Phutu...springing into leaf...

5/30/2006 I went hiking with some friends over Memorial Day weekend in the Ventana Wilderness south of Carmel. It wasn't my first choice of hiking spots for the weekend, I would rather have gone to the sierra, or even to the north coast mountains, but everything is snowed under still from all the late winter storms that we had. I had planned out a hike in the Yolla Bolly Middle Eel wilderness and proceeded to call the ranger station to check on snow conditions only to find out that the roads into the area are completely covered. There is about 7 feet of snow on the trailhead that I had been planning to visit. So, my final choice for hiking locations was Ventana. The reason is that it is far enough south and close enough to the coast that all the snow has melted. Unfortunately, it is quite like a jungle in many places.

When I am hiking I tend to select locations that have interesting trees to look at. High elevation conditions make trees do some weird things, but that's not the only place you can find them. Unfortunately, Ventana doesn't seem to contain too many interesting trees, at least in the locations I was in. I saw some interesting oaks, but none that were more interesting than ones I've seen in Boonville or elsewhere in California. The first hike that we went on was along a ridge that had burned only a few years ago; all the trees looked like big bushes. We went in a few miles, and then decided that it wasn't worth going further. I was a bit dissapointed, especially since I got to mull it over for a few hours while standing in a constant freezing 10 mph wind at the campsite. The campfire helped to hold off the chill, but after the sun set my camping companions and I decided that sleeping bags and tents were the best prescription.

On Sunday we drove down a long bumpy dirt road to the Tassajara Mountain Zen Center, a monastary which turns into a hot spring resort for the summer months. We paid a chunk of change for a day pass and then went on a hike to get primed for some hot spring dipping. The hike was through nice terrain once we left the segment that was on the dirt road. Unfortunately, it took all my concentration and dodging abilities to avoid the prolific poison oak overgrowing the trail. In addition, there were some biting flies that wouldn't leave us alone. The scenery was quite nice, including a waterfall and a nice creek that we crossed numerous times. Nevertheless, we were all happy to get back to the Zen center for a shower and relaxing dip in the hot spring pools.

The baths were Japanese style, which seems to mean that everyone wanders around naked the entire time. I was somewhat less bothered by this than a few of my companion hikers, so I managed to get in the hot tub, while others showered and headed straight for the cooler swimming pool. I sat in there for a few minutes until I got so hot that beads of sweat started rolling down my forehead; it was only after I had gotten out, put on my cloths and headed outside that I started to feel so incredibly relaxed, like I had a massage of every muscle and joint in my body. I highly recommend hot springs after a hike, they are quite nice. There is one other one in Ventana, I believe it is undeveloped, so if I ever decide to brave the poison oak again, maybe I'll head there. Overall I have to give Ventana a mixed review; I think it was my hiking companions more than the location that made the weekend fun. I will be looking for other locations for my next hike.

5/20/2006
4/25/2006
3/22/2006
2/22/2006
1/25/2006
12/20/2005
11/17/2005
10/27/2005
10/8/2005
9/11/2005
8/26/2005
8/9/2005
8/1/2005
7/20/2005
7/5/2005
6/17/2005
5/27/2005
5/1/2005
4/15/2005
4/5/2005
3/24/2005
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2/5/2005
12/28/2004
11/29/2004
11/3/2004
10/2/2004
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8/23/2004
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7/21/2004
7/2/2004
6/8/2004
5/4/2004
4/20/2004
3/28/2004
3/10/2004
2/10/2004
1/15/2004

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