30 days hiking in California

I hiked, strolled, sometimes clambered through forests and creeks, across beaches and fields and rocky terrain, up and down hills. I talk to the trees and the animals and the waves, and then laugh at myself and them because they answer so quietly. I like their voices. I like crazy pelicans and cormorants and gulls above crashing waves. I like soft trails, creeks that giggle and tickle, woodpeckers that pound, the susurrus of the wind, branches that crackle and moan, unknown animals hiding in the brush. Some redwoods remind me of Rodin’s Burghers of Calais in their brilliant colors and solid, subtle forms. The night is too dark for forest hiking but the stars light up the beaches enough for slow walking, then lying on a blanket looking up. Humans smile more when we’re outside, don’t we?

Arizona was where my serious hiking started: Up and down (little) mountains on hard paths with beautiful cactus, amazing views, snakes, lizards, birds. After the rains, and during, the air is immaculate, so light and clean you can almost lick it.

My first real hike, I think, was with Isaac, no surprise there, in the Connemara National Park. I got tired and afraid of heights so he went to the top, wherever that was. Now we’ve hiked together in other places and I can almost keep up with him.

This week in Oakland I’m ambling around Lake Merritt, and it’s wonderful – warm and filled with the best birds: brown pelicans, coots, egrets, herons, cormorants, grebes. A few scaups have arrived, too.

Sunday I go back to Manresa State Beach for three days to walk the long beach and hike the improbably named Forest of Nicene Marks. Then I return for walking in Oakland and San Francisco, and plan the next little adventure.