Dan's Outside

Yesterday's hike

I had time for a short Almaden Quicksilver hike yesterday. I could have had more time but I’m afraid I didn’t leave as early as I might have. I drove down to New Almaden and hiked up one of my old standby routes, the trail past English Camp and then via Castillero Trail to the Bull Run area. (I was distressed to find that cyclists had ridden all over a meadow near the ridgetop Catherine Tunnel, apparently so that they could use an old mining berm as a jump.)

This was the first day on which it really felt like a summer hike. The sun was bright and warm and the smells were no longer those of wet winter vegetation and soil, but were instead the smells of drying chapparal and grass.

I didn’t have much luck on the photography front. The midday light was difficult, especially with some haze in the air. I took a few trail shots and a series of pictures of a very old easy chair that had inexplicably appeared by one of the old buildings found in this park – it seemed interestingly incongruous with its ridgetop surroundings. However, in the end nothing was worth posting.

In a few minutes I’m going to head down to Calero Reservoir, an area not far from Almaden Quicksilver Park and through past which I’ve ridden my bike hundreds (really!) of times. I found a trail map of this park and I’m going to explore a trail that heads away from the reservoir toward the park boundary.
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May 2, 2004 - Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary