The day before I came down with Strep Throat I hiked up Slacker Ridge Trail with friends to view San Francisco, Fort Baker, Horseshoe Cove, and the trailing lights along US101/HWY 1 going in and out of San Francisco. It was an amazing night. Just before we headed out for the night. We saw this bizarre rocket shooting across the sky with a triangle white light, and long blue tail. It looked as if it were coming straight for us from San Francisco, but it veered to the right over the bridge and up, up, up and away. Unfortunately, I had packed up my gear ready to head down the hill so I didn’t get an image of it.
It was reported that the Navy had test fired an unarmed Trident Missile from a submarine in San Diego. The Missile was seen in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oregon, Nevada, WA, and I read the target was in Alaska! It was amazing to see but, I do regret packing up my gear!
Nikon Df| Nikon 24-70mm| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| PSCS6
Gleaned from the trail while on my “stretch my legs” hike up the Steep Hill and beyond.
This week has been a “red letter” one for me hiking up the Steep Hill. I made it to the top without stopping both times I hiked up the hill this week! It’s an 11% grade up to the top where my Lonely Tree is growing. See some trail images of the Steep hill here.
I think going up all those stairs last week while on the cruise ship paid off. 🙂
Nikon Df| LensBaby Composer Pro w/Soft Focus Optic & Macro Converters| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| CS6 & On1 Perfect Effects 9
I didn’t venture too far for this image; just down the street. In hindsight I should have sought higher ground. Venus was setting fast and if I had been higher I might have been able to photograph longer ,so that Jupiter would have been brighter. Live and learn!
I do like the way the Moon looks, and am pleased I didn’t blow it out. 🙂
Jupiter is that teeny tiny white dot above and to the right of Venus which is the bright star next to the New Moon.
Nikon Df| AF-D 105mm f2.8@ f/10| 0.3sec| ISO 400| Manual Priority| Manual Focus| Tripod| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| CS6
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He-Man and I have been hiking every week-end together since his Dr. and Therapist gave him the okay after he ruptured his Patella Tendon and had surgery last November. He’s really come a long way.
Today he was up for hiking the steepest, and longest hike since he was given the okay.
We gained about 1000 ft in elevation and hiked just about 5 miles. Here are several images I made along the hike.
All were taken with my iPhone 5 and developed in Photoshop CS6
Garrod Pond…when we take #1 Grandson on Pony Rides it’s at this stable, and pond that the guides walk him. I love seeing how excited he is walking the Ponies around this pond looking at birds/ in the trees for birds, and looking for ducks in the pond. His Mother says I am influencing his interests. I can’t say I’m totally innocent or sans motive! If I am able to influence him to love nature, an his environment then I think I can take a back seat and let the young lead.
I OT: I offer no excuses I love being a Grandma, and I’m really glad that I’m able to keep hiking, moving my legs, and hope that I am able to for many years to come! I hear the secret to living a long happy, active life is keeping the legs moving.
I am going to try my best to keep moving…uphill! The reward is going home down hill all the way baby! 🙂
Alex, Theresa, and I started our hike to Delicate Arch at 4:10am and got to the Arch in 42 minutes with only head-lamps for light. There was only one other car in the parking lot when we arrived. We met the two guys that it belonged to on their way down.
The trail-head to Delicate Arch is right off the parking lot at Wolfe Ranch inside of Arches National Park. The elevation gain is about 500 ft up rough and steep terrain. Length of the hike is 3 miles round trip. Most the trail you’re hiking on giant slabs of sandstone. The trail is marked by cairns, but some are widely spaced so, if not carefully looking for them you can miss one.Theresa and I missed one on our first hike up to Delicate Arch back in 2010 we ended up about quarter of mile off course and had to back-track to find the trail.
The last bit of the climb is along the side of sandstone fin. There are several steps and a path that was carved out of the stone that wind their way up to the Arch. This part of the path is fairly narrow and has no cable or guard rail- If you fall you could be toast.
Here’s an image Theresa took of us hiking down that part of the trail. That’s Alex, with me in the lead, and Theresa’s shadow on the sandstone wall. Thank you T for giving me a copy of this image! xx
There was no one else up at the Arch when we got there, but it wasn’t too long before other hikers were coming up the trail, and by 6AM there was quite a crowd, and it was getting warm already. We stayed up through Golden Hour and when the light went flat we packed up and hiked down, starving and ready for breakfast then a nap.
We hiked to Mission Peak this morning. It’s a tradition of sorts to hike up here when Big Baby Boy is home. We had a 3 day week-end in the States, so my son and girl-friend came up from Southern CA to hang out with us and #1 Grandson. His girl-friend had never hiked up here before. She’s amazing she ran the last steepest 500ft to get to the top. She was excited to get there.
It was exciting for me too. I have a new Personal Best time for the hike up 1h 31m!
Instead of taking my photo on the pole…which I’ve done before a few times I took a photo of my toy mascot Travelerette on the Survey Mark. Someone stole the little plate, but the nails spelling out Mission Peak, and elevation are still there. Mission Peak is in the Diablo Range in Northern California. It is 2,517 ft high, and nearly every step of the 3.4miles we hiked is steep, steep, steep! We hiked the Less Steep Route which is 3.4 miles to the top with an elevation gain of 2,017ft. Total miles hiked 6.8
It was very crowded up there today. The line to stand on the pole and take your picture was long. It took us a half hour or more. I was pleased to see it has become custom to wait in line for your turn since my last hike up to the pole. Honestly it’s got to be so popular up there avoid week-ends, and holidays if you can!
Look at this line! There were 4 to 5 people ahead of me not in the frame.
All of us were feeling heavy and a bit groggy from the Thanksgiving Feast so we decided to hike up to Mission Peak to shake it off, and keep a tradition going. When my son comes home for the holidays we come up here at least once together. This time my husband came along too. The light was gorgeous at the top when we arrived.
It was a lovely afternoon, sunny, and warm, and it didn’t get chilly or windy until we were near the top. I didn’t outdo any records making it up here this time. The rich food of the day before and not hiking for a few weeks paid its toll.
Near the trail-head there were several Magpies hanging around. Here is one landing on a post along the trail. I think these birds are pretty, but they gross me out!
There are quite a few new calves up here now, and I saw a pretty big Red-Tail Hawk hanging around looking for something to eat near the top. There were also quite a few other people making this trek.
Calf with Caramel Ears
We stayed long enough to snap a photo, and head down. We wanted to get down before dark; we almost did.
Myself and 7 other members of a Meet-up group I’m in backpacked to Upper Cathedral Lake in Yosemite Wilderness. for an overnight photography adventure. It’s a 3.5 mile hike starting at 8500 ft, and topping out at 9500ft. I took my Garmin for the stats, but haven’t uploaded it yet.
My legs are dead tired after hauling my body plus 20+ pound pack up there, but it was so worth it!
It’s gorgeous up here. We lucked out it was too cool for mosquitoes. I didn’t get eaten alive at all. There were only a few other campers up here making it really enjoyable considering it was a major holiday week-end in the United States, and the valley was packed with people.
After picking a site to set up our base camp we set up our tents then grabbed our camera equipment and trekked over to the south side of the lake to shoot the sunset. We didn’t get any color in the sky as it stayed flat all afternoon and evening, but the Alpine Glow on the mountain peaks was lovely.
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