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.

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk

Location: San Jose, CA
Distance: a little less than 5K
Walking time: around 45 minutes
Jo, Teresa, Tara, Julie, Lisa






We started a grass roots team of employees of King Library and their friends and family to walk in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 5K walk in San Jose. I dedicated the walk to my friends Paula (one of our hikers) and Sheryl in Sacramento. The team was named "Walk With the King" and we raised over $4,300 dollars of which almost $2,500 was raised by the Santa Cruz contingency made up of Jo, Teresa, Tara, Lisa and Julie.

The walk started at 9:00 on Saturday and the group met at 7:45, so it was an early morning over the hill for us. Jo, Teresa and I rode the Highway 17 bus and Lisa and Tara drove. We all showed up in various levels of pink, but the crowning glory was when my colleague Carole showed up with pink rubber crowns inscribed with "Walk with the King". The crowns were very helpful in spotting team members in the crowd of 7,000 walkers.

There was a brief aerobic warm up which all the Santa Cruz gals participated in while my San Jose colleagues watched bemused. We were ready to party and have a good time. I had filled out a square dedicating my walk to Sheryl and Paula. Everywhere were folks dressed in pink. Survivors were identified by Olympic looking medals. The spirits were high and we were through the start line a little before 9:00 a.m.

The route followed the river down to the Children's museum. There were volunteers along the way to cheer us on and hand out water at various spots. The walk went very quickly and everyone was surprised when we had reached the finish line by 9:45. (I later found out the walk wasn't quite 5K).

We went to some booths - tried hula hooping and ate some fruit and then jumped into Lisa's car to head over the hill for our second hike of the day in Santa Cruz.



But, first things first. The morning walk made us work up an appetite, so we decided to make our first stop Auntie Mame's in Scotts Valley for breakfast. I had my favorite corned beef hash and eggs with fresh biscuit and gravy. Yum! Now, we were pleasantly stuffed and ready to walk.



It had been a fun morning. I've never participated in a walk like this before and will definitely do it again. The energy of the walkers and survivors was great. It is such an important cause and one that is close to my friends and thus my heart.

Our fundraising far surpassed my expectations. It was a great experience.

Other photos from the hike can be seen at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/SJSUNorwegians


Lessons Learned: Grass roots effort can work. People's generosity is quite surprising. Often those who have the least give the most.

Marina to Seaside

California Coastal Trail
Marina to Seaside
7 miles
4 hours
Jo, Tara, Julie








This section of the CCT involved another car drop off. We left Jo's car at the beach hotel in Seaside - then drove back to Marina in a rather circuitous route since I took the exit before Reservation Road. We made sure not to make this mistake on the way home.

It was a beautiful sunny day. It had been cold in the morning so our packs were heavy with shoes and extra clothing, that it turned out we didn't need. As always, better safe than sorry. What we should have put on was more sunscreen, because both Tara and I got sunburnt on this hike.

The waves were huge and breaking very close to the beach. The beach was angled and the sand soft which made for difficult walking conditions. I was disappointed I couldn't spend more time walking in the surf - but you had be extremely vigilant watching the waves. The rogue waves came on unexpectedly and waves which seemed big would peter out without reaching you. By the end of the hike we had all gotten wet - something I like to get over early in the hike.


This was a fairly deserted section of beach - similar to the Moss Landing to Marina section. There were no buildings and few people. I saw on the front page of the Sentinel that giant sea turtles had migrated to Monterey Bay so we had hoped to see one - but alas, we never did. We didn't see any wildlife in the water - though Jo at one point thought she saw a whale spout.

Birds were our main companions. Vultures, gulls, plovers and pelicans. We saw lots of animal corpses in various states of decay - nature in action. There was one Sea Lion skeleton with the skull exposed which I was tempted to try and take, but it was to stinky and still attached to the body. Interesting to get to see the teeth up close.

The soft sand made this a difficult hike. After doing so many miles of beach walking there is a natural rhythm you fall into. The landscape is constant and yet changing. You walk watching the waves. There was a surprising amount of trash on the beach, but it was too far to carry it. The most bizarre piece was a cat scratcher which was by a shopping cart in the middle of nowhere.


We came across a couple and stopped to chat with them. They had come from a new park that had been created but wasn't officially open yet. I asked them about the "enlisted officers club" which was a building our book said that we had to climb around. The woman said that it had been a beautiful building - but they had torn it down several years ago. This was valuable information - because we stopped looking for a building in the distance. On the Moss Landing hike we kept waiting for a river that wasn't there.

We stopped at 12:30 and had a short, pleasant lunch. It was hard to judge distance, so we stopped based on time. What can seem quite close takes quite a long while to reach. As we hiked we could see a Para sailor in the distance. He was on top of large sand dune, so we decided to stop and run down the sand dune several times. There is nothing like that sensation of flying down the dune. It takes so much effort to climb up and less than a minute to come sailing down. From the top of the dune you could see Highway One and the houses of Fort Ord in the distance. You felt so isolated on the beach but civilization was just a dune away.





In the distance we could see what must be the site of the officers club, since it seemed like the waves came up to the cliff and we couldn't get around it without climbing up. We put on our shoes for the climb up and came into a construction zone with all sorts of equipment and piles of rubble. There was a real estate sign for Ocean View property which seemed rather incongruous. We were of course ignoring many "No Trespassing" "Dangerous Edge" and "No Parking" signs as we made our way through this area. We cut through the sand dunes and were able to make our way back to the beach.


Now we could see a giant flag and our hotel in the distance. We were like horses headed for the stable and our pace picked up briskly. This last section was well populated, but our goal was to make it to the car and get out of the sand!

Although this hike was only 7 miles, it felt a lot further. I was glad we decided not to do the full 10 miles to the Aquarium. Tara and I had both neglected to put sunscreen on our faces and were reddening already, along with other odd spots.



We headed to the little dive bar in Moss Landing and I was excited about dancing on the pole. Unlike the last Saturday hike however - the bar was full of bikers which we found out is common on Sundays. What bike club should be there - but none other than our neighborhood club the Lompico Ghost Mountain Riders! A lot of the dollar bills that had been hanging from the ceiling were cleared off, so it didn't have the same cave like feeling.

The bar was packed with bikers, but we eventually all got seats. We got to meet some of our neighborhood Riders. Tara got on the email list of the Ghost Mountain Riders and I was invited to their clubhouse which is right down the street from my house. A great blues band started, so we danced (though the pole was blocked and I wasn't about to try it out with so many spectators). It was a great way to end the next-to-the-last-segment of the California Coastal Trail. Hiking and dancing two of things I love most in the world, done with dear friends.

Lessons Learned: Don't forget your sunscreen. You may have farther to go than you think. Always dance, you'll never regret it.

Zmudowski Beach – Moss Landing Beach

California Coastal Trail
Zmudowski Beach to Moss Landing North Jetty
Moss Landing Beach to Moss Landing South Jetty
Distance: 5 1/2 miles
Hiking time: 3 ½ hours
Hikers: Jo, Jan, Julie

The 3 J’s returned to knock off another section of the California Coastal trail. This was an out and back hike. We parked at Zmudowski Beach and hit the sand by 11:00 a.m. We looked for landmarks so we would remember the entrance to the beach.

Jo and I had discussed how long this hike this would be. I just wanted to hike along the sand to the Moss Landing jetty. She thought we were going to do the whole segment which would have included walking along the road, crossing the bridge and then coming down to the MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) beach.

It was a foggy, gray morning and the water looked brown. The towers of Moss Landing loomed incredibly close. It was a leisurely hike on a flat beach. There were several fishermen, but no houses, just sand dunes. There was a horse trailer parked in the parking lot when we arrived and we came across the riders. They were riding the horses in the breaking surf and the horses didn’t like it one bit. They were skittish, which made us skittish and we gave them a wide berth.

Our time was mainly spent beachcombing. After the hike we were going to stop in Watsonville to see Paula –one of our hikers – who is recovering from surgery. We wanted to bring gifts from the hike – rocks, shells or driftwood – anything interesting we found. I wanted to find an intact sand dollar, which is a tall order for this time of year. There were a lot of fragments, but I never found a whole one.

We reached the rocky jetty at Moss Landing in about an hour. The jetty is made of giant rocks and there is not a pathway – you have to jump from rock to rock. Neither Jan nor Jo wanted to go out to the end of the jetty. I decided to try it. I got about halfway before turning around. There was a rotting carcass, too much bird poop for my bare feet and I didn’t like jumping from rock to rock.

There is a parking lot for this beach, with a strip of marsh land which is probably part of Elkhorn Slough. You can see the power plant clearly here. We decided to have lunch on a picnic table on the beach. As we ate the sun came out. The sky was blue with white fluffy clouds and the water sparkled in the sunshine. Jo and Jan got colder as the sun came out. We must have been less protected from the wind here.

We headed back to Zmudowski Beach. We decided since it had been such a short hike, that we would drive to Moss Landing and do the little section of beach between Moss Landing Beach and MBARI. I wasn’t sure how far that was, but I wanted to know that I had walked every foot of coastline possible.

As we headed back we saw a Sea Lion up on the beach. He hadn’t been there before. We hoped he was just relaxing in the sun and wasn’t wounded or sick. I got pretty close to him for this shot. He ignored me. I stepped on a jellyfish and thought he might have stung me. As I walked in the surf my foot felt better. It think it was a psychological sting.

Jo kept looking for the entrance to Zmudowski beach. In the distance she could see a fisherman standing next to a driftwood structure. There was the entrance to the beach. We knew or doubted that we could have missed this driftwood structure made of about 8 poles stuck in the sand. I asked the fisherman whether it had been built that day. He didn’t understand me.

We decided someone must have built it in the last three hours. We had been looking for landmarks and this would have been hard to miss!! Even we couldn’t have been that oblivious we told ourselves. It was amazing that someone could put it together so quickly, though. It must have been beach elves.

We hopped in the car to head to Moss Landing. There were two rangers parked at the entrance. I stopped and asked how to pronounce the name of the beach. I had been saying “zoom-mud-kow-ski” but the actual pronunciation is “muh-dow-ski.” The first ‘z’ is silent and I had been throwing an extra “k’ in there. Who knew? Now you do.

Jo and I marveled at how the fields had been cleared. A month ago there had been lettuce and artichokes growing here. Now it was just dirt. Not a plant in sight.

We parked at Moss Landing beach. It was a very short walk to the jetty. We walked in front of MBARI. Teresa, another one of our hikers, works as an Expedition Coordinator there. What a great place to work. I would be walking that beach every lunch hour if I worked there. Of course, it was a beautiful day and Moss Landing is known for being overcast and windy, usually.

The jetty on this side had a cement path, so we walked to the end of it. Walking back we noticed a soft green algae that looked like moss. We hypothesized that this is why it is called Moss Landing.

For our post hike celebratory drink we went to the biker dive bar next to the Whole Enchilada. It’s easy to miss this bar if you don’t know it’s there. When you walk in, the ceilings and walls are covered with $1 bill with messages written on them. They hang from the ceiling like stalactites or overgrown plants. We figured there was over a 1,000 of them hanging.

The bar was full so we sat at a table. There is a small dance floor with a pole. I decided I had to try out the pole and began swinging around and playing on it. When I was finished the table of men next to us started swinging on it. Two of them did a maneuver where you hold the pole, then lift your legs until they are perpendicular at a 90 degree angle.

I asked them to show me how to do it, but it is really difficult. I had a little help getting into this position for the photo. I’ve decided I’m going to work on my pole moves before the next hike. Jan and Jo both took a few spins on the pole and we headed for Watsonville.

We had a nice visit with Paula – who is looking great and recovering quickly. We gave her a variety of rocks and shells that we had found on tour hike. Mine was a little rock shaped like a brain, because the desired sand dollar never materialized. Then we headed for home.

As I drove back along Highway One and looked towards the ocean, I said – “We’ve walked the beach all along here.” Now, I can picture the coastline as I drive. It’s been a fun little adventure to explore the coast in our back yard.

Lessons Learned: Watch where you’re stepping and beware of skittish horses. The beach will always give you something interesting if you look for it. I need to work on my pole dancing moves.