Live Oak Forest

September 5, 2013

I have been taking a 45-minute walk during my lunch hour every day since March.  Sometimes I walk by myself, and sometimes I walk with my colleagues.  Today, I called Charles and asked him to come and join me because there is a mysterious trail near my office, which I'd like to explore it with someone else first before I take a strode by myself.  Charles met me at my office parking lot, and we walked to Normandy Road, and found the trail (Pic # 1).

Pic # 1 

It looked quite inviting, isn't it?  We walked for about 10 minutes and found ourselves surprisingly surrounded by California Live Oaks. I had no idea this trail would lead us to a forest filled with Live Oaks (Pic # 2 and 3).

Pic # 2 Live Oak Forest

Pic # 3

In the midst of those big oak trees, we found a huge, giant-sized seesaw.  Rubee could not get it balanced, but strong Charles could!  (Pic # 4 and 5)

Pic # 4

Pic # 5

After a few minutes of workout on the seesaw, we walked about half a mile southwest, and suddenly encountered another total different environment--a big circle of tall reeds on a dry open square. Those reeds are very tall, taller than Rubee! (Pic # 6)

Pic # 6

I got back to my office before my lunch hour was up.  What an interesting walk today--my best so far!

Fort Ord National Monument-Lookout Ridge Road

First Visit on Saturday, 7 September 2013

In the afternoon around 3:00 pm, Charles and I decided to checked out the Fort Ord National Monument, which is very close to our home.  The  Ford Ord National Monument is huge, covering approximately 14,650 acres (about 60 square kilometers).  That's why, even though it is right next to our home and we have been there several times already, there are still many trails and sceneries waiting for us to visit and discover! We are so lucky to live in this area!   

This afternoon, we wanted to explore the trails behind the Laguna Seca Recreational Area.  So, we drove to Parkerflats Road, Watkins Gate Spur, and then Eucalyptus Road.  At the end of Eucalyptus Road intersecting Barloy Canyon Road, there are fences preventing cars to go further. So, we parked our car there, and walked south on Barloy towards Laguna Seca. After 2/3 a mile, we got distracted by an inviting trail on our left.  We walked on that trail for about 10 minutes, and came across this beautiful and straight trail on a ridge (Pic #1). 

Pic # 1

We found out that this lovely trail is called, "Lookout Ridge Road" (Pic # 2).  Charles was super happy because, by accident, he found a bench mark (Pic # 3), a survey marker for location and elevation, on this trail. Charles is a geographer. He looks for bench marks whenever and wherever we go to a new place. We call it "di-bao" (地宝，ground treasure) in Chinese.

Pic # 3

Pic # 2

The Lookout Ridge Road is very long.  We were not prepared to hike for a long time on that day.  So, even though it was very inviting, we decided to head home. But, I told Charles that I would definitely want to come back here next week to hike this trail from the beginning till the end. So long, Lookout Ridge Road! (Pic # 4)

Pic # 4

Second Visit on Saturday, 15 September 2013

Another beautiful day, sun is shining and the sky is so blue! Charles and I decided to re-visit the Lookout Ridge Road Trail. This time we wanted to hike from the beginning of this trail to as far as we could, near Laguna Seca if possible. So, we parked the car at the intersection of Eucalyptus and Barloy Canyon (Pic # 5), and walked East to the Jacks Road (Pic # 6). 

Pic # 6

Pic # 5

About a mile on Jacks, we came across a sharp turn around a huge depression where it was once a lake. After the turn, Jacks Road took us uphill quite a bit until we arrived at the point where Jacks Road intersects with Lookout Ridge trail. We took the trail on our right going southwest towards Barloy Canyon and Laguna Seca.  Hiking upwards a while longer, we found ourselves, indeed, walking on a RIDGE! (Pic # 7)

Pic # 7

The view up there was breathtaking! We could see many inviting trails, hills and canyons in this vast and priceless land of Fort Ord, and hope we will one day visit them all.  From the top of this ridge, of course, we could see "Our Mountain" (Pic # 8). It's like the old faithful to us now because we can see it almost anywhere in this region, high or low, east, west, north or south.

Pic # 8

Charles was extremely happy to find another benchmark (地宝) unexpectedly! (Pic # 9)

Pic # 9

Not far from the benchmark, there is a flag pole, probably indicating the highest point of this ridge (Pic # 10). Charles checked the elevation of this point on his iPhone--it is only 800 ft, but it seemed to us much higher. 

Pic # 10

From the flag pole, we started to go downhill.  The ground was dry and sandy, which made going downhill more difficult. I was grateful to have a good pair of hiking shoes and a hiking stick, which Charles made for me.  After about half a mile downhill hike, we looked up and saw the peak where the flag pole stands (Pic # 11). It looked so high up, and I couldn't believe we were up there just 15-20 minutes ago!

Pic # 11

About two hours after we started, we reached the intersection of Lookout Ridge Road and Barloy Spur Road which we discovered and visited during our first visit on Sept. 7.  We continued south on Lookout Ridge Road, hoping to reach our destination, Laguna Seca. We were so close that we could hear the noise those race cars were making at Laguna Seca. But, Rubee was tired! So we stopped at the sign marked P7 where there was a shortcut connecting to Barloy Canyon Road.  (Pic # 12) We took the shortcut and walked on the nice, flat, well-paved Barloy Canyon Road leading to our car!  We hiked 7 miles that day which took us about 4 hours.

Pic # 1

Fort Ord Dunes State Park

September 2, 2013

It was another beautiful day, a little bit cooler than the past two days, but still warm and sunny. Charles and I decided to take a walk on the trail near our home in Marina, between Highway 1 and the sand dunes.  We have seen this trail many times when we drove on Highway 1, but did not get a chance to visit until today!

Following the iPhone map, we drove to the 2nd Avenue, and turned right to the 8th Street, which should have led us directly to the trail. But, we discovered the 8th Street and several other streets between the 1st Avenue and the 2nd Avenue were still blocked due to many abandoned (Ford Ord) barracks.  So, we had to drive South to Divarty Street, and then turned around to go North on the 1st Avenue to access the latter par of the 8th Street leading to the trail.

It was totally worth the drive! The parking was easy and plenty, and the trail was absolutely fantastic, long and beautiful with the sand dunes and beach nearby. While walking on the trail, we could not help but move closer and closer to an interesting canyon (Pic # 1).

Pic # 1: Canyon Without a Name

Forget about walking on the well-maintained trail, let's check out the canyon and see to where it would lead us (Pic # 2).

 Pic # 2: Rubee Standing on the top of the Canyon

Of course, the canyon was formed by water and the water poured into the ocean!  Voila! Look at the beautiful beach below (Pic # 3)!

Pic # 3: Beach at the Mouth of the Canyon

I had to go down there! Who wouldn't?  "Charles, I am coming down... Catch me!" (Pic # 4)

Pic # 4: Rubee's Coming Down to the Beach!

Toro Park Trails

Sunday, 1 September 2013

It was an extra-ordinarily warm and sunny day of September for Monterey, California! Charles and I finally decided to take advantage of this beautiful day to hike the mountain we have been looking and longing to climb for the longest time.  We call it, "Our Mountain" (Pic # 1), because we don't know its name, but can see it on any clear day from Ford Ord area in Seaside, Marina and Salinas.  Fortunately, we know it is in the Toro Park, and we found its peak, the Simas Peak, on the Toro Park Hiking Trails map.

Pic # 1: "Our Mountain" 

Around 10:45 am on September 1, we arrived and parked outside the Toro Park. We entered the park and walked straight into the park about half a mile, passing Quail Meadows, and then moved towards left, took the path leading to the Cougar Ridge Trail. Taking CRT is a good decision because the elevation is gradual, not too difficult, and the scenery is very beautiful. On our way up towards the Simas Peak, we could see the park and the valley beyond the park (Pic # 2 and Pic # 3).

Pic # 2: Cougar Ridge Trail Overlooking the Park

Pic # 3: Cougar Ridge Trail overlooking the valley

When we seemed to reach the end of CRT, we encountered two trails, one going up a small hill and the  other around it (Pic # 4). By then, I was a bit exhausted, mostly due to the full and over exposure of the sun, so we decided to take the trail around the hill. We realized later that it was the Cougar Loop trail on the map (make sense!).

Pic # 4: Cougar Loop

Walking on the CL trail was very pleasant as there were some oak trees and shades. We rested for a while to have a snack.  Looking at "Our Mountain," which seemed to be very close, we marched uphill forward until we reached a small flat area with a land post indicating "Eagle Peak" (Pic # 5). We checked on the map and noted it was 1600 ft high.  The view was amazing!

Pic # 5: Eagle Peak (1600 ft)

Not too far from the Eagle Peak, we landed on another peak, no name, 1700 ft high. From there, we could see we would have to go down to a canyon, then hike quite high up to the Simas Peak (2129 ft).  The distance was probably not too big a deal, maybe another 3 miles, but the up and down trails seemed too perilous for Rubee. So, we decided it was enough for today, and we should turn around and head back.  On our way back, we wanted to experience a different trail. So, we took the Coyote Spring Trail, the Toyon Ridge Trail (Pic # 6), and then the East Ridge Trail. These trails are much more steeper than the Cougar Ridge Trail.  I was so glad that we did not take them to come up.  I would not have made it to the Eagle Peak if we came up this way.  But, the trade-off was, of course, the amazing scenery (Pic # 7)!  

Pic # 6: Toyon Ridge Tral

Pic # 7: Toyon Ridge Trail overlooking the Salinas valley

It was around 3:15 pm, about 4.5 hours later, we were back in the park, at the Buckeye picnic area. We found a nice piece of green lawn under a big oak tree, put down our blanket and took a half an hour nap! Today's hike was about 6 miles, and took us 4.5 hours (Pic # 8).  We did not reach our goal, the Simas Peak, but saw some very beautiful sceneries!