Moss Landing - Marina Beach Hike

September 26, 2009
Moss Landing - Marina
Distance: 7.25 miles
Hiking time: 5 hours
Pole Dancing time: 1.5 hours
Hikers: Lola, Chantel, Simone








This was a chance for the Kilimanjaro Crew: Lola (Mary), Chantel (Julie) and Simone (Jo) to start a training for the big climb next February. This was also Simone's chance to finish the California Coastal Trail from Santa Cruz to Monterey. She had done every segment of the coast except this first one.

When I did this hike over a year ago, it was foggy and cold even in August. This was a beautiful day for hiking -clear blue skies and sunshine. We did the usual car drop off - leaving Simone's car in Marina and then driving back to Moss Landing.







We started off down the beach - Lola and I barefoot, Simone wearing her hiking boots. I remember the year before the sand was much coarser for most of this hike. I have tough feet, so it didn't bother me even then. This time we would often sink up to three inches into the sand - even at the waterline - which is usually much firmer. This made walking more difficult.





I remember this stretch of coast as being particularly isolated last year. This year there were many more people on the beach. As we walked along, we could see a large group of horse riders in the distance. We felt we were in a Western and the posse was coming to get us. I vaguely remember seeing one horse and rider last year.






Lola went to investigate where they were gaining access - which turned out to be Molera Road. In the parking lot, there were instructions to keep the horses down by the waterline, so that they wouldn't disturb the snowy plovers nesting areas.

I remember from the year before there was a lot of death on this strip of beach, because it was more isolated. We came upon several dead sea lions and a dead sea gull. We noticed the gull because a turkey vulture was nearby. The gull had obviously just died. There wasn't anything visibly wrong with it and it's beak was buried in the sand. It was very odd and we wondered what had killed it.

As we walked we came upon a housing complex close to the beach. I don't remember seeing this the year before and suspect that it had been obscured by fog. There were several large driftwood structures which people had built, so we went to investigate.








I assumed that there wouldn't be a river crossing at this time of year. We had crossed the Salinas River driving back from Marina and it had looked quite full, but I knew from the year before that it probably wouldn't empty into the ocean. I was right, but knew to look for the river this time. We ended up having lunch at the edge of the river which was quite a ways in from the beach.


There were many birds in this area and we noticed another seagull, who was in the same position as the seagull we had found though this one was still alive. It was obvious that he wouldn't last much longer either. It must be some kind of bird flu that was killing them.

After lunch, we reached the old rusty barge. I remembered this landmark from the year before. I was finding whole sand dollars along the way. Some were the bleached white ones, but I found several that still had purple fuzz on them. Simone then found a cool, large vertebrae - we weren't sure if it was from a sea lion or dolphin.







I was jealous and said how much I like bones and wish that I could find a nice skull along the beach. We hadn't taken a few steps further, but what should we find but a decapitated Boar's head!

It was a pretty wild coincidence. I will spare you the pictures. We didn't know if it had come off a boat, or if someone was roasting a pig on the beach. It was partly decomposed, so I was trying to detach the lower jaw with the big teeth, without any success. After messing with it for awhile and completely grossing out Lola and Simone, we moved on. Simone gave me the vertebra as an act of consolation.

I talked about the time I almost got a sea lion's skull up at Patrick's Point, when what should I discover up the beach, but a sea lion corpse with the skull completely exposed. Here was my chance. I will spare you the gory, gory details, but I tried to get that skull by cutting with Jo's pocket knife, hitting the vertebrae first with my hiking stick and then a two by four. It just wouldn't come loose. I was eventually able to get some of the jawbones and teeth. It was not my most shining moment. (After all that work, Bill says my teeth stink, so I have them drying in the backyard).

Afterward, to do penance for my brutal butchery and to improve my karma, I started picking up garbage. The Save Our Shores Beach Clean Up was the weekend before, so there wasn't too much garbage until you came to the populated areas. I knew we were getting close to Marina - I didn't want to carry a heavy bag of garbage, too far.

Jo spotted a flag in the distance. As we came closer we realized that we were at the Marina sand mining operations. There was a pond with a barge in it. Later, when I got home and opened up the Sentinel there was a whole article about this operation in Marina and the impact that it was having on the sand and causing erosion of the shore.






Next we came to the sand dunes right before Marina. We could see there were lots of people up ahead, so we knew we were almost finished with the hike. Lola and I decided to climb up and run down the sand dunes. The climb up was hard but the running down is always a blast. Lola was really flying down that sand dune - talk about getting some air!















We reached Marina State Beach, deposited our full bag of trash in the garbage can and headed back to Moss Landing and our post celebratory drink and pole dancing. We went to the little dive bar next to the Whole Enchilada and since it wasn't a Sunday, the bikers weren't there. We picked out a bunch of songs on the juke box and started the pole dancing.






I had gotten the true pole dancing bug at Burning Man and couldn't wait to get on the pole. Simone was of course a bit more reluctant to get on the pole, but once she was on it she had a great time, as this picture shows.

The bar is covered with dollar bills with messages written on them taped to the walls, ceiling, everywhere. We signed a dollar bill "California Coastal Trail" and came up with our aliases. I taped the dollar to the top of the pole.

I convinced one of the regulars - who I was told was quite a pole dancer to get on the pole. He was reluctant at first, but under pressure he got on and showed off his moves to the delight of the bar.

Then Lola and Chantel got on the bar at the same time. We were having so much fun we could have stayed there all night. It is both a great cardio and strength training exercise. I could certainly feel it in my biceps the next day. We danced for a long time, each song saying it would be the last. Simone said the guy at the table next to us said we were "poetry in motion". We were just having a great time. I made a buck and a half in pole dancing tips.




So Simone has completed the Santa Cruz to Monterey hike. Way to go - Jo! We will probably turn from the beaches and get into the hills and mountains to start our true Kilimanjaro training. We'll keep up with the pole dancing - no matter where we hike, though. This was a great way to end our Coastal journey!

Lessons learned: There is a little "Lord of the Flies" potential in all of us. Nothin' like a good pole dance after a nice long hike!

Pogonip Hike

Harvey West to Henry Cowell
Lookout, Spring, Rincon, Fern Trails
34,000 steps (according to Jo's pedometer)
Hiking Time: 5 hours
Jo, Paula and Julie










We wanted to do a hike close to home and were interested in exploring Gray Whale Ranch - which is really just a part of Wilder Ranch now. I bought a map at Wilder Ranch which included UCSC and Pogonip - so we decided to hike at Pogonip. I hadn't been there in years.
We met at 10:00 a.m. at Harvey West and parked near the Friendship Garden. We could see the beginning of the Lookout Trail. The trail climbed up with a view of toward Pogonip meadow. It was a winding trail that headed towards UCSC.








It was a winding trail that headed towards UCSC. Through the trees you could see a view of Pogonip meadow in the distance and a view toward Costco.










Jo was breaking in her brand new hiking boots. This was their maiden voyage and by the end of the hike she gave them two thumbs up. She had tried them on in the store but needed to order them online to get them in her size. I'm next in line for some new hiking boots.










The trail opened up to a connector trail to the Spring Trail up at UCSC. This is the trail that we take every May Day to get to the magic meadow. It climbs into the forest, past the quarry and smokers hill. At the beginning of the trail there was a sign warning of coyote activity in the area. We never saw a coyote or a roadrunner for that matter.







We made our way through the forest and followed Spring trail all the way to Highway 9. Now there was a sign saying "equine event". It turned out there was a 25 to 50 mile horse race in progress. We were going to see lots of horses over the course of the day. We crossed 9 and went down to the railroad tracks and then followed them to the trail leading to the river.






The river was quite shallow, but shaded and green. We had lunch here and I went exploring looking for swimming holes, but just ended up getting stung by a stinging nettle. I never see them in time. After a leisurely lunch we retraced our steps back to the railroad tracks. We met two women who had chairs and a shovel. I asked what she was going to do with the shovel and she was going to clean up horse poop from the race at the beach by the river. That seemed a worthy activity.



It was hotter coming back along the tracks. Paula tested out her balance.












We took the Fern trail which I thought would lead to Pogonip meadow. I was wrong. It wove thought the forest and it kept going in the opposite direction from the meadow. There were beautiful gnarled oaks. There was a sign with an arrow, but no named trail, so we followed that for awhile. It one point I wondered - "where the heck are we?" Of course, the hike was taking much longer than I anticipated. It didn't really matter, because the company and conversation was good ranging from crematoriums to sacred cows. It was great to see Paula hiking again.

I haven't done much hiking in the past year, so this was a special treat.

We started climbing up the hill and saw a ranger led hike coming towards us. There were about five hikers and the ranger was talking about the area. Paula had hiked with him before. When we got to the connector we went to the Spring Trail. This is where we made our mistake, we should have looped back through the Pogonip meadow - but instead we retraced our tracks. It was at least nice to know where we were. We had a nice view of the church - always such a landmark of Santa Cruz.

When we came out at the Friendship Garden there was a big birthday party in progress with a live band. The place was packed. We headed to the Rush Inn behind the town clock for our post celebratory drink. I called Teresa since this bar is so close to her house and invited her to join us.

I hadn't been to the Rush Inn for years. It's a cool little dive bar. We asked the bartender to take our pictures and he was a really good sport about it and took several shots. Unfortunately, they didn't come through on the camera and I didn't want to tell him. The guy next to me struck up a conversation asking what we were up to and I explained about the hike. Turns out he's the Head Ranger at Pogonip! What are the odds? I brought out the map and he showed me how we should have completed the loop without backtracking.


Teresa showed up with Poppy her new puppy who is adorable. It was great to see her. I asked the guy next to me to take our photo and he got several good shots. He's quite the photographer! It was a nice end to a good day of hiking.

Lessons Learned: 1. Even in our own backyard there are still places to explore. 2. Sometimes it's a good feeling to know where you are. 3. You never know who is sitting on the bar stool next to you!

Whiskeytown Falls - Redding

Whiskeytown Falls
Redding - CA
June 19, 2009
3.5 miles
2 hours
Dave, Mike, Julie, Nick, Sarah, Kevin

I have been wanting to do this hike for several years. During the winter months, the trail was closed. I had thought that Nick and I had hiked to Whiskeytown Falls the year before, but it turned out that was Brandy Creek Falls. This hike was a family affair. My Uncle Dave from Wisconsin, brother Mike from Minnesota and my nephews Nick and Kevin and niece Sarah were all up for the hike.

We had gathered in Redding to celebrate my dad's 80th birthday and the morning after we hit the trail. Sarah and Nick drove from the hotel with me and Uncle Dave drove his rental and picked up Mike and Kevin from Mom and Dad's house.

It's been a couple of weeks since we did this hike - so the details are a bit hazy. Dave, Nick, Sarah and I had hiked the Old Mine Trail in Whiskeytown the day before. This one was about equivalent in length and elevation, but much more shaded and scenic with the big pay off of all the falls at the end.

The trail started downward after the trail head. Not the best sign, since this is an out and back hike, so you know that we would be hitting uphill at the very end of the hike.

It wasn't too much of the downhill however before you started the climb. I had heard there was a bit of uphill in the hike and it turned out to be true.

Dave was stylish in his sun hat and walking poles. He set out a good pace that he maintained throughout the hike. He walks daily in Wisconsin and is in great shape. He definitely felt the uphill of this hike, but kept plugging along at it.

At the bottom of the first downhill, we caught up with the creek. Now was the beginning of the climb. There were nice bridges for all of the creek crossings.

The three younger Kowalewski's all stuck together on the trail, though Kevin would often run ahead. Mike was taking up the caboose, since he was carrying a gallon of frozen water and was stopping to take pictures along the way.

The climb was steady, but the trail was wide. Dave wondered how the trail was made. I suspected it was old fire or farm roads. There were a few places the trail was eroding, but it was for the most part well maintained.

There were strategically placed benches along the way. Here the Minnesota Kowalewskis take a break.

Here is the second bridge which was at the top of the main climb. The path got narrower after this above the creek. Soon we came to the bottom of the falls. There was a large open area at the base of the falls and a steep iron railing leading to the upper falls.

Here are Kevin and Sarah above the lower falls.

Father and son at the top.














Dave contemplates the lower falls. He wasn't sure that he would climb the narrow railing to the top, but he did.













Here is a shot of Mike and the railing to climb up to the upper falls. The path is narrow and muddy, so it's nice to be able to hang on to the rail.

This is the view from the upper viewing platform. It was a really sweet waterfall.

We enjoyed the falls up above and then sat at a log at the base of the falls. Uncle Dave started back early, since he was travelling slower then us, he thought, though we never caught up to him until the parking lot.

The hike out was a breeze, since it was mainly downhill. Even that little uphill at the end didn't bother us. We met a man and his son in the parking lot who had a form for all three waterfalls in Whiskeytown. There was supposedly a post where you could do a rubbing and if you did it for all three falls - you got a free scarf at the ranger station. No one had told us about this program.

It was an enjoyable morning and a hike that I will definitely repeat. It was great to hike with my family.

Lessons Learned: Postponed pleasures can be worth the wait.

Shasta Mine Trail - Redding

Whiskeytown Unit

Distance: 3.3 miles?????

Elevation: More than expected

Hiking time: 2 hours

Eric, Julie



Uncle Dave took me on this hike when I first got to Redding. We went on a cloudy morning and I so loved the little babbling brook and the view of Whiskeytown Lake, I thought that my friend Eric would love this place, so I was determined to do the hike with him.

Eric was busy trying to get out of town, but carved some time in the afternoon to do the hike. I picked him up and we drove out to Whiskeytown. The trail head is between the Glory Hole and the Whiskeytown Cemetery.

I didn't realize until we were on our way, how limited we would be on time and how reluctant to do this hike, Eric really was. I thought it would get better once we got going, but I should have listened to what he was telling me. He was a good sport about it during the whole hike.

The hike starts with a long climb up to the top of a ridge. It is steady and steep. We discussed not doing the whole loop, but Eric wanted sun and said he was willing to climb the ridge. About halfway up, he was already feeling the pain as he demonstrated in the photo. The fact that he was already sore from skiing, biking and shovelling rock - didn't help. This should have been a rest day rather than a hike day. However, I can be persistent so there we were.

As you climb the ridge - the view of Whiskeytown Lake unfolds to your right. The higher you go, the better the view. The picture doesn't capture it, but you can see the dam, the glory hole and lake in the distance.

Up, up, up we went. We'd think that we were at the top, but it was one of those misleading, never quite there hills. Eric would be moving slow, then burst into a jag of jogging up the hill. You all know how much I hate to run, but I was a good sport and would jog for a bit.

When we finally got to the top there is a clearing a campfire spot. So we sat around the campfire and caught our breath. The path continued uphill and the loop went down to the left. We discussed turning around and going down the hill - which would have been the appropriate thing to do, given our time frame. I wanted to do the loop so that Eric could see the stream and little waterfall. He thought about it and agreed to do the full loop.

We started down the path of the loop. I remembered that the rest of the hike was downhill. Eric was looking at the mountain sides and trying to figure which ridge we would be coming back on. How far is this hike? I don't look at the terrain, I just follow the trail. This was a difference between us on the entire hike. Eric paying attention to the terrain (such a guy thing to do), me just following the path we were on and not worrying about it.

We came up to a ridge and there was a great view of snow covered Shasta Bally. I had been talking about training for Killimanjaro and Eric said this hike was "Kill-em-on-Whiskeytown". We got a laugh out of that.

I kept promising Eric we would get to the stream, but he was beginning to question my judgement as trail navigator. He insisted if we ever went hiking again, we'd have a map. What lack of trust !

It was a hot day and we were in the sun for most of the hike. The terrain was dry chaparral until we got down to the water. Eric danced a jig at the thought I might know where the heck we were and that we weren't lost on the wrong trail.



We walked along next to the little stream. It is a pleasant little valley. We were looking for a nice watering hole. I remembered that there was a pretty little waterfall further up, so we kept walking. Eventually, we circled around to the pool. Time was ticking away and Eric was concerned about getting back, so we didn't stop.

Looking at the terrain, Eric insisted that we were going to have to climb back up out of the valley. I didn't remember a lot of uphill on this hike, other than the first part, but it turns out my memory wasn't so good. When we bike the River Trail - I always think of the far trail as flat, while Eric insists you are going uphill. Every time we started climbing up again Eric would be ready to strangle me and I would say - "this isn't uphill, it's flat". Just a difference of perception between us.

We passed an area of fire devastation from several years back that Eric was pretty sure had started as a controlled burn. We climbed another hill and had reached the flat space at the top where the old Shasta Mine shaft was located. Eric found a nice spot to rest. At this point his friend Chad called asking where he was since he was supposed to helping shovel rock. Eric explained that he was out in the middle of nowhere and was getting back as fast as he could. His friend was not amused.




I went to take a look at the old mine shaft. It isn't really much of a shaft, since it is all filled in with logs and debris. It is fenced off. This was once an active gold mine, but not much remains. A part of history of Shasta County that is long gone.









From here I think it was all downhill, but I could again be wrong. Let's just say it took longer than anticipated. We passed Whiskeytown Cemetery. If we had more time I would have liked to go there. The graves are all unique and really reflect the person. There are benches, wind chimes, memorabilia. It is quite touching.

We kept walking and finally there was the car waiting for us! We had survived to tell the tale.

I poured Eric into the car and drove him back to his car, so he could go shovel gravel for a couple of hours. Fortunately, he was still speaking to me and could appreciate the hike as the details faded into the distance.

I'm glad we did the hike and that I was able to show a Eric a part of Redding that he hadn't seen and probably won't see again.

My friend J.P. suggested that Eric join SPINACH: Society for Protection of Innocent, Naive and Coerced Hikers. It is a support group that J.P. started years ago with a now growing membership. www.spinach.org/juliesvictims.htm



Lessons Learned: Uphill is a matter of perception. Flatness is a state of mind. Don't do the hike if you don't have the time.

Garland Ranch

Carmel Valley
Sniveley Ridge and Waterfall Trail
Distance: 6 miles ???
Hiking Time: 4 ½ hours
Jan and Julie

I’ve never been to Garland Ranch before, but have driven by it several times. The day of the hike was whittled down to just Jan and I. It was a gorgeous day with blue skies and warm temperatures. We met at the Park n Ride at 10:00 and were at the trailhead by 11:30.

A very elderly docent helped us and described our trail to us. Jan and I both got detailed maps of the park. The gentleman took our photo – but had to sit down to do it. We weren’t sure whether he would make it through the photo shoot. Turned out it’s a nice shot of us in front of the bathroom rather than with the ridge in the distance. Oh well.

Then we were off. First, we crossed a meadow to start out on the Buckeye Trail. The incline started gradually on this trail. The thing I appreciated about this park was all the trees. Lots of twisted coastal oaks with Spanish moss draping lacy fingers.

Buckeye trail was also a nature trail and there were signs identifying different types of trees. We decided after reaching Siesta Point to take a side path. This began our confusion. The map was detailed, but we often had questions of where we actually were – since it didn’t match the map. At this point we were on Fern Trail. I loved the names of the trails – Fern, Sky, Hawk and Cliff.

The docent told us we would come to a pond and a bathtub of water for horses. We stopped here and had a quick snack break. I wet my sarong in preparation for the climb ahead. The next part of the trail was described as steep and exposed. But it was well shaded and although there was elevation it was nicely graded. There were even switchbacks on the way to the top. A nice cool breeze blew down on us as we climbed.

We kept climbing and reached the top of Snively ridge. There are great views from the top. In one direction the ocean, in the other Carmel Valley and the other is towards the Santa Lucia foothills.

There is a bench up top but the directions for the hike said the true top was another 250 feet up. There were two more hills, one with a fire tower on it. I asked a guy sitting on the bench about climbing to the fire tower. He said it was a “gnarly trail” but the views were great.

We climbed to the highest point and found a great little lunch spot with views of the ocean. The ridge was dry. There is a sense of accomplishment in sitting on top of a ridge you have just climbed that lightens the spirit. Enjoying the blue sky and clouds. The temperature was just perfect – not too hot or cold.

I was still curious about reaching the fire tower so I went off exploring while Jan enjoyed the view. The path narrowed down to a deer path. From a view point it seemed that the hill the fire tower was on was separated by a steep canyon from my ridge. It didn’t look like you could “get there from here” still the path kept winding down so I followed it.

It was a charming path, green, grown over with ferns and winding through trees and rocks. I came to split in the path and took the higher path, which still continued down. As the path narrowed and kept going down I realized this was no small undertaking and that there was a good possibility that I could get lost, so I went back and found Jan.

The guy on the bench had told us that the loop trail was barely hikeable, so we went down the way we came – or so we thought.

Once again we had trouble recognizing trails which didn’t match the map. Since Jan and I both wanted to keep hiking – we decided to go to see the waterfall. It is an ephemeral fall and it hadn’t rained much recently, so we figured it wouldn’t be there, but were up for the hike nonetheless.

We took Cliff trail which was our favorite in the park. It was narrow and wound past rocks along the edge of a cliff.

The waterfall was indeed dry, but you could see that it would be beautiful when it’s running. I stood under imaginary falls and pretended to be washed by it’s cascade.

We continued back to the Visitor Center. At this point I was completely turned around. I thought we should head in the opposite direction.

The trail was level and followed the river back to the Visitor Center. I asked Jan if she was up for crossing the river which would put us right at our car. You never know how deep or swift these rivers are – but it was only calf deep without much current. It was slick on the rocks – but with our sticks we easily crossed it. I loved the cold water on my feet.

This had just been an extraordinary day. It was good to be hiking elevation again and the views were wonderful. I loved Garland Ranch. It’s one of the few parks you can walk your dog and it was fun seeing all the doggies. Jan was great company as always. I will definitely come back to this park.

Jan and I headed to our favorite Moss Landing Dive bar. I brought in the “Stripper Workout” which has all the pole dancing moves. I tried a few moves. It really does work the upper body. I gained new respect for Marissa Tomei in the new movie “The Wrestler” because she does some spiffy pole dancing moves. The little female bartender came over and showed me a couple of moves – which she made look easy. There is definitely and art to it and one that I want to play around with more.

Lessons Learned: Just because you have a map doesn’t mean you know where you are. A perfect day is a perfect day. Pole dancing isn’t easy – but it sure is fun!

Seaside to Monterey Bay

California Coastal Trail (CCT)
Seaside to Monterey
Distance: 3.5 miles
Hiking Time 2 hours
Jo, Mary and Julie

We did it! I've walked the beach from Santa Cruz to Monterey - over 40 miles. I've done most of it barefoot and in the sand. Glad I made it before the end of the year. It was great to finish up this last leg. We did this hike on November 11th - Veteran's Day and two days before Josephine went into surgery.

We drove both cars to Monterey and left mine there. Mary showed me a new and much easier way to get to the aquarium. It follows the coastline, so we could pretty much see what we were going to walk. We knew this was going to be a short one and only about half of it on the beach. We jumped into Jo's car and headed back to Seaside.

There was a lot of construction going on at the hotel, with backhoes digging up sand. It looks like they were trying to shore up the foundation of the hotel, which is located right on the beach. After passing the hotel, we saw a big cross on the hill. Mary and I climbed up to it. On the other side you could see the beginning of the bike path to Monterey.




We climbed back down to the beach. You could see Monterey and the aquarium on the far side of the bay. The beach was flat and the waves small. Ideal walking conditions.










We could look north and see the whole coastline that we had covered. It was quite a feeling of accomplishment to have seen all that coastline - step by step.









Even though we weren't planning on picking up rocks - especially Josephine who was determined to stop collecting - we all found some interesting shells. I found a rock with a fossilized worm hole on it. Mary, who is a biologist, knew all the correct names of our various treasures.

The beach walk lasted for about two miles. It was a lovely clear day. In the distance in front of us we could see the beginning of the Monterey wharf.


We arrived at the wharf and put our shoes back on. The rest of this hike wouldn't be in the sand. We walked out to the end of the wharf and watched the fisherman. There are several wharves, a yacht harbor and then of course you get to Cannery Row and the Aquarium.




When we were looking at all the boats we had Mary point out one which was the size of the boat that she and her husband Frank and their two (then) young sons sailed around the world in for five years. It looked like a really small boat for four people to be living in, but what an adventure that was.






We heard music in the distance and went to explore. It turned out there was an old car show going on, so we walked through and each picked out our favorite car to have our picture taken with.


































We kept walking and came to Fisherman's Wharf. We walked up and down the wharf and tasted all the free clam chowder samples that the restaurants had out front to lure you in. We tasted about five different samples. Delicious! However, we had our hearts set on shrimp at Bubba Gumps, so we headed on our way. We were getting hungry after all our samples.

We walked through Cannery Row and came across this mural of Doc and the boys. Jo and Mary decided to join them. Monterey is a fun place to walk through, looking at the various shops, restaurants, wineries, hotels, etc. It was a pleasant reminder of what a nice town this is to visit. Especially now that Mary showed me whete that free parking is. Lots to see and do.





We headed to Bubba Gumps. We had drinks in the bar while we waited to get a table. We hadn't thought to make a reservation. We had a toast to completing the trail. Then we feasted on delicious hush puppies and steamed shrimp. Absolutely delicious. It was getting late so we headed to the car. It's a very scenic section of coast.

It was a great day. Good friends, good walking, good food and a completion of a goal. Now I have to decide where to go hiking next now that this section of the CCT is done. Life is a beach!

Lessons Learned: It's a great feeling to accomplish your goal. wallking has given me a whole new feeling about this section of coastline. Love those shrimp and hushpuppies!

Santa Cruz To Capitola Bar Hop

California Coastal Trail (CCT)
Distance: Santa Cruz - Capitola more than 7 miles
Trip time: 7 hours
Actual hiking: around 3 hours
Jo, Tara, Julie, Lisa

After our Breast Cancer Walk which we knew would be short - we decided to walk from Santa Cruz to Capitola. This is the segment of the California Coastal Trail that will allow Jo and I to say we have walked from Santa Cruz to Monterey when we have finished. Our goal was to walk the streets and beaches and hit as many bars along the way as we could. Thus, it was the Bar Hop.

Teresa chose to bow out of this portion of the hike. We parked on Josephine street off of River and headed for our first destination - the harbor area. We followed the paved bike trail along the river. I had never been on this portion of the trail, but it goes all the way to the boardwalk. Tara was looking pretty in pink. She had definitely gone all out to find and borrow pink for the hike. She was decked out from her shoes to her bra.


It was a beautiful sunny day. We crossed the trestle and then hiked East Cliff around the corner to the point. There were different memories that we shared as we walked. This was my old neighborhood when I lived on Hiawatha. Josephine told us she was on "the point" when she decided to move to Santa Cruz.

We followed the CCT along the cliff top and in front of the houses on the bluff. I would find it very annoying to own a house with such an incredible view, but then constantly have people walking by. We were overlooking the beach and we could see a guy practicing his tightrope walking between two poles.

We crossed down to the harbor, climbed up to the bridge then circled around to the Crow's Nest side. Jo noticed an old fashioned "pirate ship" was at the harbor. She went to investigate it and decided to take a tour another day.

We had reached our first drinking spot, so we stopped for margaritas and beer. There were four seats at the bar, so we sidled up. As we were sitting there our sunny skies disappeared and the fog rolled in. We couldn't believe how quickly it came on.

The next portion was a beach walk, so we stripped down to bare feet. I spent the time as usual in the surf. The other gals found it too cold. The tide was low so were able to get around the point and cut up on the bench probably around 14th street. We walked along East Cliff for a little bit then cut back down to the beach at Sunny Cove.


This was Josephine and my old beach when we lived on Palisades. We hadn't walked it for years. Jo and I walked barefoot, but Tara and Lisa kept their shoes on this time. After the beach, we walked through our old beach cottages on Palisades, which are now for sale and in sad, sad state of disrepair.




We walked on along the cliffs along East Cliff and then cut over to Portola to hit the Over The Hill Saloon. We saw that happy hour didn't begin until 4:00 and it was only 3:00. We debated going in until we learned the drinks were still only three dollars. Mizzi the bartender remembered Jo and I from our last pit stop there after a CCT hike.

The guy next to me asked if I was a bowler. I said, "No, why, do I look like a bowler?" It turns out there was a breast cancer bowl-a-thon the same day which frequent patrons of the bar had gone to in the morning.

Jo and Lisa examined the bus routes to determine when and where we could catch the bus after our last stop at Capitola wharf. We finished our drinks, talked and then were ready to head into the fog towards Capitola.

We were in quite high spirits (literally) by this time as we walked down Portola avenue.

We walked by Frenchys the adult "bookstore" which Lisa and Tara said they had never been to. This required a stop. Josephine shopped for her Halloween costume, while Tara and Lisa looked at the various toys and gadgets. I promised not to post any of these pictures on the blog, but let's just say there was a lot of laughing and giggling going on. We visited the "movie gallery" at the back the store, but decided not to watch any of the videos.

We dragged Lisa and Tara out of there and headed down Opal Cliffs to Capitola Village. When we arrived at the wharf, Tara shared a memory of her and Kirk's three month anniversary on the Capitola beach. They have now been married 25 years. We were able to take our drinks outside, so we sipped Bloody Mary's and looked at the fog. There was some sort of boat rescue going on and we watched a sea otter and a bird, floating together.

We had really worked up our appetites now so we headed to El Toro Bravo for the best chili rellenos in town. (At least that's my opinion). We munched on chips, salsa, nachos and all ate Chili rellenos. Josephine ended up buying us dinner which was much appreciated.

Now that the walk was completed we headed back up to 41st avenue to the transit center at the mall. Our timing was good and we didn't have to wait long at all to catch the bus. We were all feeling happily satiated after a fine day of walking, eating and drinking.

Lessons Learned: Walks down memory lane are always sweet even when bittersweet. We've all lived in this town a long time. I should have gotten a Bloody Mary at the wharf. El Toro Bravo still makes a great chili relleno. Laughter is good for the heart and soul. Being silly is it's own reward.