On Sunday,
we hiked some of the trails at Las Trampas Regional Wilderness. Las Trampas is
a 5,342-acre regional park located in Alameda and Contra Costa countries in the
Bay Area, and it is part of the East Bay Regional Park. The best part about Las
Trampas is that is offers many miles of hiking trails, all of which are dog
friendly!
I found out
about this area using my Sierra Club app. Yes, this app is very helpful if you
like hiking and are not completely familiar with the hikes in your area. You
simply have to look for hikes close to your current location and you’ll find
every hike that exists around you. Just wonderful!
It takes
about an hour to reach Las Trampas from San Francisco, so we went to bed early Saturday
night in order to wake up early on Sunday and hit the trails before they got
crowded. Little did we know that this trail system is so big that it can absorb
lots of hikers without a problem and without ever feeling crowded.
In fact, we
reached the trailhead around 9 in the morning and there were already several
cars in the parking lot (about 10-15). However, we barely saw anybody while
hiking!
I think I
have mentioned this before but, one of the best pars of starting a hike early
in the morning is that you get the most beautiful light you could ask for. As
the sun rises, the trees become lit up with the gentle rays of the rising sun.
The light peaks through branches and leaves, turning everything a bit golden.
Every time we went downhill, the sun got lots behind the hills. Every
time we went up again (which we did a lot!), we would see the sun once again,
peaking from behind the hills.
Another thing that was great about this hike, and this area in
general, was the diversity of the geography. We walked through forests, open
fields, on ridges, on fire roads, footpaths, and more. Regardless of what the
terrain was like, one thing stayed the same throughout the entire hike: it was
NEVER flat!
The trails
were very green and lush for the most part, however, there weren’t many flowers.
I guess that, even though sometimes it doesn’t feel like it, it is still
winter. I did manage to find some flowers and was very excited with each and
every find!
I feel that
in hikes like this, where the scenery can appear to be the same, it is
important to keep a creative eye out for fun photos. I have particularly become
interested in photographing moss and lichen on branches, as well as mushrooms
on the dead tree stumps that sit right next to the path in many stretches of
the trail. As a photographer, you must work with your surroundings and that’s
what I try to do!
Yesterday, I
was pleasantly surprised to see yellow lichen on some of the tree branches. It
was so fun to try to capture it and to try to turn it into a work of art, to
frame it right.
Oh yes, and
there were also the views! Because you end up climbing lots of vertical feet, and
summiting a peak or two, your reward is presented with gorgeous views of the
East Bay, Mount Diablo, and the surrounding wilderness area.
Climbing the
mountain is a big part of the experience, but the views, they truly nurture you
by providing perspective about the world around us.
At one
point, when we got out of the forest and started walking on an open path lined
up with bare trees, we started paying attention to the noises we were hearing.
They belonged to woodpeckers. These little peckers were all around us, pecking
away on the trees.
If you have
a dog, you know how hard it is to not scare birds away when you are hiking.
Every time I walked towards the trees to try to take photos of the birds,
Bomber would also run towards the trees, looking as much as a predator as he possibly
could and, next thing I knew, all birds would fly away.
I did manage
to get a few photos of a woodpecker after patiently waiting for them to come
back to the trees that were closer to us. I even caught one flying away. I
really love that photo!
At the end
of the hike, we had walked on over 5 different trails, clocked about 7.5 miles
and had done over 2,000 feet of elevation change in total! That is what I call
a perfect day!!!
Back at home
we all relaxed and gave our 2 feet (or 4 for Bomber!) a break. Nothing beats
spending over 4 hours out in nature!
I hope you
enjoyed the photos on this post. If you love hiking and you are in the Bay
Area, please, go check out Las Trampas. You will not be disappointed!
For more fun
photos, visit my Etsy store at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/WorldPhotosByPaola
