Land's End Trail

May 28, 2017 Sunday

Today, we decided to check out Land's End Trail in San Francisco. I googled the best hike for kids around bay area and Land's End Trail came up as one of the top choices. I looked at the pictures and the views looked amazing, so decided to take the kids here today for an easy hike.

First, we parked in the parking lot next to the visitor center. Once we parked our car, we went to the visitor center to get a map.

Then we went to check out the Sutro Bath's which is a landmark there.

You can see the Cliff House in the background of the picture below.

There was a little cave next to the Sutro's bath and we went inside to check it out. There weren't much inside except it leads closer to the ocean at the end where the ship wrecks were.

After checking out the cave and Sutro's Bath, we started our hike. Along the way, we could see the ocean and Golden Gate, which was an amazing view. The winds were strong, so even though it was end of May, we had to wear our jackets.

Since it was Memorial weekend, there was an event going on and we stopped for a few minutes. We are so grateful to our armed force for protecting this land that we love and keeping us safe. Thank you.

On the way, Maddie was asking me if there was an restroom at the end, I thought there would be and told her. Unfortunately, I was wrong, so make sure you use the restroom at the visitor center before you start the hike as there is no restroom along the hike which is about 3 miles roundtrip.

The hike was pretty flat besides the steep staircase to climb in the middle of the hike.

After about 30 minutes or so, we finally reached the end of the hike. You can go further towards Baker's Beach and Golden Gate but we didn't. Some people also start their hike from here as it is near the Legion of Honor.

On our way back, we passed by beautiful Cypress trees near the end.

Since it was around lunch time, we decided to go to Cliff House for lunch.

Dipsea Hike

May 13, 2017 Saturday

Today, we plan to hike from Mill Valley to Stinson beach to celebrate Mother's Day. I have been told that the hike will be a hard but beautiful hike. So, we didn't bring the kids to the hike. It's about 9.5 mile one way.

We met up with our friends at the start of the hike in the Mill Valley downtown. After parking, we started off the hike by taking a group picture before going up 166 steps.

After these steps, there were more steps to climb. We passed by the redwood trees in Muir Woods before continuing onto Stinson Beach. The weather was initially cold but started getting warm after some time.

Along the way, we were able to see the ocean and the view was amazing.

After about 9.5 miles, we finally reached Stinson Beach. It was a long challenging hike which took about 3.5 hours. Even though it was hard, the views made up for it. It's one of the best hike that I have been to. We bought some sandwiches from the cafe and ate at the beach. We decided not to hike back as it was too tiring. Instead, we took the bus at the beach to go back to the Mill Valley downtown. We still had to walk about 1 mile from the bus stop to where we parked.

Sunol Regional Wilderness, California

08/13/16 Saturday

The kids are with my parents for the last 2 weeks of summer before school starts, so Anthony and I decided to go for a hike. It was a pretty hot day today, so we decided to go in the evening around 5:30pm. 

After we got off the 680 freeway, we had to drive about 5 miles or so to reach the entrance. On the way, we saw some deers and cows. After paying a parking fee of $5, we went to the visitor center. Unfortunately, the center was already closed when we went, but we were able to get a printed map.

We started at the end of the road on Geary Street, past the picnic area. We parked our car there and walked across a long bridge. 

We kept walking uphill and finally after more than 1 mile, we reached Little Yosemite. It's basically a small waterfall and there is a creek. To get down to the water, we had to climb over the rocks to descend and it was a little challenging. We have to be careful not to trip between the rocks and fall.

After taking some pictures at the creek, we climb up and went for the Canyon View Trail hike. On the way there, we saw many cows roaming around.

We decided to stop there and go back. The hike back to the parking lot was a breeze as it was mainly downhill and the weather was cooling down as well. As you can see from the picture, California is in drought and our hills are so brown now. Hopefully, it will rain more this winter.

After the hike, we decided to reward ourselves with all you can eat Korean BBQ. 

We were so full after the dinner and had to go to Target to walk more since it was already dark. If not, we would have went back to Sunol and do another hike.