Adventures in Onionism

I spent a day on Mt. Tam climbing up the mountain in creek beds and "running" down it on abandoned firebreaks and overgrown trails. It's not a race so much as friends organizing a group run. I didn't do as well as I'd hoped, missing the very first checkpoint and having to backtrack. It was a hard but fun day. Here's the route. Look at the vert. Here's a photo sphere of the view of the North Bay from near the West Peak summit.

Oakland has only one old growth redwood left, Grandfather, which is in Leona Heights, a small Oakland canyon city park. The tree isn't that big, which is why it survived the saw, plus its location on a steep slope where it would shatter if cut. Gf and I paid the park a visit, and I managed to scramble down the slope to the tree. Here are a few photos, but really, click through to see this photo sphere I made where you can zoom in and see it from all angles. 

I stayed local for Memorial Day Weekend. It was too hot, but I got to see East Bay Regional Parks new to me: Black Diamond Mines, which I've never been to, and Mission Peak, which I've only done once. I had hoped to do more in Sunol, too, but I got lost and had to spend an hour picking the foxtails out of my socks before I could continue. Black Diamond Mines: Hot side of the hills Muddy stock impoundment to the rescue Horse trough to the rescue Old silica mine Mission Peak and Sunol:

Gf was in town after passing quals/orals and advancing to candidacy (Congrats!) so we went to Mendocino County. Gf hoped for early season granite, but it was too early, and the weather was looking bad, so we went north instead. We didn't go far enough to see giant redwoods, just normal size in Jackson State Demonstration Forest. But then we did get very nice coastal views from Mendocino, California Coastal National Monument Point Arena-Stornetta Unit, and Salt Point State Park. Jackson State Forest: Flowers along Fort Bragg coast: Pygmy redwood due to crappy soil in Jughandle Ecological Reserve:   Big River estuary: City of Mendocino:  North coast is totally going for Bernie. A coyete in the California Coastal National Monument: Salt Point State Park: