Above the clouds…and fog: East Peak of Mt. Tamalpais (Photos)

A guest post BY VICTOR VOLTA

Victor is a professional photographer and writer, living in Alameda, CA. He has a degree in Journalism from San José State University. He is an avid hiker, loves road trips to the Sierras and the desert.

East Peak, Mt. Tamalpais

There are various ways to get to the East Peak of Mt. Tamalpais (directions from Mill Valley). At 2,571’, it’s the highest point in the park . The easiest way is to cheat and drive up East Ridgecrest Boulevard, park in the lot and wander around the summit, taking in the panoramic views.

View slideshow: Mt. Tamalpais and Muir Woods

But as with most things worth savoring, a little hard work is more beneficial to the soul, not to mention the heart, lungs and legs. The southern approach from Fern Creek Trail is one of the most challenging stretches of climbing in the entire park. The best starting point for this option is to park at the lot across from Mountain Home Inn on the Panoramic Highway. On mid-week mornings, parking is ample, but it can fill up on weekends, especially during the late spring and summer. There are two chemical toilets and a stunning view of Muir Woods below and to the west.

One caveat: From the parking lot, the starting point isn’t apparent or obvious. First the hiker must cross the street (look both ways for cars being driven by awestruck tourists, speeding cyclists, or deer) then walk up the driveway of the Throckmorton Fire House. You might feel like a trespasser, but continue to the left of the station and you’ll see a wide fire road (Hogback Fire Road).

The terrain starts off with a moderate incline, but once past the water tower and the Matt Davis trailhead, the real workout begins and it’s a steep climb of several hundred yards to the intersection of Old Railroad Grade Fire Trail. Unless the hiker is out to really punish their legs, an occasional stop to catch one’s breath and to take in the view to the south is recommended. While a magnificent scene of the forest peeking through a fog bank like the above photo isn’t guaranteed, the view is always something to be marveled at. Depending on visibility and the fog bank, stretching to the horizon are views of Sausalito, San Francisco Bay, the Bay Bridge, and countless other landmarks.

The T-intersection of Old Railroad Grade (1400’) is a good place to stop and rest, drink some water and perhaps shed a layer of clothing. This fire road is a popular thoroughfare for mountain bikers on their way from Mill Valley to either West Point Inn or the East Peak. Continuing to the left, it’s an easy amble of less than half a mile on the wide fire road to the Fern Creek trailhead.

Nestled against the mountainside in the crease formed by Fern Creek, the trail to the summit is single track (no bikes allowed) that takes the hiker up varied terrain up the southern slope towards the summit. This trail section is roughly a mile in length, gaining about 1,000′ in elevation, making it one of the steepest one-mile stretches in the park.

It’s starts steeply up switchbacks and steps in the shade of bay laurel, oak and a smattering of evergreens. This time of year (early April) finds blooms of wild iris. A quarter mile up, the trail flattens, crosses Fern Creek, and then reaches the intersection of the short Tavern Pump trail. From here it’s a hard, steady climb. Once past a long wooden staircase, the underbrush becomes mainly chamise and manzanita and the path turns rockier and more uneven. On the way down, this rocky terrain will test the treads on one’s hiking shoes and help determine if a trip to REI to buy new ones is needed.

There’s a final steep chute through a tunnel of manzanita branches that takes the hiker to the end of the trail. One more caveat: This isn’t the summit. The summit is a short climb away from the Visitor Center, which is to the right about two hundred yards up an access road. In addition to the visitor center (open only on weekends) there are bathrooms, picnic tables and the views become expansive once again.

For those who want to experience the true summit of the East Peak, it’s another quarter mile and 200’ climb up a wooden walkway that eventually gives way to a rockier trail. At the end of this short section is a lookout tower that’s inaccessible to the public, but from just below it, finally gives the hiker a panoramic view in all directions. Lunch can be enjoyed here above the clouds and fog (hopefully), back down near the Visitor Center, or some other spot of the hiker’s choosing.

For the return trip, the hiker can either backtrack to Mountain Home Inn or, using a trail map, pick a new route back down the mountain.

This article originally appeared on Examiner.com.

Memories from Montaña de Oro State Park

A guest post BY JOSH MCNAIR

Josh is a blogger and photographer that is currently attempting to travel and photograph the state of California with his blog CaliforniaThroughMyLens.com. He also loves to go on adventures and hikes and chronicles them on the adventure blog OPAdventureTeam.com.

I love visiting California’s beautiful state parks as they are diverse collections of the extraordinary beauty that is found all over this state. I even have a list of all the parks in my office with the hope that I may one day check them all off. While I have traveled extensively in California, one of the parks I had heard the least about has became one of my favorites, Montaña de Oro. Montaña de Oro, located south of Morro Bay and West of San Luis Obispo, is a beautiful example of what pristine, untouched coastline can look like (we never see this in Southern California). It has miles of trails, acres of beaches to relax on and a leisurely style that beckons you come and enjoy yourself. My favorite place to visit here is the Bluffs Trail as it walks the coastline for about two miles and creates fantastic vistas one after another as you are walking. Here are my favorite parts of this trail in Montaña de Oro State Park.

This first picture demonstrates the amazing way the water has worked on the rocks to create these unique inlets. As the tide goes up and the years move on, the water does its part to create art that can now be seen in these rock structures. I also love the way the green juxtaposes with the blues of the ocean and the browns of the rock.

A little further down the trail there are a series of steps that lead to a small beach and a large collection of tide pools. Again, in Southern California, these tide pools would have been crawling with people, but up in this park they were practically vacant, which allowed us to see everything from starfish to sea slugs. It was awesome to be able to see a habitat like this so untouched.

If you are feeling more adventurous there are a bunch of inlets where you can climb down and relax on the beach. Beaches like the above picture even provide opportunities to swim out and check out the small arches and little caves located right off the shoreline in the rock formations. Even during the end of summer when I was there, there were only about a dozen people relaxing on the beach.

My last memory about Montaña de Oro was coming to the end of the bluffs trail. This rock that jutted out of the bluffs created a unique picture against the ocean crashing behind it. While the picture makes it look small, this rock was big enough to hold me for a picture that I still have hanging up in my house. It is a great place to just relax and realize how small you are in the grand scheme of things.

I loved my time at this park and always tell others to visit. It is a beautifully preserved example of California’s rich beaches and a great place to take a family vacation. I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments if you have been here and enjoyed yourself as much as I did. You can read my full post with directions to the trail on my site CaliforniaThroughMyLens.com.

Park Advocacy Day: A View From the Trenches

A guest post BY MICHAEL HANRAHAN

Michael is a long-time park advocate and is a regular at CSPF’s Annual Park Advocacy.

This year marks my fourth time attending Park Advocacy Day, an annual event sponsored by the California State Parks Foundation. The all-day event brings concerned citizens and state park supporters from all over California to Sacramento. We spend much of the day walking the halls of the State Capitol building, meeting with legislators, and lobbying them to take a stand on legislation related to our state parks. It’s a great experience to become a lobbyist for a day, and to take part in grassroots political action on a very meaningful level.

My 2012 Park Advocacy Day Team: George Loyer, Kirsten Schulz, Avery Dinauer, M.J. Wickham, and myself.

The day starts out with an informal breakfast, during which time the teams of four to five people get to meet each other and look over the day’s assignments. Teams are organized by region of the state, and generally meet with legislators from their particular part of the state. There are some exceptions to this though, so flexibility is critical to getting the most out of Park Advocacy Day. My Bay Area team has usually met with Democratic legislators who are strong supporters of state parks, such as former Assemblyman Jared Huffman, Assemblyman Wes Chesbro, and Senators Mark Leno and Noreen Evans. Last year, we had the chance to meet with an aide to Assemblyman Donald Wagner, an Orange County Republican, who also expressed strong support for our state parks. This provided us with a great opportunity to see how issues related to state parks enjoy the support of people across the political spectrum.

I had the chance to meet with Senator Mark Leno at Park Advocacy Day in 2011.

A lot has changed since 2010, the first year I attended Park Advocacy Day. One of the big issues at the time was then-Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposal to link funding for state parks to approval of offshore oil drilling leases along the Santa Barbara Channel. The “oil for parks” proposal, which coincided with some of the early threats to close state parks, was ultimately shot down, mainly due to its absurdity.

By 2011, the budget cuts to state parks had reached crisis level, and much of the discussion at Park Advocacy Day was related to the impending and much dreaded park closure list, which was finally released about two months later. One of the most important pieces of legislation that year was AB 42, authored by Jared Huffman, which paved the way for nonprofit organizations to enter into Operating Agreements and Donor Agreements with DPR. We lobbied hard for this bill and were very gratified to see it passed unanimously by the Assembly, by a huge majority in the Senate, and signed by Governor Brown later that year.

Assemblyman Jared Huffman speaks to 2010 Park Advocacy Day attendees on the steps of the Capitol.

In 2012, the fight to keep open the 70 parks on the closure list was in full swing. Park Advocacy Day was attended by many representatives of organizations associated with parks on the closure list. The sense of urgency was palpable, along with a determination to fight hard to prevent any park closures from taking place. One of my assigned meetings was with Assemblyman Jared Huffman, whose AB 42 was already being put into practice by a number of organizations. The large group meeting, which included three other teams, was more like a pep rally than a lobbying meeting.

One of the best parts of Park Advocacy Day is walking around the State Capitol building. With its neoclassical architecture featuring a central rotunda topped by an expansive dome, the building takes its inspiration from the ancient Greeks, as well as the design of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C. It is a style that has come to represent the home of democracy, a place where the people have a voice in their government. The State Capitol in Sacramento has an especially strong significance to park advocates, because the building itself is one of California’s 280 state parks. Its portrait-lined hallways and intricately carved staircases serve the purpose of wilderness trails and pathways that lead us to our assigned destinations.

The State Capitol building is one of California’s 280 state parks.

For people who love and cherish our state parks, Park Advocacy Day is an important day to make our voices heard, at a time when parks throughout the state are facing threats from budget cuts, nearby development, vandalism, and neglect.  Frederick Law Olmsted, the renowned landscape architect who authored the Preliminary Report that created the California state parks system in 1864, wrote about the importance of protecting the great scenic wonders of our state:

“It is the will of the nation as embodied in the act of Congress that this scenery shall never be private property, but that like certain defensive points upon our coast it shall be solely for public purposes.”

This year, Park Advocacy Day offers park supporters a chance to savor the victories of the past year with a sense of cautious optimism. State parks still face formidable obstacles, including a backlog of deferred maintenance that exceeds $1 billion. But the morning light after a long dark night seems to be emerging now, like the winter sun rising above the distant horizon. It’s a view that can be cherished from many of our state parks.

Wildlife and Birds on an RV Trip to the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

A guest post BY Joe Laing, El MONTE RV

Joe Laing is the Marketing Director for El Monte RV Rentals, your nationwide source for RV rentals. El Monte RV also sells used motorhomes through eight different locations across the United States. For more information on purchasing a used motorhome see elmontervsales.com/.

My friend was planning to travel to Southern California for an RV vacation and called me. He knew I had provided itineraries to many travelers throughout the years, so he wanted to take advantage of my vast knowledge and find the best California state park to visit. I was happy to oblige. Knowing he loved wildlife, birding and ATV riding, I picked the best place where he could find plenty of all three – Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

Anza-Borrego

This is California’s largest state park, with 600,000 acres and hundreds of miles of dirt roads and beautiful wilderness areas. The wonders of the desert are all around, with the opportunity to see magnificent wildflower displays and amazing vistas. I could think of no other park where he would find such ideal weather for a winter RV trip, nor could I think of another place where the wildlife and birding opportunities were so unique.

The park itself extends through eastern San Diego County while reaching into both Riverside and Imperial Counties, and includes two towns, Borrego Springs and Shelter Valley. In Borrego Springs, my friend can find RV camping at the Borrego Palm Canyon Campground. His RV motorhome is 35 feet long, the maximum length allowed at this campground, so it will be perfect! He will be happy with the full hookups and close proximity to dump station, hiking and nature trails and many birds. The campground is a mile north of the park headquarters and easy to find.

I told him that he should get ready for the views as he approaches. The great bowl of the desert spreads out before him, mountains to every side. To the south are the Vallecito Mountains with the Santa Rosa Mountains to the north. He won’t be able to get into those wilderness areas as there are no roads, but he won’t need to with all there is to see right in the Anza-Borrego desert.

Fonts Point

Wildlife is Plentiful in the Park

My buddy wants wildlife – wildlife he’ll get. In this diverse landscape he will have the opportunity to see mule deer, kit foxes, iguanas and perhaps a red diamond rattlesnake. Of course, other wildlife sightings will include coyotes, jackrabbits, ground squirrels and kangaroo rats. The one animal he probably won’t get a glimpse of is the elusive desert bighorn. This peninsular bighorn sheep keeps his distance and only a few people are patient enough to observe and count this endangered species to see how they are faring.

The Birds of Anza-Borrego

Besides greater roadrunners, quail, prairie falcons and golden eagles, there is the famous Swainson’s hawks. These birds migrate every spring to their North American breeding grounds and in the fall to their South American wintering grounds. I had to tell my friend that he must make a point of joining those who take part in the Borrego Valley Hawkwatch so he can see these magnificent birds. It is very lucky for him that he is arriving in mid-February, as the watches go on from 15 February to 15 April. If he is an early riser, he can watch them take off between 8 and 9 am or he can arrive at the Evening Hawkwatch Site on Borrego Valley Road an hour before sunset.

The Flora of Anza-Borrego Desert

We can’t neglect the flora! In late February or early March the wildflowers create such displays as to take your breath away. I told my friend he should stay a few weeks so he will be sure not to miss this elegant and colorful panorama of blooms. The brittlebush lends its yellow and the chuparosa adds its red to the rainbows of hues. The timing is hard to predict, based on rainfall and temperatures, but if he is patient he will find the washes of color hard to resist and certainly he will have thousands of photos to add to his collection.

In these landscapes with so many forms, plant life abounds. He will view sage, cactus shrub, Palo Verde trees and Smoke trees. In the east and to the north he will find pine forests, oaks and Manzanitas. It is such a wide variety with the mountains as background, it is sure to inspire.

Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area

To add to the excitement, the Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area is right next door to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The off-road fun awaiting my friend is virtually endless here. My friend was enthusiastic upon hearing of the additional opportunities to get out on his ATV. He plans first to do the self-guided tour.

Yes, my friend is most certainly excited about coming to Anza-Borrego. Now to convince him to make room for me in his RV!

My Funky Hiking Boots Lead The Way

A guest post BY SHAWN BOLKER

Shawn Bolker is a member of California State Parks Foundation. He completed the Defend What’s Yours Challenge in 2012 to show his support for California state parks.

Henry Cowell © Shawn Bolker

Ever since I was two years old, my family and I have had the tradition of spending time outdoors and of also volunteering to protect our natural surroundings.  The outdoors must be preserved for future generations.  It is important to have a natural place to ground people when they are  moving all around, to stay in touch with the earth and just to mellow down.

I really like to hike, backpack, and photograph waterfalls.  Now that I am a teenager, my dirty old hiking boots and I often head out to explore nature.  My hiking boots lead the way and my camera is in my hand to capture and reflect what is around me.

I also enjoy researching an area before I take off to explore.  My comfortable, warm and funky hiking boots remind me of where I have been and all that I would like to discover.

Remembering Summer in Castle Crags State Park

A guest post BY Jennifer Snyder

Jennifer is a writer and travel enthusiast based in the Sacramento area of Northern California. She has recently given in to the insatiable urge to wander and loves to share photos and experiences over on her blog, People + Places + Things. Jennifer has also authored an app titled Northern California for Nature Lovers, which can be downloaded from the App Store here.

Northern California winters tend to come on quickly and bring winds, rain and yes – snow – to the region. When the days are damp and dreary, I like to look back and remind myself of fun, warm weather hikes.

For example, this past summer my husband and I decided to hike the Crags Trail at Castle Crags State Park. We visit the area every summer and it had been a few years since we had tackled the challenging trail.

We headed for the park early and reached the trailhead by about 8:30 a.m. After checking in at the ranger station, we took the short drive up to the parking lot that serves as the starting point for a few trails and the vista point.

The beginning of the trail can be quite cool since it’s mostly shaded, but once you hit the Crags, the sun can get pretty toasty. You’ll want to be back down in the shade before it gets too hot.

At the start of the hike, it’s easy to be fooled into thinking you’re on an easy nature walk. The trail looks a lot like this:

However, you’ll start to gain some elevation and notice the trail getting a bit rocky:

Eventually, the trail starts to look more like this:

The reward? Views, views and more views:

Once we made it to the trail end, we relaxed for a bit, had some snacks and snapped a few more pictures:

You can also head up here:

That’s the “trail” up the dome. I really don’t rock climb and I had no desire to start. My adventurous husband has climbed up to the top of the dome before and says the views are spectacular. According to the information sheet we received at the ranger station, it’s a 500-foot ascent meant for experienced rock climbers. Since I’m not experienced (at all), we decided to skip the dome and headed back down the trail.

It took us around 3 hours to finish the hike. The Crags Trail (not including the dome) is about 5 miles round-trip and is listed as strenuous. If you opt for the dome climb, bring gear, wear the right shoes and be careful!

My best tips for this hike are to start early, bring twice as much water as you think you’ll need and be sure to stop often to take in all that beauty.

Guest Post: Weekend Swap!

A guest post BY JUSTIN LUCAS

Justin Lucas recently started a new website with two friends called WeekendSwap.com where people can log on to lend or borrow gear so they can enjoy the outdoors. Justin explains how Weekend Swap works and why it is great for state park users. 

 

What’s WeekendSwap.com all about?

We allow people to borrow and lend outdoor gear. One of our main goals is to inspire people to get out there and try something new. Want to go camping for the first time but need a tent? You can simply rent one through us without having to buy one. Want to go kayaking this weekend? Weekend Swap has a kayak for you. Want to try stand up paddleboarding? We’ve got you covered.

So how does it work?

If you’re borrowing gear, you simply browse our website for an item in your area. We recently launched in the San Francisco area, so most of the items will be from there, although we are still accepting listings from all over the world. Once you find something you like, you then pay for your rental online and determine a meeting spot to pick up your item from the lender. Then you return your item to your lender when the rental period is over.

As a lender, you can make some cash on the gear you just have lying around. Why let these awesome items go to waste? All you do is list your item on our site then set a per-day rental fee. You also determine a deposit amount for your item. So let’s say you listed a stand up paddleboard for $25/day that’s valued at $1000. You can set your deposit amount to $1000. If your borrower damages your SUP, you can charge part of that deposit amount or if it wasn’t returned, you can then charge the full deposit amount.

Once an item is rented out, then you’re given your rental fee minus a 9% transaction fee.

Who is Weekend Swap for?

Everyone, of course!

If you’re a seasoned fan of the outdoors, maybe there are still many activities you want to try out. If you’re someone who desires to be more active, maybe buying expensive items or dealing with your typical rental shops might seem too intimidating at first.

Either way, Weekend Swap has a little something for everyone.

Guest Post: Full-Time RVing, Public Parks and Photography

A guest post BY LEVONNE GADDY

Levonne is an artist and author of several blogs about her family’s three-year relocation adventure from the U.S. southwest to California during the Great Recession. During that period, they volunteered as park caretakers and campground hosts and lived in some of California’s public parks.

Hearst Castle © Levonne Gaddy

My husband John and I have lived in our thirty-foot Jazz fifth-wheel trailer for three years. If it had not been for beautiful public parks, my sacred camera and my equally sacred laptop computer, I don’t know that I could have made it.

Our original plan when we hit the road three years ago was to find meaningful work and a community that we would love on the Central California coast. We left a comfortable home, jobs and a known community to relocate after fifteen years in the U.S. Southwest. We left in the midst of the 2008 Great Recession.

Having been enthusiastic recreational vehicle campers to Central Coast California for over twenty years, we felt adequately qualified to decide that we wanted to be permanent California residents. Our positive exposure to camp hosts in public parks over the years led us to pursue volunteer camp host jobs as a way to give something back to the communities we loved and to anchor us in our transition.

Camp host duties usually include providing campers with information, doing camp checks to make sure visitors have paid their fees, staffing visitor centers and museums and general cleanup around campgrounds. Most hosts work approximately 20 hours a week and in exchange are provided with a full-hookup campsite during their stay.

Annadel © Levonne Gaddy

When we arrived in California in the fall of 2009, a state budget was being negotiated. A partial remedy for the $26.3 billion state budget deficit was a plan to close 220 state parks.

John and I were quite happy when funds were found to keep the state parks open. We were able to live-on volunteer at several parks including Oceano State Park in the Pismo Beach area, Morro Strand State Beach in Morro Bay and Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park in Big Sur.

As fulltime RVers and California parks volunteers, I took great pleasure in photographing the beauty of the parks and in writing about our experiences in my blogs at www.levonnegaddy.com.

I am currently engaged in a campaign to raise funds so that I may turn stories and pictures into a book that I will use to raise awareness about California parks. In addition to park closures, there are other very real challenges. Some of those challenges are habitat destruction by overuse; protection of native species at the expense of recreation; and reclaiming industrial brown fields to create new parks in dense urban areas.

In September (2012), current Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that averted closures yet again. AB 1478 placed a two-year moratorium on state park closures. That means that in less than a year and a half, closures will be at issue once more. I am happy to do my part to help save our wonderful public spaces in California.

Pfeiffer Big Sur © Levonne Gaddy

You may go to California State Parks Foundation http://www.calparks.org/takeaction/parkclosures/ to learn what you can do to help save our parks.

To learn more about my book project, please see “This Restless Life: a study of Central Coast California parks through photography, interpretive collage and stories” on Kickstarter.

50% (up to $1,000) of the amount raised over Levonne’s funding goal will go to California State Parks Foundation. Be sure to check out Kickstarter!

Guest Post: Spending a day at Año Nuevo State Park

A guest post BY JENNIFER SNYDER

Jennifer is a writer and travel enthusiast based in the Sacramento area of Northern California. She has recently given in to the insatiable urge to wander and loves to share photos and experiences over on her blog, People + Places + Things. 

When my mom and I decided to treat ourselves to a beach getaway weekend in April of this year, we knew we would be spending much of our time relaxing at a beautiful vacation rental, eating delicious food and exploring the area around Pescadero, California.

We had heard about Año Nuevo State Park, which offers stunning coastal views and the opportunity to see elephant seal pups in March and April. Naturally, we decided to go for it.

The park is located south of the town of Pescadero on Highway 1 and is a major gathering spot for northern elephant seals. Over a span of several months, female seals give birth, males fight for dominance, mating takes place and pups are nursed, weaned and begin molting.

We showed up in mid-April after many of the adult seals had gone, leaving hundreds of sleepy, molting pups behind. They were adorable.

In all honesty, they didn’t do a whole lot. There was quite a bit of snoring, snorting and grunting happening. Other than that, they just seemed to be resting. We were fascinated, though. Seeing creatures like this up close was pretty amazing.

The seals completely covered the beach. This seal had just lifted up her head, stretched and then looked right at us:

One of the rangers on duty was kind enough to take a picture of us with our new friends:

We didn’t get too close to the seals, even though they were everywhere: on the path, in the dunes and right in the middle of the viewing area. Visitors are advised to stay at least 25 feet away at all times. If these cuties get angry enough, they can move pretty fast and know how to throw their weight around. So, my camera’s zoom feature got a nice little work out.

To get to the multiple viewing areas in the park, visitors follow a well-worn trail for about a mile and a half (3 miles round-trip). There is also a section where you’re walking on sand dunes, so be prepared for that. You definitely won’t be viewing elephant seals from your car.

Luckily, the sights along the way are pretty spectacular:

The trip to Año Neuvo State Park was incredible and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys the outdoors. To learn more about the elephant seals at Año Nuevo State Park and the best times of year to visit, click here.

Jennifer has also authored an app titled Northern California for Nature Lovers, which can be downloaded from the App Store here.

Park-Inspired Poetry

A guest post BY ROBERTA HUTCHINSON

Roberta Hutchinson took a hike at Butano State Park for the first time and came home feeling so inspired about the quiet lush beauty that she wrote this poem:

Butano State Park, photo © Michael Carl

Forest Walk

Take me to the redwood forests of ancient years
Where I can feel my feet on softly padded trails

Let me remember to look upward and pause
To think of so many years these trees have lived before me
And be grateful I can touch these ancient giants

I long for patience to hear the sounds the forest holds
and to still my soul to hear the trees

My ears listen to the sound of water
softly running in the canyon and talking many tongues
and wonder what meandering paths will it take

Butano State Park © Kathy Schrenk

How sweet to see the clarity of the forest stream
moving slowly over colored pebbles and stones

I stop under a tree and look down
to see a a wild young fish
living out its wildness in such a creek

The cool mist of fog rolls over the trees
and the chill suddenly brightens my step

I grow tired now with the long walk
and wish I could grow young again
to walk forever in this redwood forest of ancient years.

– by Roberta Hutchinson    7/31/2012

Roberta Hutchinson is a retired travel agent who still loves traveling and nature photography.  She has always enjoyed hiking in our California state parks and several years ago got the opportunity to lead a hiking class in the Mountain View/Los Altos education system. Now she has the fortune to share these beautiful parks with others.

Thank you to Roberta for sharing her poetry! Do you have any park-inspired poetry?