The San Francisco Bay Area is blessed with many splendid open spaces, including state, regional and national parks, as well as numerous local watersheds accessible by permit. But a significant loss for us this past year was the closing of the Buckeye Creek Trail in the Oakland hills, where Craig has hiked for many years.

I wrote about Buckeye Creek a year ago, and about the pleasures of seeing it change from day to day and season to season. This trail had been officially closed for a couple of years (to all but us scofflaws), but last month the park service finally took down the bridge, laid down burlap on the old trail to encourage it to grow over, and built a new trail away from the water. All these “improvements” destroyed the primary pleasure of this walk, which was watching the creek cycle through its annual changes. Now the secondary trail is closed, too (temporarily, we trust), so we’re looking for a new local hike.

ASIDE: I took the above photo on a recent hike at Buckeye Creek. I saw a stand of last year’s dried-up teasels and noticed that some of them were sporting beards of green. At first, I thought the teasels were regenerating, but closer inspection showed that they were actually hosting colonies of tiny green plants! 

In the meantime, there are plenty of other places to explore…

Berry Creek Falls

Back in August, Craig and I camped and hiked at Big Basin Redwoods in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It’s California’s oldest state park and, as you might imagine, its chief attractions are the ancient coast redwoods. According to the Park website:

Some of these giants are more than 50 feet around and as tall as the Statue of Liberty. At 1,000 to 1,800 years old, some may predate the Roman Empire. The park also offers spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean, lush waterfalls, and a fascinating natural and cultural history.

Getting to Big Basin involves a long and winding road — very winding if (oops!) you take the secondary road — but one’s effort is amply rewarded by the towering trees and glorious views.

We set off first thing in the morning on the Berry Creek Falls Trail, a beautiful and strenuous hike — and a long one (10.5 miles). It was worth it, but I did not bring enough water, nor did I eat enough before setting out. Stupid mistake! — though, in my defense, I hadn’t understood how long a hike this was going to be. So I ended up having to refill my bottle at a swift-running stream with, fortunately, no ill effects (!). Even so, I was pretty wrung out by the time we got back to park headquarters and very happy to restore my energies with an ice cream cone. This is definitely a hike to do again — with better provisions!

A tricky landing

Shelter Cove is a small community on the Lost Coast of northern California. As Wikipedia explains,

[This region] was named the “Lost Coast” after the area experienced depopulation in the 1930s. In addition, the steepness and related geotechnical challenges of the coastal mountains made this stretch of coastline too costly for state highway or county road builders to establish routes through the area, leaving it the most undeveloped and remote portion of the California coast.

Bottom line: it’s hard to get there. From our house, it’s about a 5-hour drive. But Shelter Cove does have a small airstrip, and on a clear, calm day it’s possible to fly in. Flying takes about an hour and a half, which makes this a great breakfast destination.

The airstrip runs the width of the peninsula and is readily visible from the air. But wind and fog make landing treacherous much of the time, so we had to choose our day carefully. I say “we,” but of course it’s actually Craig who before any flight repeatedly verifies the forecast, checks the cloud cover, looks up the wind speeds at different altitudes (the “winds aloft,” as it’s phrased), and determines whether or not it’s safe or wise to make the trip.

This fall gave us remarkably fine weather with lots of bright, sunny days, so in early October we headed up to Shelter Cove. The Lost Coast is edged by tall mountains with precipitous drops to the ocean, so we needed to climb high to get over them and then drop down in wide circles until we were low enough to land. Over rough terrain like this, where landing a plane safely would be pretty much impossible, altitude is safety. The higher you fly, the farther you can glide to find a landing site, should the unthinkable occur.

Which it didn’t. Craig made a low pass over the field to warn away errant golfers (a golf course straddles the runway), then circled around to make a smooth landing, parked, and tied the plane down. We headed off on foot to find somewhere for breakfast. A few small hotels nestle between the airstrip and the ocean, and there’s also a campground at the end of the strip. After breakfasting in a hotel restaurant overlooking the water, we wandered along the shore to get a feel for the area. Small, remote, and lovely — Shelter Cove is worthy of a return visit on another fine day.

Swinging along the open road

When my sister Shannon and I hike, we try to find somewhere that’s accessible to both of us (we live about an hour apart) and, ideally, a place that’s new to us both. The AllTrails app and Ann Marie Brown’s Bay Area hiking guide are great resources and have led us to discover some beautiful spots. Here are a couple.

These grassy hillsides — gold or green, depending on the season — dotted with grand old oak trees might be my favorite landscape. This scenery feels like home to me, and I’m thankful that so much of it has been preserved as hike-able open space. I was thrilled recently to read that our governor has allocated $20 million of his 2020 budget toward the purchase of land for a new California state park. Fingers crossed!

There’s something about a rhythmic tramp down a beautiful trail that just makes you want to break into song — don’t you find? Shannon got us singing a great part-song called “Swinging Along,” which I think I learned at Girl Scout camp back in the Middle Ages. It’s a perfect hiking song, and it goes like this (I wish Shannon were here to sing it with me!):

If you want to learn this song, you can listen to the individual parts:

Here’s a shout-out to the Girl Scouts!
From them I learned to sleep on the ground and cook over a fire,
to hike along trails and walk through creeks,
to sing rounds and other songs…
activities I remember and enjoy to this day
(except perhaps for sleeping on the ground!).

Connections

• Big Basin Redwoods State Park
• Wikipedia: Lost Coast
• See a map of Shelter Cove, California
• AllTrails
• Ann Marie Brown: Moon 101 Great Hikes San Francisco Bay Area
• Los Angeles Times: Newsom’s budget includes $20 million for California’s biggest new state park in decades (January 10, 2020)

You might also enjoy…

• Miracles, Minor and Mundane
• Around the Bay
• Elephant seals at Año Nuevo State Park
• All postcards