I've been meaning to get around to hiking Mission Peak for half a decade now, so when Tom Mangan proposed a Thanksgiving Day outing (and Dan Mitchell suggested making it a sunrise attempt) I decided to tag along.

I was the first to arrive at the trailhead at about 5am.  It was quite dark and I realized that I had left my headlamp back at home.  Since I had time I headed back down to Mission Blvd and found a Safeway that was open and picked up a flashlight.  (And a bonus- The Safeway had a Starbucks kiosk).  Dan and Tom C were the next to arrive, followed by Tom Mangan a short time later. 

The hike itself was more or less straight uphill through an active cow pasture.  The darkness gradually dissipated and we beat the sun to the peak by about 15 minutes.  Unexpectedly (by me at least) cold and windy at the summit.

 a

Tom's far more eloquent writeup is here and Dan's much better photos are here.
My pics are here. 

Photos and trip reports for the first half of last week's Southern California trip have been posted. 
We spent 3 days in the Scorpion Ranch campground on the east end of Santa Cruz Island in the Channel Islands National Park.

It turned out to be a near perfect time to visit the park.  The weather was beautiful and there were only ~10 people in the campground.  (The campground has 40 sites and holds 250 people)

We spent each of the three the mornings sea kayaking out of Scorpion Harbor.  The ocean temperatures were cold enough (~62) that we didn't want to end up in water but the winds were calm for all three days and the water surface was mostly clear and placid.   Tons of wildlife in the waters-  In low tides there were starfish on the rocks a multitude of fish amidst the kelp beds.  Out past cavern point we were visited by numerous sea lions and seals.  The seals in particular were curious and would follow the kayaks with their head poking out of the water.  On the first day, a group of sea lions shadowed our kayaks for about a half hour and on day 2 several of them passed underneath us as we headed into the mouth of Potato Harbor.

The afternoons were spent exploring the limited set of hiking trails out of Scorpion Harbor.  Most of the trails climbed up to ridgetops above the Scorpion Canyon and provided great 360 degree views north to the mainland, east to Anacapa Island, west to the center of Santa Cruz Island, and south to the Montaton Ridge.

Pictures and commentary are here: 
Monday -  Kayak to Cavern Point and a hike to the Campo Grande Pasture north of Scorpions Harbor
Tuesday - Kayak to Potato Harbor and a hike to Smugglers Cove
Wednesday-  Morning kayak 1 mil north and south from Scorpion Habor, hike to the Potato Harbor Overlook

I don't have the on-kayak pictures up yet-  My brother had the waterproof camera shell and I'm waiting for him to send me the prints.

This weekend I attended the first annual 2006 "Outdoor Blogger Hoedown" near Mt. Shasta.  

The storm front that passed through California last week had moved on and we were treated to three near perfect Indian Summer days.   Interesting conversation, some light hiking and two of the best camp dinners I've ever had. 

The 2006 Bloggers along the PCT with Mt Shasta in the distance.
Photo stolen from Tom Chandler.

One of the benefits of being the slowest to post is that you get to be the aggregator.  Here's what the other bloggers had to write about the weekend:

Tom Mangan's Two Heel Drive:  Photo Journal , Tom's Impressions of the Bloggers 
Russ Beebe's Winehiker:  Overview Post
Tom Chandler's Trout Underground:  Friday Night, Saturday's Hike 
Climb CA's GetOutdoors: Overview Post
Rick McCharles's Best Hikes:  Overview Post, Photos on Flickr
Sze-ting's LittlePo:  Hmm, guess I'm not the last to post. 

Pictures are coming soon.  Apologies to those who hit the site from the RSS feed looking for them.  (Forgot to remove permissions after uploading, I'll get them back accessable once I've got the captions written)
When posted, they'll be here.

p.s.  'Hoedown' has an 'e'.  A 'Ho Down' is something else entirely.

Clouds Rest has always been one of my favorite Yosemite hikes and has been the subject of some of my more memorable outings over the years.  It was my first hike in the Sierras outside of Yosemite Valley and (with Half Dome) my first hike of over 25 miles.  It had been a few years since I had last been to the peak, so I decided on it as my destination for my first trip back after breaking my ankle 14 weeks ago.

Its almost exactly 200 miles from Mountain View to the Sunrise Trailhead (on Tioga Road just past Olmstead Point).  This was my first long drive since my injury and my first time above sea level in 3 months.  The drive didn't bother me at all, but the elevation gain was bothering me a bit over the course of the day. The weather was nearly perfect and there were zero mosquitoes.  (On prior trips on this route, the mosquitoes were bad enough to make standing still impossible and I've been snowed on Clouds Rest in the summer). 

My ankle held up admirably today-  Almost no pain for the first 12 miles or so.  The final mile or two descended a series of rocky switchbacks that tended to hurt my knees even before the injury.   For this section, I just slowed down and made sure I was leading with my good leg on the downsteps.  Once back on flat ground I was able to pick up the pace again and finish without issue.  My stamina didn't fare nearly as well- I'm relatively out of shape and had to stop frequently on the uphill sections of the back half of the hike.

Pics and commentary are here.

For my third broken ankle recovery outing I headed down to Butano State Park along the Pacfic Coast between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay.   BAHiker.com gives this park a less-than-glowing review, but I found it to be quite enjoyable.  Not as impressive as Big Basin (mostly due to Big Basin's waterfalls) but a definite number two for local redwood forests.  The ridgeside slopes in Butano tended to be very gradual allowing you to see much further than in Big Basin's comparatively steep and narrow canyons. 

My ankle held up well for about 7 of the 10 miles and was causing me a rather substantial amount of pain on the back end of the trip.  Downhill still hurts much more than uphill and I still am missing quite a bit of range of motion.  I held an average 2mph pace for the outing for the first time since returning to the trails.

Pictures and commentary are here.

I headed up to Castle Rock State Park yesterday for my second hike since breaking my ankle 3 months ago.  It was about 30 degrees cooler than my last trip up to Skyline Blvd and quite pleasant under the tree cover.  (Out in the sun it was still a bit warm).   The hike itself was a 6 mile lollipop loop, half of which had a good view of the San Lorenzo River watershed.  My ankle held up reasonably well, though the ridgeside portions of the route were fairly rocky and uneven.  I'm feeling much less sore today than on the day after my first hike.

For the rest of the summer I'm hoping to get out twice a week- once midweek and once on the weekend.  This weekend's destintation will be out to the coast to Butano State Park.

 Pics and commentary are: here

For the first time since my injury 11 weeks ago, I donned my hiking boots and headed out for some trail miles.  I was looking for something with gentle terrain and shaded from the summer sun and decided on a visit to nearby Portola Redwood State Park.  The hike itself was much as expected- the redwood canopy and the state park maintenance crews kept the trail well graded and well maintained.  However, the brutal heat wave that has been embroiling Silicon Valley wasn't diminished by the shade.  It was uncharactically hot and humid in the park and easily topped 100 degrees on the ridgetops.  Over the course of the day, the heat was much more bothersome than my ankle.

To support my ankle, I wore an ASO Ankle Stabilizing Brace.  This worked out quite well and fit comfortably inside my shoe without any discomfort.  My ankle held up well for much of the day, though I was limping noticeably by the end of the 8 miles.  I seemed to be over-pronating (rolling my ankle inward) more than I would normally, but this wasn't causing a substantial amount of pain.  Downhill sections of the trail were much more difficult than the uphills and trails that tilted to the left (in the direction of my overpronation) were more difficult than those that were graded to the right.

I had a substantial amount of muscle aching the next morning.  Trail hiking definitely hits all sort of stabilization muscle groups that you don't exercise while walking on smooth surfaces.

Pictures and commentary from the day are: here
I'm off to an out of town wedding next weekend, so it will probably be two weeks before I'm out on the trails again. 

I got a package in the mail today with my complimentary full set of the new National Geographic Trail Illustrated Yosemite Map series. 

A few months back, I got an email from a Product Manager at National Geographic asking for permission to use one of my photos for the cover of the Hetch Hetchy map.  The picture was a shot of Falls Creek looking north towards Lake Vernon.  (Falls Creek eventually becomes Wapama Falls as it empties into the Hetch Hetchy reservior).  I gave my permission, signed a photo release, and the end result is the above map cover.

The new map series breaks Yosemite down into four quarters and provides a nice niche between the full park maps and the topographic quads.  Besides the NW section, the other 3 quarters are NE: Tuolumne Meadows & Hoover Wilderness, SE: Ansel Adams Wilderness, SW: Yosemite Valley & Wawona.  

This would be my first “professional” photo credit.  At the bottom of the picture is “Photo: © John Fedak, Falls Creek”

The original photo that was used can be found here.
The maps can be purchased here.