Getting Out: I would like to invite you, or perhaps challenge
you, to join me on a great hike New Year’s morning. Oh, I can
already hear some of you backpedaling as though I knocked on your
door attempting to sell you a vacuum cleaner, but don’t slam it in
my face. I have a solid sales pitch.
I would like to invite you, or perhaps challenge you, to join me on a great hike New Year’s morning. Oh, I can already hear some of you backpedaling as though I knocked on your door attempting to sell you a vacuum cleaner, but don’t slam it in my face. I have a solid sales pitch.
A group of friends of mine go on a hike nearly every New Year’s morning, and each time I have gone along, it has been simply great. Each of those hikes is a crisp and accessible memory. There is something about an invigorating walk on a crisp New Year’s morning that certifies our resolve to start fresh and be the person we aspire to be. All of last year’s shoulda’s and coulda’s are forgotten. Starting today, we have another chance.
Don’t try to fool the rest of us with your “reasons” (i.e. excuses) that you “cannot” (i.e. will not) go on a hike New Year’s morning. We know you weren’t at the Fairmont Hotel last night swilling Dom Perignon and dancing to Guy Lombardo (RIP) until 2 a.m. You probably sipped a little sparkling apple cider and were in bed by 10. Even if you did over-indulge, put a Red Bull and a little hair of the dog in your water bottle and join us. The exercise and fresh air will revive you.
Ladies, your husbands are going to tell you that they can’t go because of the bowl games. Bunk! This year there are 34 bowl games and none of the important ones take place New Year’s morning. Coming on this hike may mean missing the Round Table Pizza Petunia Bowl, pitting Northeast Arkansas Christian against Southwest Louisiana Polytechnic, but nothing more.
We will meet at Rancho Cañada del Oro Open Space Preserve at 9 a.m. New Year’s morning. This is an ideal place because it is nearby and offers a four-mile loop that follows the same route as a longer eight-mile loop until it peels off and returns to the parking lot. Hikers preferring a walk of only a couple hours can share the same trail as those who wish to go farther. For people with limited mobility or who are confined to a wheelchair, there is even a lovely paved loop trail along Llagas Creek near the staging area.
Rancho Cañada del Oro is a 3,882-acre park adjacent to Calero County Park. Short loop or long loop, Rancho Cañada del Oro, just south of Calero Reservoir, has great spectator value. After a brief, comfortably graded climb, the Mayfair Ranch Trail rolls along the crest of a ridge with great views down both sides. But the best sights might be the wind-sculpted oaks and massive Manzanita bushes close at hand.
When the trail drops down to Baldy Ryan Creek, it’s time to choose: follow the creek past beautiful changing Sycamores back to the car or reach down for the resolve to climb higher. It is a couple miles up to Bald Peaks, but the view more than compensates for the effort. If it is clear, we will see the skyline of the San Francisco Financial District, the Bay Bridge, Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, Stanford’s Hoover Tower and so much more.
So, rain or shine, I will meet you at Rancho Cañada del Oro at 9 a.m. New Year’s morning. The staging area is at the end of the paved portion of Casa Loma Road, which turns west where McKean Road turns into Uvas Road, south of Cinnabar Hills Golf Course. More information about the park is available at: www.openspaceauthority.org. No dogs are permitted and no water is available, so bring your own water and a lunch. See you then.
