenge, instigated by both Shane and Steve (thanks guys). There were eight of us (10 if you include Kirstin and Bailey who never quite caught up and ended up taking a different trail with Shane).

This is Doug.

And this is Cami. At eight months, she still hustled up the hill and caught up with us even after we’d had an eight-minute or so head start.

Corinna

The group through the trees. Doug, Karen, Corinna.

The north side of the hill is my favorite, with its thick grove of oaks and such.

Tom, Cami and Bishop Peak

Bishop Peak and its swath of mustard patches. I hope we get one more rain storm so we can sustain the green a bit longer. Soon this will be brown, brown, tan, and brown.

Hikers from emdot on Vimeo.

(Timelapse by Steve Akers)

4 Comments Posted on 04/14/201304/14/2013 Beach a Week

San Simeon Cove | Week 6 | Beach a Week

San Simeon Cove is sweet, it’s warm, it’s off-the-beaten-path. It has hikes, a long sandy beach, a little creek and a killer pier. You can fish, you can sail, you can swim. I wish I knew more about its history, but you can imagine it played an important role when the Hearsts were both building and entertaining at the castle.

There is also a cute little market/post office/wine tasting bar and a way too cute little old school house. Both have the castle as their backdrop (see: photo above).

Today’s trip was with Kristin (aka KB) and her cute-as-a-button son, Ryder. There would be pictures of them here, but I made a camera-setting mistake and lost the photos I took of them on the pier. Dumb camera. (Thanks for coming with, KB and Ryder! I’ll make up for the lost photos in the next post.)

A grove of old eucs borders the beach, adding a foresty feel.

This pier is a good one. I’ve seen at least one national commercial (for Carl’s Junior?) shot here.

Looking south from the pier, towards Cambria.

Nice long walk along the cliff above the beach.

Elephant Seals at Piedras Blancas (just up the road a bit)

We also stopped at the Elephant Seal rookery at Piedras Blancas, just north of San Simeon. The beach was packed with females and juvenile males, all molting. The big bulls are still out to sea (won’t be back till August), so no fighting. Just lazing in the sun and sloughing off old fur. And making ~~farting sounds~~ seal noises.

3 Comments Posted on 04/13/201304/14/2013 Peak a Week

Johnson Ranch | Week 4 | Peak a Week

Johnson Ranch isn’t a peak, but it is a hike, which is the whole point of this challenge: Getting outside and making the most of this beautiful county and Pacific Daylight Time.

This is a newer trail in SLO. It was bought by the city in 2001 (it was a working ranch up until that time). A volunteer group (I think) called Leadership worked the trails and made it accessible for hikers and bikers. It must have been great to be a part of that group.

The trail was packed despite the fact that we got there late (packed meaning, we saw about 8 mountain bikers and 6 other hikers).

I’m embarrassed to say I’d never hiked Johnson Ranch before. My friends have raved (special shout out to Kristin and Aurajoy), so I really don’t know what took me so long. (Yes I do: I am in love with Bishop Peak. Previously my thought was “why hike anywhere else?”). I loved today’s hike and can’t wait to head back out there, especially while the spring flowers are still blooming. The trail is packed with both white and purple lupine, vetch, poppies, and tall, tall mustard. Also currently going crazy: aromatic sage and the sweet scent of Sycamores. Two of my favorite things.

Those white boxes are for bees.