In order to keep myself motivated and to get out hiking more, I purchased a Santa Clara County annual pass. When I mentioned that I wanted to hike in all of the Santa Clara County parks where hiking makes sense, she mentioned to me the PixInParks challenge. That was enough to keep me moving.
Hiking with Scott on the weekend, it occurred to me that I could use this space to blog about the different trails and share some pictures.
Mount Madonna Tie Camp loop was my favourite hike so far. I was struck by how many different ecosystems we passed through. It is hard to believe that all these pictures were taken on the same trail.
Here is a map and the elevation profile (note that the numbers are in meters). The full hike distance was around 7.5km which we hiked in just over 2 hours.
The terrain began as a well established trail under the shade of oaks.
When we came along the creek, we noticed that there were redwoods growing out creek.
We then left the Redwoods behind and continued along the trail to a clearing.
We were both fascinated by these plants – and enjoyed the view of the surrounding hills.
And then we turned a corner and were in the thick of a grove of Red Woods very reminiscent of the trails at Big Basin State Park.
Which yet again opened up with another change in surrounding vegetation.
And we mustn’t forget the required selfie from the Tie Camp trail.
Overall, a very pleasant hike – about an hour’s drive south west from our home.