Superbowl? Nah, Let's Go Hiking!
Today is Superbowl Sunday. The Superbowl, probably the most-watched event in the US- more than 208 million people in the US watched it last year, vs. a paltry 27.3 million for the State of the Union address earlier this week- engenders all kinds of traditions. Our tradition is not to watch. Bah, humbug! Instead we try to go hiking on Superbowl Sunday.
The weather was great today, with clear skies and forecast high of 65° (about 18° C) around us. All signals were "GO" for hiking! We set off early-ish in the morning. The temperature was still in the 40s but we put the top down on our convertible anyway to enjoy the fresh air, sunshine, and views.
On a clear winter day like today everywhere in the SF Bay Area is nice. Even the views from the superhighways are nice. The pic above shows stunning green hillsides in the Sunol Pass as we climb the grade on I-680.
Our destination for the day was Donner Canyon on the north flank of Mt. Diablo. A trail there climbs through a narrowing canyon and loops around past several waterfalls. With all the rain the area has gotten the past 7 weeks we looked forward to seeing good flow.
The trail up Donner Canyon begins in a slightly odd place. It's at the end of a road in a suburban neighborhood in the town of Clayton, on the eastern edge of the SF Bay Area. It was a 60 mile drive from our house. And not only is it in a quiet suburban neighborhood full of 5-bedroom houses, there's an open quarry in the distance. Not too scenic!
Fortunately all it takes is a glace to the left, looking up Donner Canyon, to see the beauty of the great outdoors.
In the distance, at the left of the frame, is Mt. Diablo's North Peak. The main peak is not visible from here. (It's hidden behind North Peak). For a glance at what North Peak looks like from the other side (and considerably higher) see my blog from hiking the Mt. Diablo peak a year ago.
I'll skip over details of the hike at this point except to say we had a great time and took lots of pictures. I'll share those in a subsequent blog- likely two blogs.
The 5+ mile hike took us a bit longer than we planned. We started hiking at 10:45am and returned to the car at 3pm. By the the temperature was 70° (21° C). Not bad for February! Of course, it was 80° when we went hiking on Superbowl Sunday last year!
The weather was great today, with clear skies and forecast high of 65° (about 18° C) around us. All signals were "GO" for hiking! We set off early-ish in the morning. The temperature was still in the 40s but we put the top down on our convertible anyway to enjoy the fresh air, sunshine, and views.
On a clear winter day like today everywhere in the SF Bay Area is nice. Even the views from the superhighways are nice. The pic above shows stunning green hillsides in the Sunol Pass as we climb the grade on I-680.
Our destination for the day was Donner Canyon on the north flank of Mt. Diablo. A trail there climbs through a narrowing canyon and loops around past several waterfalls. With all the rain the area has gotten the past 7 weeks we looked forward to seeing good flow.
The trail up Donner Canyon begins in a slightly odd place. It's at the end of a road in a suburban neighborhood in the town of Clayton, on the eastern edge of the SF Bay Area. It was a 60 mile drive from our house. And not only is it in a quiet suburban neighborhood full of 5-bedroom houses, there's an open quarry in the distance. Not too scenic!
Fortunately all it takes is a glace to the left, looking up Donner Canyon, to see the beauty of the great outdoors.
In the distance, at the left of the frame, is Mt. Diablo's North Peak. The main peak is not visible from here. (It's hidden behind North Peak). For a glance at what North Peak looks like from the other side (and considerably higher) see my blog from hiking the Mt. Diablo peak a year ago.
I'll skip over details of the hike at this point except to say we had a great time and took lots of pictures. I'll share those in a subsequent blog- likely two blogs.
The 5+ mile hike took us a bit longer than we planned. We started hiking at 10:45am and returned to the car at 3pm. By the the temperature was 70° (21° C). Not bad for February! Of course, it was 80° when we went hiking on Superbowl Sunday last year!