This hike takes place in the Inyo National Forest, Hoover Wilderness, just out of the Yosemite National Park. In fact, the Conness Peak lies on the dividing line between these two areas. The figure 8 loop around Saddle Bag Lake and 20 Lakes brings one to owe of the natural beauty all around the area. This moderate hike, to which we added an out & back segment to Conness Lakes where we were able to observe rock climbers at the Conness Peak. Pretty amazing area.

Great day to hike in western slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains - Wilder Ranch State Park, hiking through the Redwood groves there and along exposed trails in this cooler day with a light breeze. The "most boring" portion of the hike was along the coastal ridge - flat trail meandering along the coast for a few miles.

The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park is one of the best hiking venues in the Bay Area, although technically it is outside the Bay Area, in the coastal areas south of Santa Cruz. We managed to confuse ourselves by taking a wrong turn on the Doughnut Trail resulting in a very steep descend followed by very steep ascent along some un-named cycling trails. To "compensate" our hiking group, we decided to go through the closed Aptos Creek trail, using the ropes installed there to climb back out of the canyon in the area where the single plank bridge used to be before the 2016/7 winter storms when in fell into the ravine. Great hike and challenging experience.

A great hike - starting at the Saratoga Gap Vista Point Parking lot, going down along the Skyline to the Sea/Saratoga Toll Road trail for about 3 miles before turning left towards Travertine Spring and continuing into the Castle Rock State Park. From there returning to the parking lot via the tree covered Skyline Trail. Enjoyable hike despite temperatures being in the high 70's.

Started the hike from Graham Hill Road (we parked at the Church's parking lot) and crossing over Zayante Creek to enter the trail to the park. A new route we have not hiked before, giving us ample distance but little elevation gain. One of the nicest parks - Redwoods, shade, and cooler temperatures compared to areas outside the park.