Castle Rock State Park

Location: Los Gatos, Santa Clara County
Hike Date: 2015, October 4
Hike Stats
: 5.9 miles, 3.5 hours, 2108 feet elevation gain

Repeat Visit: 2017, June 10

Castle Rock State Park
Castle Rock State Park is a place of abundant solitude, wilderness, high cliffs, and sweeping vistas. Unique patterns on weathered sandstone, lush forests, and stream-fed canyons make up the park’s diverse features. – https://www.parks.ca.gov/
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Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve, La Honda, Southern San Mateo County

Hike Date: Saturday, September 12, 2015
4.6 miles, 2 hours, 780 feet
(Repeat visits: Sunday, June 19, 2016 || Saturday, June 24, 2017)

This is our second most-favorite-hike from 2015, the first one being at Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Even though it was a dull, gloomy, gray day, the panoramic views of the Santa Cruz mountains and the vast expanse of forests that stretched out onto the horizon were spellbinding.

Ipiwa Trail in Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve

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Big Basin Redwoods State Park

Location: Boulder Creek, Santa Cruz County
Hike Date
: 2015, September 6, Sunday
* 8.7 miles, 3.5 hours, 2287 feet
* Dool Trail Sunset Trail – Timms Creek Trail – Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail

Repeat Visit
: 2016, July 30, Saturday (Sleep Late and Hike Meetup)
* 9.5 miles, 5.5 hours
* Berry Creek Falls Loop: Dool Trail – Sunset Trail – Berry Creek Falls Trail – Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail – Sunset Trail – Dool Trail

Big Basin Redwoods State Park
“These trees, because of their size and antiquity, were among the natural wonders of the world and should be saved for posterity.” –Andrew P. Hill, 1899 (Source: Big Basin Redwoods State Park official brochure)
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Alum Rock Park, San Jose (North Rim Trail)

Hike Date: August 1, 2015
4.7 miles, 1.5 hours, 1337 feet

We had paid a leisure visit to the Alum Rock Park in December 2014. At that time, we did not know much about the trail system here. So we had just followed a bunch of other people and strolled on one of the trails that was flanked by a creek. We had been wanting to go back to the Alum Rock Park for some serious hiking, and so we did, in August 2015.

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Almaden Quicksilver County Park, San Jose

Hike Date: July 25, 2015

We planned our second hike with a meetup group – Off Peak Hikes & Trips of Silicon Valley. I had been seeing an invite for Almaden Quick Silver County Park hike from this group weekly in my inbox. The group hikes in evenings on Wednesday and in mornings on Saturday. The Saturday morning hike started at 10:30 AM, which was not too early to rush for, so I immediately signed us up for the hike.

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