Pierce Wanderings
Texas Hiking (and elsewhere)
Golden Gate National Recreation Area – Lands End Coastal Trail 2/10/24
Saturday, February 10, 2024
Hike: Golden Gate National Recreation Area – Lands End Coastal Trail
Weather: Clear, sunny, nice, low 60s
Hikers: Ian, Court, Greg, Cat
Length: 1.76 miles
It’s springtime again! Yahoo! The Texas weather is the best it will be all year and I’ve been doing my best to take advantage and get out on some hikes with old friends. I won’t blog the repeats, but if I find some new trails, I’ll be sure to put them up. Plans are still on for a PCT section hike this summer, probably at the end of July.
For now, I wanted to write about another trip out to the Bay Area in February to see our friends Greg and Cat. We got in a beautiful short hike along the San Francisco coast with amazing views.
I had wanted to go to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area for a long time and it was great to finally get the chance. The weather also cooperated, as often times the area is shrouded in fog.
Before the hike, we went to the Lands End Visitor Center where we couldn’t help but buy some more National Parks gear and of course get our stamps!
We then headed down the trail, first descending down to the remains of the Sutro Baths, which was destroyed in the 1960s after falling into disrepair.
The views of the mighty Pacific coupled with the salty, cold breeze and the smell of the ocean is one of my favorite things and why we continue to come out here.
As we continued down the crowded trail on this beautiful day, the views of the Golden Gate Bridge started to peek out from behind the rocks and became more and more pronounced as we moved along. The plant life was beautiful too and I got some good use out of my Seek app by iNaturalist, which makes it easy to identify plants using your phone camera.
Towards the end of the trail we got the best view of the iconic bridge.
Afterwards we strolled through the streets of San Francisco on our way back to the car and then got ready for Cat’s birthday dinner downtown. Thanks friends!
Hornsby Bend Bird Observatory – River Trail 2/4/24
Sunday, February 4, 2024
Hornsby Bend Bird Observatory – River Trail
Sunny, clear, mid 50s, breezy
Ian, Court, Biff, Finn
5.82 miles
This ended up being a much longer hike than anticipated. I blame the map not being to scale. Instead of a 1.5 mile hike, we ended up going almost 6 miles. Had it not been so windy, I wouldn’t have minded as much, but it was a bit chilly and I only had one liter of water, which I had to ration for the dogs. Just another reminder to always carry 2 liters even if I think it’s going to be short hike.
That said, we saw some ducks and other water fowl on the ponds and it was good to get out and see a new hike around Austin that I didn’t know existed. The trail is mostly flat and wide and follows along the Colorado River for much of the way. We also saw a herd of deer which Finn desperately wanted to chase. That is why he stays on leash.
I will probably try and come back in the spring or summer when the leaves are out and the weather is warmer.
Enchanted Rock – Summit Trail 1/28/24
Sunday, January 28, 2024
Enchanted Rock – Summit Trail
Near Fredericksburg, TX
Cool, Sunny, mid 50s
Ian and Court
1.4 miles
One of the first hikes we ever took together was this trail to the top of Enchanted Rock more than 10 years ago.
We don’t usually have the chance to do this trail, as we usually have the dogs with us and they aren’t allowed on the summit trail due to the fragile flora and fauna, not to mention extreme temperatures in the summer. We took advantage of this rarity and got out to the rock around 10am.
It’s only a 440 foot vertical gain to the summit, but the angle is fairly extreme at one point. Good calf workout.
We did a lap around the top and then back down. The views are nice and it’s always a cool experience to hike Enchanted Rock.
Eagle Lake Trail – Lake Tahoe, CA 11/10/23
Friday, November 10, 2023
Eagle Lake Trail – Lake Tahoe, CA
Clear, sunny, mid 50s
Ian, Court, Greg, Cat, Isaac, MB, Laci, Larry, Angela, Phil, Logan (big group!)
2.1 miles
After Court and I attempted to access the PCT trail head at Echo Lake (in which we almost slid off an icy mountain road in our rental car), we regrouped with the entire group that had come up to Tahoe for Greg’s birthday and did one of the most popular hikes in the area: Eagle Lake.
Even though it is the shoulder season, parking was a challenge. It took us about 20 minutes of waiting to snag a spot. I can’t imagine attempting this in the summer. But we prevailed and headed up the trail, which was a lot of steps, but only one icy section.
It was only a mile to the top and the views just got better and better. Everyone had a good hike and I’m glad we got this one in, since the PCT seemed to be off the table for this trip.
PCT at Donner Summit – Truckee, CA 11/9/23
Thursday, November 9, 2023
PCT at Donner Summit (mile 1158) – Truckee, CA (near Lake Tahoe)
Ian, Court, Greg, Cat, Isaac, MB
Sunny, cold, snow on the ground!
Only a quick jaunt
We flew up to Lake Tahoe for my buddy Greg’s 40th birthday and got some hiking in, despite the snow and ice, which I’ll get to later.
The first day we drove up to Truckee along the west side of the lake and also stopped at the Tallac Historic Estates on the way up. We used the GuideAlong app, which if you aren’t aware, is the best road trip app ever made. It follows you via GPS and tells you all kinds of facts about the area and places to stop along the way. They’ve massively expanded their tours in the past year or so and I am a HUGE fan.
www.guidealong.com for anyone interested
We then kept driving up the west side of the lake and stopped at the overlook for Emerald Bay.
We carried on up to Truckee and we’re planning on getting a couple of miles in on the PCT at Donner Summit, but the snow had other plans.
Literally a mile down the road toward the lake there was no snow at all. We decided to just hike in a few hundred yards, had a snowball fight, and then a beer at the trail head instead.
It would turn out to be a good thing we didn’t do this hike, as the drive back on the east side of the lake treated us to one of the most beautiful sunsets we have ever seen. We stopped for a good 30 minutes to watch the ever changing sky and took probably 50 pics.
More Tahoeadventures coming on the next post.
2023 Annular Eclipse
October 14, 2023
Austin was in the path of the annular eclipse this year and I got some cool pics of the shadows. Didn’t have a filter for the camera to look directly at the sun, though we did have glasses. I’m also going to try and get camping reservations for the full eclipse next April, as the path of totality will go over several state parks in Texas.
Court looking through the glasses at the sun
Finnigan
White Sands National Park – New Mexico 7/3/23
Monday, July 3, 2023
White Sands National Park – New Mexico
Ian, Court, Biff, and Finn
About a mile
This may be the only national park we get to this year, despite my attempt on the PCT.
It also may be the only time we ever go here. I’m glad we did. The park is a unique experience and a beautiful place.
We got out to the park early, before the visitor center even opened, in order to beat the heat. Because of this, the sand was actually quite cool. This is also one of the only national parks where dogs are allowed on all trails. I suspect this is due to the lack of wildlife here.
The pups loved the sand (especially Finn) and we had a nice walk on the Dune Life Nature Trail, which is in the “interdune” area. This means it is mostly sand, but also has some vegetation, so it is home to more wildlife than the straight sand dunes further out.
The trail was found using markers set about 50 yards apart, among the dunes. It was very unique and beautiful.
We got back to the car and drove the rest of the road out to the main dunes and saw a bunch of people had arrived while we were out hiking. It was interesting seeing so many people sledding, playing, and even tanning (!) out on the white sand. My dermatologist wife did not approve. 😝
We drove back up the mountains to Cloudcroft once the sun started getting to be too much and were glad to be back at elevation. We are definitely mountain people, not desert or beach people.
Fir and OSHA Trails, Lincoln NF – Cloudcroft, NM 7/2/23
Fir and OSHA Trails – Lincoln National Forest – Cloudcroft, New Mexico
Ian, Court, Biff, and Finn
3-4 miles total
We got out of the summer heat of Texas (some of the worst ever, so far) for the 4th of July weekend and headed up to the mountains of Cloudcroft, New Mexico. My good friend Nikki has a house there and graciously let us stay before she heads up from Burnet for the summer.
The temperatures were in the 70s in the day and 50s at night vs 100+ in Texas. It’s just getting worse and I don’t know how much longer we can take it.
We brought the pups and got a couple of hikes in.
First was the Fir Trail in Lincoln National Forest.
We had planned to link this with another trail to form a longer loop, but the weather had other plans.
We got close to the car again where we were to take another trail, but the clouds were gathering. We knew the forecast had a chance of thunderstorms this day, but they weren’t supposed to hit until 1pm. Alas, at 11am, the skies opened up. Luckily, we only had about 50 yards to get to the car to escape the rain and hail that would last for over an hour.
We went back to the house for a bit and enjoyed the cool rain on the back deck overlooking the forest. The temperature dropped to 49 degrees!
Once the rain subsided, we decided to go on another hike, since we only had two full days here. The OSHA Trail begins just outside of Cloudcroft and is one of the most popular in the area. It’s a nice loop that isn’t too hard, but has some nice views and good shade in the forest as well. Lots of dogs on this one!
The next day, we would drive down to the desert to White Sands National Park, just recently promoted to that status.
Escaping the Texas Heat
Friday, June 30, 2023
I’m heading out to New Mexico tomorrow to escape the Texas heat and I’m going to visit White Sands National Park. Yes, it will still be hot in the park, but I’m staying in Cloudcroft at 9000 feet, so overall it will be lovely. That said, since this is, ironically, going to probably be the only national park I visit this year, I wanted to post this quote by Dayton Duncan, main writer of the Ken Burns National Parks documentary. I have paraphrased this quote many times to people and it chokes me up every time. Especially when I’m on trail.
“At the heart of the park idea is this notion:
By virtue of being an American, whether your ancestors came over on the Mayflower or whether they just arrived, whether you’re from a big city or from a rural setting, whether your daddy owns the factory or your mother is a maid…
You, YOU, are the owner of some of the best seafront property this nation’s got. You own magnificent waterfalls, you own stunning views of mountains and stunning views of gorgeous canyons. They belong to YOU. They’re YOURS.
And all that’s asked of you is to put it in your will, for your children, so that they can have it too. Hopefully, you won’t let it be sold off, you won’t let it be despoiled. Hopefully, you’ll provide for proper maintenance of this property that is yours.
But that’s all you’ve got to do, now…that’s quite a bargain.”
PCT 2023 blog!
Dear reader,
Just a heads up that I am starting my PCT hike on April 24th! This blog will be quiet for a while, but if you’d like to follow, I’m blogging the hike at www.mexicotocanada2023.com
Happy Trails!
Pierce Wanderings 
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