Sierra and I were really on a roll this weekend. Two awesome hikes in 3 days. This time we went to Sunol/Ohlone park and although I had planned on doing a slightly shorter hike (~8.5 miles) I took a wrong turn so we ended up doing an extra 2.5 miles for a total of 11.07 miles. Sweet! =)
The "Plan" (originally without the extra Cerro Este "out and back" leg but I mistook that trail for the Eagle View trail) - 11.07 miles
It was a beautiful day to hike Sunol. The hills were green, the creeks were flowing and there were friendly people and their pups everywhere. =)
The sound of the creek spilling over river rocks was so inviting. So inviting that Sierra just had to take a dip. =)
Muppy and me (note the wet fur from taking a dip in the stream).
We were also treated to some beautiful wildflowers and a very interesting tree.
A "Jeffrey's Shooting Star"
This little guy was all by his lonesome. So pretty though. =)
I thought this was kind of cool. I've hiked by it so many times and never realized that the trail is called "W" Tree Rock Scramble because the tree is in the shape of a "W." Ah, now I get it. 😉
Pretty soon we were on our way up the Cerro Este trail. I had decided to do an additional trail called “Eagle View” and mistakenly thought it was the one that headed north at one of the major junctions. Sierra and I hiked and hiked until some houses came into view.
Sierra checks out the houses in front of us. Hmm, this doesn't look right....
Well we made it to a peak but lost the trail. As I looked out over the landscape trying to orient myself I noticed these two coyotes on the next hill over that were watching us intently. They actually started moving in our direction so I decided we better head back and find the trail again.
While on our way back down the trail we encountered more cows. Unfortunately although Sierra had done well with the last group, she ran up to one this time which totally pissed it off. I quickly put Sierra back on lead but the damage had been done. The cow charged us and I had to yell and wave my hands to get it to stop. Then I had to figure out how to get past it and it’s gang without getting trompled. Seriously, it was actually scratching it’s hoof on the ground and angrily mooing at us. I tried to take the high road around it and got charged that direction so I went to it’s left down a slope (keeping Sierra on my left) and had to keep yelling at it to keep it from charging again. I had cold chills by the time we got past it. Now I understand why Ksenya hates cows. 😉
Stupid charging cows. It's never a good thing when they're all looking at you. Note the trail in the background that I had to abandon in exchange for safe passage.
After we got back to the last known trail marker I realized we had taken the northern fork of the Cerro Este trail (extra .85 miles each direction). No worries, I could still pick up the Eagle View trail (which I did) and I’m so glad I did. It was amazing!
It was super windy up at the junction of Eagle View and Vista Grande Road. I actually lost my map here and didn't realize it. Fortunately I had memorized the rest of the trail so we were fine. =)
We finished off the hike by 4:20 which means we hiked for 4 hours (including numerous stops for pictures and playing in the water). I’m really enjoying hiking with Sierra so I think I’m going to make a bigger effort to find places she can hike off lead with me. She’s an awesome hiking partner and is always happy to hit the trails with me. Until next time, Jettagirl and Sierra out. =)
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