You’d think as a California native I’d have more experience in wine country but in fact, I’ve never done wine tasting in Napa before! I have been to Sonoma, Paso Robles and Livermore but Napa is the real deal! We were there for a long weekend, and stayed at Silverado Resort and Spa. I didn’t pick it out but it’s pretty dang nice and has pools, a grill, a golf course and of course a spa.

For this hike we originally were intending to go to Memorial County Park but I discovered upon arrival that park is closed from the fires still. For what it’s worth I wasn’t in charge of planning this hike! But also shame on Google for navigating me all the way there and not telling me it was closed! There was no reception there so I was almost unable to reconnect with my friends.

I picked this hike off of Google Maps so I don’t feel great about including it in the 2021 collection. That said, I believe we still clocked in 2 or 3 miles and there were some pretty steep parts. Anyways, Mori Point is part of Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and is located in Pacifica. This is very, very similar to Pillar Point Bluff in its views. I would recommend Pillar Point over Mori Point though.

First post of 2021! Welcome to the new year y’all! This year my focus is definitely going to be on things inside my house or within driving distance so it is gonna be a quiet year for the blog. I’m thinking this will age better than this post from 2019… When it was coming down to the wire on my 2020 hiking goals, I heard about some of the Peninsula city parks and put them in my tracking document.

Tilden is a regional park in East Bay spanning 2,079 acres between Berkeley and Orinda. Getting there from the Peninsula is no problem but the roads around the park are pretty steep. We drove through some interesting neighborhoods and my car’s clutch tried its best. We started at Lake Anza and worked our way in a loop to Grizzly Peak, Inspiration Point and back for a 6.8 mile walk: There’s a lake right at the entrance that I guess in warmer weather people could swim in.

I found this hike through redwoodhikes.com, specifically the hike to Barnabe Peak. See also the things to do page on the state park website. My expectations were that this would be on a fire road type trail, clock in at about 5.8 miles, and have outstanding views. Start at Camp Taylor. Parking there as of 2020 still costs $8. I parked close to the entrance, but to get to the trailhead you should park further in.

Once again my girl over at Trees and Tents provided me with an in depth trail description and recommendation. I followed her instructions for the Brooks Falls Loops to a T, but it’s been dry lately so there was no waterfall. One thing I noticed right off the bat was how many critters there are here! I saw deer, tons of birds, chipmunks and even a rabbit. I suspect with the proximity to Pacifica that a lot of these guys aren’t too afraid of humans because these deer were very chill.

I am normally against these kinds of “city parks” because they don’t really feel that much like a nature excursion but I’m glad I gave up on that idea. I was expecting it to be cold, but it was actually a really pleasant winter day. I ended up putting two jackets and my beanie in my backpack. Here is the trail map. See the image for about half of the recorded path we took:

When my old coworker asked me if I’d like to meet up in San Luis Obispo for the weekend there was no way I was saying no! My old boss has an Airbnb there he rents out which we used as our home base. I left my place early Friday morning to go borrow a car from my parents and made the 3.5 hour drive to SLO, getting there around 11 AM.

I recently discovered an AWESOME blog called Trees and Tents and I got the recommendation for Pillar Point Bluff from there. Once again this is not technically a state park but I am still counting it, especially considering COVID and the fires! This puts me at 13 “state” parks in 2020. 7 left with uhhh 3 months to go! Since I’m side tracked, I was also thinking I should probably put a rating and difficulty section for hikes, to make finding the hike that’s right for you easier!