More Visits to Big Basin

Since my last post on July 14, I've hiked 4 times more - thrice in Big Basin Redwood State Park, once in Sanborn Skyline County Park.

In Hike #3, I tried to extend the hike to a 15 mile hike. I hiked in the Big Basin Redwood State Park again, and I started on the Sunset Trail and went down on the Berry Creek Falls Trail. However, instead of cutting back across the Skyline to the Sea Trail, I tried to follow the Howard King Trail up to the Hihn Hammond Road and go up to the Mount McAbee overlook.


Unfortunately, as I followed the Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail, I missed the trail turnoff to get onto the Howard King Trail. Instead, I followed the Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail for an hour. Then, realizing that the Howard King Trail is supposed to be a strenuous climb as opposed to a leisurely hike down a broad trail, I turned back and found the entrance to the Howard King Trail - labelled as #1 on the map.


I was quite unhappy that I missed the trail, but after finding it, I can't say that the entrance was well labeled. Here is the view of the entrance to the Howard King Trail going from North to South. The entrance to the Howard King Trail is to the left. It was hard to see, and I walked right past it.



It wasn't until that I back tracked up the Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail that I saw the entrance to the Howard King Trail. As can be seen by a hiker going northward on the trail, the entrance to the Howard King Trail is actually labeled!With the long detour on Hike #3, it was too late to try the Howard King Trail. So I went back for Hike #4, followed the Howard King Trail up to the Mount McAbee overlook, labeled as #2 on the map. Here's the picture I took on July 21 (Hike #4) at the overlook. The elevation for this point is shown as 1730 ft on the map, so the climb from Berry Creek falls to the overlook is from 400 ft to 1730 ft, a solid 1300+ ft climb.

Then, for hike #5, I walked from Saratoga Village to the Sanborn Skyline County Park, hiked up to Biddles Stairway, then back down to Saratoga Village. I think the roundtrip is about 15 miles or so, and the climb from Saratoga Village to Biddles Stairway is a 2000+ ft elevation climb. I was a bit sore after hike #5, but for the most part, my body has adjusted to the requirements of a rigorous hike.

Finally, I went back yesterday (Aug 2, 2009) and did the 11 mile Berry Falls Loop again - this would make it hike #6. It seems fairly ordinary hike, and I think I'm ready for something more rigorous now. Anyways, since this is my 5th time hiking the Berry Falls Loop (or the superset, as in hikes #3 and #4), there wasn't much new to write about. The lone exception was that I saw a Banana Slug in the middle of trail. When I first saw it, the Banana slug looked like a long, thin, sweet yellow bell pepper. I was wondering why someone left a bell pepper in the middle of the trail - seemed like an unusual snack to bring to a hike, and it just seemed a bit strange. Then I realized that the bell pepper was moving. As I knelt down, I see that it had a pair of eye stalks. Since it was just moving slowly, minding its own business, I took a few pictures and continued my hike.