The Man in Red's photostream  

It was no easy task getting this little bundle of built up energy to pose still for a second+ exposure in the ground squirrel capital of the Diablo foothills so I left this ridge for sunset...it was amazing to see her finally stop still to appreciate the sun setting and adorable as she called back to the coyotes.

Unfortunately when the sky exploded with color she wouldn't cooperate and wanted to leave...but it was clear something special was setting up and confirmed with Friday evenings sounding as a subsidence inversion had formed around 600-900 ft leading me directly to one of my favorite spots the following morning for a sight I finally wouldn't be watching in digital form for once....

Approaching the demise of spring when the grasses just begin to transition I made one last overnighter within the Diablo range resulting in one of my favorite decisions of 2010. Another failed attempt in Sunol to find access to an overnight permit brought me further up my short list during the spring, a perfect excuse to take a journey into Henry Coe SP. If you are limited on time and dont have several days to wait for registration to enjoy the natural world in all shades of light then Coe is your only guarantee within the greater Bay Area. In particular the Hunting Hollow entrance; where you can enter at ANYtime of the day/night, self register to backpack, and within a half mile YOU are allowed to choose any suitable spot to camp! This is the true wildernes experience and to have it so close is priceless, If there is one park to visit for a lifetime this could be it. Bay area backpackers in particular will take note of the only available epic journey into the Orestimba Wilderness along the 70+ mi Rooster Comb loop!

Last Shot before I made the worst decision of 2010 and set out for Hungry Packer Lake with my dad, we left early to get to our destination and hunker down before the storms, we should have just gone back but this was our only chance so we had to try.

...a little bit before noon we stopped at a ridge above Topsy Turvy lake for lunch and realized a few things; I am extremely weak, cant eat, having trouble thinking, and obviously starting to enter the first stages of mountain sickness. The clouds are building but there is an enhancement taking place, in the mid levels there is a jet coming from the SW and it is a lot stronger than it looked like it was going to be, and these cells are quickly becoming more defined forming a squall with an ominous black base before noon. ooooooohhhhhh SHIT, lightning starts striking the crest...time to make a decision: go to the exposed granite lake, stay on the exposed granite ridge, start descending in the storm. We descend a short distance before I had to set up a shelter to ride out the storm or risk getting hypothermic. Of course this only enhanced the mountain sickness but we were luckily missed by the core by about a quarter mile. We were granted a temporary relief to backtrack to the Emerald lakes for a sleepless horrifying night enduring 24 hrs of waves of thunderstorms or the exact amount of time we were allowed to be there. Despite the AMS, thunderstorms, and overwhelming mosquitoes this trip left us with plenty of wonderful memories of the mountains but I think I need to focus more on these mountains in the winter.

Sierras are calling, time to bust out the snowshoes.

Its just the way it has to be, that choice view requires the perfect oak :) the other 98% get the darkness below. This is one of my favorite oak trees in Morgan Territory along the Diablo trail, an excellent choice for a backpack/bikepack trip!