Aberrant Prose

Robert stew

A jumbo pot, dozens of lizards, four gobbling turkeys, and a monster tree were today’s finds while hiking in Olompali State Historic Park. Olompali is a place we have not hiked before; a remarkable find given the many hikes we take. We hiked an eight mile round trip to the top of Mt. Burdell where we enjoyed a picnic lunch with a fabulous view.

Olompali State Historic Park is unique in how the trailhead begins at Miwok Village, a historic area, where there are ramshackle 20th Century buildings, recreated teepee and hut structures, and a garden of native plants.

Pictures of our hike are posted in our Kodak Gallery.

Don’t bother the cows

Today Robert and I headed to Point Reyes to hike nine miles round trip to the ocean. The trail wandered through lots of cow pastures.

We passed numerous mama cows and their calves. At one point there were a number of them milling around a fence we had to pass through. As we approached, one big dark brown cow standing away from the group started bellowing and running parallel to us as we moved toward the gate. Apparently she had lost sight of her baby and had spotted him too close to us. Just as we reached the gate she reached her calf. She stepped beside her calf, turned to face Robert and I then headed our way, stopped within a few feet of us and started stomping her hooves and snorting. She was going to charge!

Robert told her, “Just calm down now.” I flailed my arms. She took a timid step backwards, gathered her calf and slowly walked away from us. As we quietly and quickly left to carefully slip through the gate to head down the hill she regained her moxie and began to bellow again to tell us off and to tell every other cow around how we tried to steal her baby.

We met many more cows on our way to and from the ocean. After our little run in we kept as far away from all of them as much as we could. I did my best to stay close to Robert so together we would appear more formidable. I didn’t like the way the mama cows looked at us when we passed by; their eyes told me the message from big dark brown mama cow had been passed through all the pastures.

Other than our crazy cow encounter, today’s hike was most enjoyable. The weather was perfect, not too warm, and not too cold. There was no fog or wind; it was a perfect day for a picnic on top of Drakes Head overlooking a very deep blue ocean.

Pictures are posted in our Kodak Gallery.

Goldfish in the woods

Yesterday, after such an enjoyable hike in Sunol Wilderness Park on March 25th Robert and I went on a hike in Marin. We chose to hike Indian Tree Open Space Preserve this time, the same hike we took back in June of 2003. The trailhead starts at a horseback riding stable. We constantly had to step over and around lots of horse manure on all the trails; trails that also were lined with tons of poison oak, both adverse conditions that come with hiking Indian Tree. Fortunately these adversities didn’t take away from the enjoyment of the dense woods, sunny meadows, and fresh air.



When hiking, we always enjoy looking for the many different kinds of wildflowers and creatures that can be found outdoors. Being April there was quite a variety of wildflowers. Creatures spotted included only one deer, a couple of lizards, turkey vultures, lots of horses (of course) and, of all things, two goldfish swimming in a tiny pond in the middle of the woods!

Pictures of the goldfish, wildflowers, horses, and Indian Tree landscapes are in our photo gallery.

Dogs’ day encore

On Tuesday Robert and I played hooky to enjoy another day hike at Sunol Regional Wilderness Park. Paris, Dakota, and Ceili were the stars of the day because this many-acre park is an off-leash park! Five hours and close to five miles of hiking did not phase any of the dogs; all three of them rarely took time to rest, even when Robert, Kim and I did (many times).



On our way to pick up Kim and Ceili, Paris and Dakota were very confused. They couldn't figure out why we were going in the Mazda (the dog car) and NOT to the park so early in the day. Especially Paris; she stood between the two front seats looking and looking around at all the unfamiliar neighborhoods, completely perplexed.

We arrived at Sunol around ten and left around three and the entire time Dakota never laid down. Paris did lie down while we had lunch, but not for long.

We came across quite a few cows and several ponds. Paris decided the cows were hers to chase. For every group of cows we passed, she had to be relegated to a lead. Dakota didn't need to be on lead, she was too afraid to chase the cows. She did her best to walk as far around them as she could. Ceili didn’t need to go on lead either. She pretty much wouldn’t chase the cows. She would just growl and bark at them to make sure they knew she was boss.

One of the ponds we came upon had several geese in it. When Dakota saw a couple of them take off from the water, she instantly dived in thinking she was going to catch one! We were totally surprised since she pretty much won’t go into a large body of water let alone step into a mud puddle. As soon as she realized her feet weren't touching bottom, she turned right around and came out lickity split. I have never seen her move so fast!

It would have been good if she had gone in again given at the beginning of our walk the first thing she decided to do was roll in several cow piles. Paris had done the very same thing the last time we went to Sunol two years ago. Thank goodness Paris didn't repeat that yucky diversion! Maybe it is something she outgrew or she was just too excited to see what was around the next bend.

As soon as we arrived home after a wonderful day of hiking and enjoying the great outdoors, yet one sure to yield ticks and poison oak exposure, I took the dogs into the shower with me. Robert then showered too, announcing he found one tick crawling on him. We also threw all our clothes into the washing machine.

Of course the dogs totally left us alone the rest of the night by crashing on the sofa and falling into a deep, deep sleep. Thank goodness because Robert and I were both exhausted.

I took dozens of pictures. I HAD to capture the day after all. Click on our photo link at top right to view.

A hike inspired

Having enjoyed going on a hike a couple of weeks ago at Bartholomew Park Winery when Tim, Kathy, Rylan, Mike and Liza came up for the weekend, we were inspired to take another day hike.

Yesterday we packed a lunch and headed to Annadel State Park arriving around ten. This is the fourth time we have hiked Annadel. The first time was in May of 2003, the second time in September of 2003, and the third in February of 2006. With more than 5,000 acres, there is a lot to see. Our hike up Cobblestone Trail to Lake Ilsanjo and back down Louis Trail took a little over two hours. This included a break for lunch under the shade of trees by the lake.



Always with camera in hand and on the lookout for wildlife hoping for the perfect shot while hiking, we were delighted when, for the first time ever on any of our hikes, we spotted a rabbit. We managed to take several pictures before he bounded down the hill. Later we spotted three or four turkeys scrounging for bugs in the woods. Alas! This time this wildlife was too far away for pictures. On our way back down from the lake we saw a horse and a rider. Once we were back on the paved road to the parking lot, we stopped to say hello to some horses behind a fence. I took pictures of all the horses even though horses don’t really count as wildlife. I had to have more animal pictures than just those of a rabbit!

We were quite worn out by the time we reached our car. Once home, we were pretty much done in for the rest of the afternoon. We like coming back from a hike weary knowing we have been challenged. This hike was really about the right length for us since we haven't been doing a lot of hiking this year. It was between five and six miles with mild to medium elevation climbs. The day was warm and sunny, pleasant overall, with stretches in both open, somewhat hot, sun and in cooler, shaded wood. Hiking through a fall setting in woods and fields at this time of year was not really too colorful though. Even with piles of leaves on the ground, and many still hanging on in the trees, most have faded to a dull brown. Just the same, there was a pleasing autumn crispness in the air which made it a great day to be outdoors.

The drive to and from Annadel was much more color saturated. The vineyards were spectacular. Grape leaf color in a wide variety of yellows, reds, oranges and purples punctuated with bright green grass popping up between the rows of grape plants from recent rains made for a most enjoyable drive.

Thank you to the Pines and the Lims for inspiring our Annadel day!

More photos are in our Kodak gallery.

Dogs’ Day

Paris, Seven, and Ceili enjoyed true dog heaven yesterday. Being Seven was in town, he was also invited to go on a special day hike with Kim, Robert, Ceili, Paris, and I to Sunol Regional Wilderness. This is a park located in Alameda County wherein dogs are allowed to run off leash on acres and acres of trails and open meadows. Many of the meadows are also open to cow grazing, which (to our detriment) means lots of cow piles.

Robert, Kim, the three dogs, and I all crowded into our little Mazda (our “dog” car) and drove and drove to get to the park, all three dogs constantly asking “Are we there yet?” even though they knew not where “there” was. Dogs ask this question as soon as they get in a car. They follow this by bouncing around, jumping from the front seat to the backseat, panting and looking out the car window with wild eyes.

At first we thought the low temperatures, cloudy skies and light, cool breeze would ruin our day. Turns out this unusual chilly weather for May actually made for a pleasant hike what with all the uphill climbing and the dogs running themselves thirsty. Last year when Robert and Kim (with Gary) did this hike it was much warmer (and drier). Not only did they and the dogs get quite overheated, no one had thought to bring water or a dish for Ceili, Paris, and Rosa. The dogs ended up having to drink out of livestock troughs!

This year, dog thirst was quenched by packing extra bottles of water to pour into a soft water bowl Robert and I just purchased at the newly opened Pet Food Express in town. A very handy feature of this bowl is the built-in drawstring for closing it shut to save any water the dogs didn’t finish.

With all the cow piles, it was easy to step in them. I am sure most of us stepped in at least one. Paris did more than that. She decided it would be great fun to roll in one. This was the first of two Sunol perils we experienced! Whenever we came upon other people on the trail we put the dogs on lead. On one such occasion Robert grabbed Paris’ collar to hook her up only to be unpleasantly rewarded by a handful of cow pile! Paris had the icky stuff all over her collar and her neck. We quickly hiked to the nearest stream to wash her and her collar and lead. Cow pile is very sticky and permeating. As much as Robert scrubbed, he couldn’t totally get it all off. Paris stunk all the way home. Once home we immediately threw Paris in the shower and her collar into the washing machine.

Peril #2: This one pretty much goes with the territory. We have learned to expect ticks anytime we go on day hikes. Yesterday was no different. All found we came up with a total of ten! Kim found one crawling on herself, and seven in Ceili’s long fur. I found one crawling on Seven’s head and, once home, one embedded (surprising given the size of the ticks) on Robert’s back! So of course there were showers all around when we got home. Not just for Paris. And not just her collar went into the washing machine; everything we wore went in as well. Showering and washing clothes is always a good policy after a day hike, not just for ticks, also for the poison oak that is everywhere on most every hike we take.

Although not the same thing as spotting deer, turkeys, and raccoons (as we do on many of our day hikes) we spotted lots of small groupings of cows. Since it was almost as good as seeing wildlife we took lots of pictures of cows! The cows sometimes appeared a bit aggressive, especially the ones with calves. Some cows even followed us as we walked by them. Although we put the dogs on lead when we came across cows, at one point, Paris managed to sneak off to bark at and chase a couple. Thankfully she immediately stopped and came to me when I called her!

It was indeed a great day for the dogs. Us too (even with the perils)—enjoying the beautiful green hills, the wildflowers, the many streams and creeks, the Cave Rocks, Little Yosemite, and “Sunset Magazine” photo ops. Seven, Paris, and Ceili were different dogs going home. They were totally worn out; there was no whining and asking “Are we there yet?” Once bathed and fed, Seven and Paris, exhausted, completely melted into the beanbags the rest of the night. Even today they did a lot of sleeping. I can’t speak for Ceili. However I cannot imagine she had much energy last night and today after having spent a day with Seven and Paris running and playing in dog heaven!

Sunol Photos 1 of 2

Sunol Photos 2 of 2