Joseph D. Grant hike

One of the reasons I haven't been posting much is that I've been hiking a lot.  One day while on a 6 mile hike with Tammy we started talking about doing longer hikes and got the brilliant idea of doing a full day hike.  Our plan is to hike the Ohlone trail this Thursday.  It's 29 miles from Livermore to Fremont.  I'm really looking forward to it!  In order to work up to hiking such long distances we have spent Nov and December doing longer and longer hikes. 

Just before Christmas we went on a 22+ mile hike.  We were supposed to be done by 3pm but we started later than execpted and it took us longer than expected (I think we stopped for too many photos!) so we finished the last mile or two in the dark. 

Tammy adjusts her dogs packs at the trailhead.  It was around 10am.


Starting out on the trail.  Everyone looks happy because we haven't started climbing yet....


I had a bit of trouble getting Rampage's backpack to stay level at first, but after adjusting a few times it finally did.


Then we started to climb


Rampge says, "We have to climb that too??"


The blue arrow points to where our cars are parked at the trailhead.  And we've only just begun!


It's hard to see but just above Tammy's head is Lick Observatory on Mt Hamilton.


First stop to pose for photos!


The blue arrow points to where we started.  The hills on the other side of the valley from where we started are where will be finishing the hike.


The only time I get ahead of Tammy is when we're going downhill.  She's faster than me going up!


Lick Observatory is getting closer


Rampage is just so handsome!


Tricki Woo reads about The Pala Seca Cabin


Tammy thought camping overnight here would be fun.  I disagreed.  It reminded me of the Blair Witch project.


Looking back at the Pala Seca Cabin (far right in the photo).


More posing!  After this the hike got easier for about 8 miles since we were going along the ridge. 


At one point we saw two bobcats.  There is a black dot just to the right of the center of the photo that was a bobcat running away from us.  It was very cool!  To the left of the tree on the hill is Lick Observatory.


Stopping for a human potty break


We had underestimated how much water we would need (and the trail map said there was water on the trial, which was not true!) so we took a side trip to a fire station to refill the water.  The fire station was deserted.  I climbed over the fence to refill and the first faucet I found was dry!  They had turned off the water.  But luckily I found another one that was turned on.  Phew!


Yay, a photo of me!


Everyone is hydrated and ready to get back on the trail


We stopped for lunch a bit over half way (I had my garmin with me but it died after 11 miles so we didn't get a full reading of this hike).


Tricki and Cassidy decided it would be a good idea to take a quick nap.




The dogs feet all looked fine but we decided to have them wear some booties for a while to get used to them, in case they were needed at some point. 






It was pretty late in our hike when we started encountering cows, but then we ran into them pretty frequently.  It wasn't so bad until we were coming down the final stretches of the hike in the dark.  Then it was a bit freaky.


The sun is starting to set.  Lick Observatory is on the hill.  The ridge to the left behind the trees is where we had hiked earlier in the day.


Stopping for our last break.  San Jose is behind Tammy.


Cassidy asks, "are we done yet?"


Icon says, "I can see our house from here!"  (Cassidy is skeptical)


Still about 2.5 miles left.  Buh-bye sun!


And then we were hiking in the dark.  Luckily both Tammy and I brought our headlamps JUST in case.


And then at home I had tired border collies




Except this one.