Posted by Karen on 04-Mar-2006
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Melanie, Beth and I headed over to the coast for a visit to San Pedro Valley Park in Pacifica, south of San Francisco. We met a regular park user in the parking lot and took his recommendation to head up the Montara Mountain Trail and then connect with the Brooks Creek Trail. This eucalyptus-covered trail afforded us glimpses of the San Pedro Valley and the Pacific Ocean below. At the trail junction, we sat on the bench and just took in the wonderful view and tried unsuccessfully to capture a picture of the beautiful ruby colored hummingbird that kept coming into our view. We came back down via the Brook Creek Trail and enjoyed a wonderful view of the seasonal 3-tiered Brook Creek Waterfall. At the end of the trail Beth and I searched for and found a micro-sized geocache. We decided to cut the hiking short and head over to Rockaway Beach and take in some waves. Melanie put her toes in the water (brrr) and we walked the little beach and watched the surfers catch waves. Hang Ten Dude !!
GPS Stats: • Odometer: 3.47 miles • Total Time: 3.01 • Moving Time: 1.10 • Overall Average Speed 1.1 mph • Moving Average Speed: 2.9 mph
Posted by Karen on 30-Jul-2005
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Larry and Grrr led Mary, Rob, Kanako, Carol, Jennifer, Amy, Beth, Lisa, Tony and myself on a leisurely walk to the Enchanted Pools just inside the Desolation Wilderness area. We started our hike from the Twin Lakes trailhead in the Wrights Lake Campground in the El Dorado National Forest (http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/eldorado/) and took the left fork at the bridge to begin our loop trail. We walked for about two miles and shortly after entering the wilderness boundary and crossing over a rise, we looked right and could make out the Upper Enchanted Pool off in the distance. Off the trail we went and headed down the smooth granite towards the pool. The pool is a lovely place and deserves to be called enchanted. It’s a small pool with several little waterfalls flowing into it — just beautiful. Off came the shoes, on went the swimsuits and into the water we went, with Grrr being the first one to fully dive in the water. We enjoyed the water, did a little sun bathing, ate lunch and took photos and before you knew it, several hours had past. After we watched the group of young men fly from the top of the little waterfall into the water, we headed out. After following the drainage for a bit and crossing the creek, we came to the Lower Enchanted Pools, a series of small pools that flowed into each other. The lower pool was equally as enchanting as the upper pool. A little more swimming, a little more relaxing and then it was time to head home. Larry shared the landmarks for us to notice, Triple Tree and Mother/Daughter Rock, so that we could find our own way to this unmarked little gem in the future. It was a wonderful and relaxing day at the old fashioned swimming hole!
Distance: approx. 5 miles. Time: 7 hours. Elevation Change: approximately 500′.
