Tag Archives: hike

Hiking The Bear Gulch Reservoir At Pinnacles National Monument

by Adel Posted on August 8, 2012

I’ve finally edited our pictures from our camping trip. Phew! It’s always a challenge to get through all the pictures I take from a trip in a timely manner. Especially when life is kind of crazy right now.

Anyway, it’s done and I will try not to over share
Pinnacles National Monument is located outside Soledad, California about a 3 hour drive from San Francisco. It’s spectacular volcanic rock formations and breathtaking hikes through caves and wooded trails make it such a rewarding camping experience overall!
Now I use the terms “hiking” and “caves” loosely. We have a 2 year old and a self-proclaimed Inside-Boy (as in he loves to stay “inside” our home whenever possible) in our group.
Their idea of hikes and caves is 2 blocks up the street to the bakery. The beginning of the hike was a little painful but we powered through and they slowly adapted. Slowly.
This particular hike we did was a short one up to the Bear Gulch Reservoir. It was less than a mile long. However it was through rough terrain and uneven ground. And uphill. Through pitch dark caves.
But hey if we could do it ANYONE can.

As you can see the rewards were pretty great. The trails were wooded and offered us beautiful views of the rock formations and the reservoir at the top was just majestic. We lunched by the water while scoping out the squirrels, condors and water snakes.
All this was happening during Jack-Jack’s usual nap hours. Yes there were moments it was more than a little painful. But it was all worth it to get the kids out in such a beautiful setting.
I just love that little personality of hers overflowing into everything we do. She cracks me up all the time.

After our leisurely lunch with the reservoir wildlife, we decided to head back down. The trip back was much quicker with a lot less complaining. I’m thinking it was because they were completely exhausted from our uphill hike they couldn’t muster anymore energy to even complain

We stopped a few more times for water breaks. Jack-Jack ended up falling asleep riding her dad’s shoulders. Yes it IS possible to sleep vertically when you’re 2!
I will share a few more shots tomorrow of our campsite shenanigans after our friends arrived!

Posted in Family | Tagged bear gulch reservoir, camping, hike, pinnacles national monument | 4 Comments

Moss Beach

by Adel Posted on February 22, 2012

Over the long weekend we took a day trip to the tide pools in Half Moon Bay. Moss Beach is quite the Northern California gem with its rugged coastline and many tide pools. We did learn however to time arrival next time with the receding of the tide! We ended up hiking the short woody trail along the beach before stopping for lunch while we waited for the tide to go down.

It was pretty windy that day. The sun was shining though so it kept us warm while we were out of the wind.

Jack-Jack really enjoyed the hike. She found herself a walking stick and everything.

But we did learn that day that the poor baby was extremely sensitive to cold wind. You can’t tell in the photo below but her cheeks got painfully red and irritated after a short while in the strong wind.

Since the tide had yet to recede we kept her out of the big wind tunnels and in the trees. Girlfriend is a trooper I tell ya.

Her big brother? Not so much. There was more than a little bit of complaining going on. I think he was having Skylander withdrawals.

Grizz? Well he definitely embraced his surroundings. I swear that man will climb on anything.

Pretty soon, so will his kids.

After our hike we did stop for some lunch.

The Moss Beach Distillery had some great food and awesome views! We lunched right by this little cliff. So gorgeous.

Since it was too windy for the kids to walk out there for a photo op, I quickly ran out and had Grizz snap some of me! And here’s the proof I was there too!

After lunch the tide finally receded.

Grizz and I took turns walking Rex around the pools and exploring all the cool sea life in them while Jack-Jack napped in the car.

It was one of those perfect days where I’m so grateful we live somewhere as beautiful as Northern California.

Posted in Family | Tagged hike, moss beach, tide pool, trees | 6 Comments

Presidio Hike

by Adel Posted on January 3, 2012

Happy New Year!!

I’ve been meaning to post earlier than the 3rd day of the year but I’ve been busy enjoying the last few days of the holidays. Rex went back to school today. Grizz to work. The babe is napping. I have a few moments to spend here! It does feel quieter than I like though.

Besides just enjoying easy days with my small family, I’ve been working on reorganizing my web presence and photos. I have a new site I’m working on to pull together all my best photos. Yeah some would call it a portfolio of sorts I figured I may as well have a working site that showcases my best work. It’s still a work-in-progress but I’ll link to it when it’s a little more presentable.

We had a fabulous new years eve with some close friends. Grizz and I got all decked out and rang in the new year in style. Yay to us for suiting up and putting on a dress once a year!

We kicked off our new year on an easy hike in the Presidio with our kids.

We only hiked for less than 2 hours, but we took plenty of breaks.

It’s one of our major goals for 2012 – Get the kids out in nature MORE!

It doesn’t take much to get them used to being outdoors. We had lots of complaints at the start of the walk, but they both started to enjoy their surroundings pretty quick