When I was a wee small tyke of 11 or 12, I went on my very first campout in Pt. Reyes. Man, my folks had gone down to Big 5 with me and I had one of everything. Cook pot, silverware, an entire pound of M & M's for the card cames we never played. Good jesus, what a hike. To make matters better, my patrol (yeah, it was in scouts) headed up the horse trail. I decided that what I needed before Whitney was to exorcise a few old demons and hit the first trail ever to kick my ass and see if it remembered me. Who's your daddy?
I'd missed the first group foray this year out to the Western States Trail in order to make the venerable Peep Off but was glad I made this one. The trail starts in Auburn and runs over 100 miles up to Lake Tahoe. There are a number of side trails that cut into this and at the confluence of the American River there are a bunch of little trails that head in all directions up around and over the two forks. A nice hike but definately a springtime destination -- this elevation and exposure is probably a bit hot mid-summer. The trails are all in pretty good shape but are shared by horses and are pretty well eroded in some places.
For the first pre-Whitney hike Bill, Tracy, Hank, Bob & I headed out to Napa for a pleasant springtime jaunt of about 9 miles or so up some pretty juicy terrain. A couple of good burner slopes to cover but the views were well worth it. The trail is in pretty good shape most places and there's a nice coastal breeze blowing through there. Lots of changing scenery & wildlife too -- a good cross-section of Northern Californian hiking and highly recommended.
The Lt. Cmdr invited me along once again on his annual Boxing Day tradition of going for a romp in the East Bay hills. This trip was similar to one I'd done in spring and is a nice little hike through some pretty countryside with some nice views of the cityscape in that part of the world. A nice way to burn off a little Christmas turkey.