Last weekend I updated my gallery system. Most of the changes make it easier for me to upload pictures, but I also made two small externally-visible changes. First, newer galleries should load much faster because they no longer create thumbnails on the fly. Second, I have begun posting full-size images (example). To see them, click the displayed image on a gallery page.
Now that I have updated the gallery, I can finally post some pictures that I have neglected. Over the next two days, I will post accounts and pictures from some of the weekend trips I have taken, starting with trips to two .
Rancho San Antonio
is the closest OSP to the developed valley. In addition to great trails overlooking Sunnyvale and Cupertino, it has an open field for flying model planes—it even has a sign! "Caution: model plane area"—and a small . My hike started behind the model plane area and wound up the hillside via several switchbacks.
At the top of the hill I joined the "Pacific Gas and Electric trail", whose wide, sandy paths wandered around the feet of all-natural, virgin high-voltage power lines.
I then looped around into the woods and followed a dry creekbed back to the park entrance.
It was a short trip, but it certainly piqued my interest in seeing other parks.
Russian Ridge
A week after visiting Rancho San Antonio, I hiked around . The park is perched at the top of the hills southwest of Los Altos, adjoining scenic . It is covered with golden meadows with woods nestled in dips and valleys.
Borel Hill, the higest named point in the county at 2,572 feet, offered a spectacular view of the entire central peninsula. (If anyone has panorama stitching software, I would love to have the following pictures merged together. , the only software I have been able to find for Linux, crashes every time I run it.)
Unfortunately, I had to turn back earlier than expected due to leg trouble, but like Rancho San Antonio, the latter half of my hike took me through beautiful green forests.
These hikes were two of the highlights of my time here in California. The parks' beauty and proximity to Mountain View made them the perfect day trip destination. The unfortunate leg trouble prevented me from hiking any of the other two dozen parks, but I certainly plan to visit more if and when I return to Silicon Valley.