Revisiting the Galapagos Islands

December 30, 2014May 9, 2017Leave a comment

I originally got to visit the Galapagos Islands five years ago but Darlene has long wanted to go herself. Of course the Galapagos Islands are well known for their abundant and unique wildlife, their fascinating and beautiful geology, as well as for the inspiration and development of Darwin’s theory of biological evolution. So, no, I really didn’t mind going back for a second visit!

We were in the Galapagos for twelve days (December 5th through the 16th) and we stayed overnight on the islands of Santa Cruz, Isabela and San Cristobal with day trips out to Santa Fe, Bartolomé, Leon Dormido as well as a few smaller outcroppings. (Here’s a great map.) This was a land-based trip (as was my previous trip), but this time I booked the trip through BikeHike.com and extended it with time on our own for four days (and to include San Cristobal).

Our days were filled with hiking, biking, kayaking, snorkeling, and boating as well as with sea lions, iguanas, penguins, giant tortoises, sharks, sea turtles, rays, cormorants, pelicans, frigate birds, crabs and fish! And great food! The whole trip was fantastic! (Thanks again to our guide, Jorgen, and to everyone else who contributed to making this such a fun experience!)

Here’s a little video I put together covering the whole of the trip:

And here are my pictures and other video clips from the trip (including some of Darlene’s), separated into four galleries:

Days 1-3: Santa Cruz and Santa Fe

Days 4-5: Bartolomé and Santa Cruz

Days 6-7: Isabela and Sierra Negre

Days 8-12: Santa Cruz and San Cristobal

Mission Peak at Night

September 17, 2014October 1, 2014Leave a comment

Last week Darlene and I had intended to climb Mission Peak for the full “harvest moon” but other things got in the way two days in a row, but we did eventually get a chance to hike up. The hike is a three-mile, 2000 ft. ascent and provides long views of the bay and surrounding communities all the way to the top.

Unfortunately, the air wasn’t too clear this week – smog and likely smoke from the dozen wildfires around the state: so a very deep red sunset and moonrise.

Given that there’s a 10 pm curfew and the moon was already rising too late, we had to head back down before the moon could get high enough to light up our way. So it was a headlamp hike rather than a moonlight hike.

Big Basin Camping

August 28, 2014September 7, 2017Leave a comment

Darlene and I joined Laura, Rachel and Sanna for two nights of camping in Big Basin State Park (in the Santa Cruz mountains) earlier this week (Monday-Wednesday). The creek was nearly dry due to the drought but we enjoyed some great hikes in wonderful weather, several successful geocaching finds and an overabundance of yummy food, including shish kebabs and brats over the campfire. Thankfully there were practically no mosquitoes (nice change from our backpacking here in May) but we did have to fend off frequent forays by the numerous, brazen raccoons all around the campgrounds. One of which snagged our buns as we were getting things ready for our brat fest! The nerve!

Click through for the full gallery:

Backpacking the Lost Coast

August 13, 2014August 25, 2017Leave a comment

Darlene and I joined Abhi, Komo and Anjali on a backpacking trip along part of California’s “Lost Coast”, led by Mike through the Outdoor Adventure Club. The “Lost Coast” is a remote and undeveloped stretch of coastline in northern California, north of Fort Bragg and south of Eureka. We hiked the northern section from Mattole Beach down to Black Sands Beach (near Shelter Cove) over three days, August 9th-11th. Due to the steep coastal terrain, you’re often hiking the beach – several long sections of which are impassable during high tide and so you need to plan around the tide tables.

Click on through for my gallery of pictures and videos, including some from Darlene, Abhi and Mike:

Twelve Days of Croatia

July 26, 2014September 20, 2016Leave a comment

Darlene and I recently enjoyed a twelve day trip to Croatia, booked through REI Adventures. (June 27th to July 9th)

Our trip started in Zagreb and we worked our way south through Dalmatia and down to Dubrovnik, with a side excursion through Bosnia-Herzegovina. As an active, multi-sport trip, we enjoyed lots of hiking, biking, river and sea kayaking, as well as just seeing and exploring various sites along the way.

Here’s a video montage I put together covering much of our trip:

I’ve organized the pictures into four different galleries:

Days 1 -4: Zagreb, Plitvice Lakes National Park, Zrmanja and Krupa Rivers, and Novigrad

Days 5-7: Paklenica National Park, Vrgada Island, Skradin, Krka National Park, and Trogir

Days 8-9: Split, Trebižat River, Mostar, and Ston

Days 9-12: Dubrovnik, Zaton and the Elafiti Islands

Overnight in Big Basin

May 15, 2014May 15, 2014Leave a comment

Darlene and I hiked into Big Basin State Park on Monday and stayed overnight at the Sunset trail camp near Golden Falls, Silver Cascade and Berry Creek Falls, about five and half miles from the overnight parking near the park headquarters. This trail camp (reservations required) has ten permitted sites that are nice and well-shaded but it is a bit of a walk to get to the creek for water. Unfortunately the mosquitos were pretty bad in the evening and it made it difficult to enjoy dinner but we hid out in the tent on Tuesday morning until they eased up.

Click through for the full gallery:

Found this fuzzy yellow guy wandering through our camp in the morning:

Costa Rica – Coast to Coast

February 12, 2014August 24, 2022Leave a comment

I just returned from a fun and challenging little adventure (arranged through BikeHike.com) where a group of eight of us made our way across Costa Rica from the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean entirely under our own human power… and a fair amount of gravity assist!

We started in Quepos, on the western coast, and we proceeded to bike, hike, raft and kayak our way entirely across the country until we reached the eastern coast and the Caribbean. We mostly camped at sites along the way and a support vehicle carried our gear but we otherwise made our way from one coast to the other. Along the way, we encountered (or sometimes befriended) caiman, monkeys, sloths, toucans, turkey vultures, frogs, bats, snakes and some biting fish, as well as numerous insects including various spiders, ants, butterflies and a particularly aggrieved, giant grasshopper.

Click on through for my gallery of photos and videos from the trip:

Walking the Bobcat

January 12, 2014August 22, 2016Leave a comment

Just some pictures from taking our bobcat out for a walk from Waddell Beach into Big Basin State Park’s Rancho Del Oso last Sunday. We hiked up to the overlook at the top of the Clark Connector trail. Nice views!

Click through for the gallery:

crimdom.net

Tag: hiking