Today we decided to go for a hike up along the ridge where we ended our hike on one of our previous trips here. That time we started up the canyon following the river, and followed a stream bed up into the upper edge of the mountain. I recall it being very windy on that…

It was a little warmer today than it has been – so when we woke up to a beautiful sunny morning, I decided it was shower day. I wanted to shower yesterday, but the cold and then rainy weather deterred me. I didn’t feel grungy enough to justify pulling out the shower stuff in the…

In the afternoon, it went from being cold outside to a bit of a downpour. It rained enough that there was water flowing through the riverbed behind our campsite – although there is no sign of the water in the riverbed this morning.

Scott described it, I arrived back at the van “only marginally injured”. Just after the last picture was taken, I slipped on the way downhill and went down part of the hill on my butt, which would have been fine except the hills was made up of mostly sharp rocks!

We had drive the Rainbow basin scenic loop a couple years ago and at that time found ourselves thinking that we wanted to come back and do it on bikes which would allow us to stop more often and experience the scenery without having to worry about whether or not the van would fit through…

Next on our tour of Santa Clara County Parks is Joseph D. Grant. This park is at about the 1/2 way point on the way up to the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton. We arrived tired late Saturday afternoon so opted for a short hike. I found the narleyness of the trees fascinating. It is…