I went hiking today and came across this dude chilling on the trail. He was about 10-12 inches long and a bit camera shy.

Today I went hiking at Joseph D. Grant Park for the first time in almost ten months. I specifically went to revisit one of my favorite places inside the park. As I was leaving I had to stop my car to let a family of wild pigs cross the street. The piglets are super cute but they grow up to be ugly AF!

Today was my second time hiking at Ed R. Levin Park in Milpitas and my friend's first. As we were walking back to our cars we heard a strange noise across the parking lot behind us and saw a huge tree branch fall. We walked over and saw that it fell inside the dog park. No one, or any dog, got hurt. Even the fence survived with minimal damage. It was pretty exciting on such a peaceful day at the park.

Today I went on my first hike in over a month. I hurt my right knee riding my bike at Viva Call in September and it's barely feeling good enough to start going for walks. I did the Penitencia Creek Trail which is 5.4 miles long with only 541 feet of elevation gain. My legs and feet are really sore from not working out but I still feel good. I'd been feeling stressed out and a little depressed lately and today's visit to Alum Rock Park helped alleviate those feelings. I remembered how much hiking helped keep me sane during lockdown and it still works! Today's highlight was seeing a baby snake on the trail!

I haven't been out these last few weeks because of work and a knee injury. Today I was feeling a little stir crazy so I drove up to Joseph D. Grant Park to be outside for a little while and draw. I drew a melty monster face. There was a big feral pig nearby looking for food and I got close enough to get some video.

This morning, my friends and I went to Pinnacles National Park to hike through one of the caves. There were lots of boulders and interesting rock formations but the caves were cool as fuck! Unfortunately, I couldn't record or take pictures inside the cave because I was holding a flashlight in one hand and used the other to climb. The cave was short but definitely the highlight of the trip.

I didn't do anything artsy today. I spent the day with friends at a going-away party. Before heading over there I came across a gigantic dead moth in the backyard. I'd never seen one this big before. It kinda freaked me out so I'm glad it was dead!

A couple friends and I got up early Sunday morning to hike up to Maple Falls at Nisene Marks State Park in Aptos. At least that was the plan! I printed a map I pulled from the park's website and soon learned that it wasn't very helpful with the poor/lack-of trail markers at the park. We made our first wrong turn early on and were able to get back on track with a little help from runners & bicyclist. Further along we made another wrong turn onto a trail that wasn't on the map. After a while I started getting suspicious and when we came upon a dirt road I knew were definitely off track. Because the climb was so steep we decided not to go back the way we came. We hiked further north a bit before taking the dirt road back to the parking lot. It was still a great hike and we had a blast even though we didn't see the waterfall. My friend and I also got stung by wasps. Me, once behind the ear and a couple times on my chest. My friend, on her finger and on her back. But like I said, we still had a great time. Next time we'll be better prepared and actually make it to the waterfall.

Nothing artsy of fartsy today but I did get a new tent! I bought a sleeping bag yesterday and now I'm ready to go camping. It's been 10 to 15 years since the last time I camped. I'm thinking of going up to Joseph D Grant County Park, where I went hiking, and staying a night and maybe going hiking in the dark!

I went out with the intention to finish hiking the remaining trails at Joseph D. Grant County Park today and being 100% done. I came pretty damn close. I started at the Grant Lake Parking lot and walked almost a mile on Mount Hamilton, where they were laying down fresh new asphalt, to reach the Washburn Trail trailhead. Then I walked to the barn. From there I hiked up to Tamien Trail and got lost at the end of that trail before coming back to Washburn. That’s when it got cold and overcast. I hustled the rest of the way on the Cañada de Pala and Los Huecos trails because it was getting close to closing time and I was afraid my car would get locked in the parking lot over night. Because I was in a rush I slipped coming downhill and scraped my right palm. It stung and got a little bloody but it wasn’t bad. It hurt more using the hand sanitizer when I got to my car. It was past closing time and luckily the gate wasn’t closed. I didn’t want to press my luck so I left. I’m gonna have to come back and do that remaining 1/10 of a mile on the Yerba Buena Trail in a few days and be 100% done hiking all of Grant Park.

I went to Ed R. Levin County Park for the first time on Sunday. I wanted to hike all of the Agua Caliente Trail but I had to turn around, with less than .6 miles to go, so I could be out of the park by closing time. It was beautiful. Saw lots of animals including 2 snakes, one on the trail and the other in the dog park being escorted out by security. I can’t wait to come back. I’ll probably start hiking all the trails at Ed R. Levin when I’m done with Joseph D. Grant.

My buddy and I went on a hike at Alum Rock Park this morning. We saw deer, ducks & fish as well as some cool human-made stuff. Tonight I did some new sketches based on an idea a few days ago for a possible future project. More on that later.

My legs were no longer sore and I was feeling good so I went on hike at Alum Rock Park. The South Rim Trail, from the No Horse Bridge to the Sycamore Switchback Trail, reopened after being closed all of last year so I hiked that. I saw some wildlife feasting, drew in my sketchbook a few times, and found spring water bubbling out of a hole in one of the parking lots. When I got in my car to leave I felt something on the back of my neck and found it was a little green worm. Gross!
At 7.43 miles, and almost 1,000 ft of elevation, this was a great warm up for my upcoming hike at Joseph D. Grant County Park. Hopefully my legs aren’t completely dead tomorrow.

I went on my first hike in over a month. I went to Grant County Park to finish the Smith Creek Trail and crossed the water this time. I slowly and carefully stepped on the big rocks and made my way across the creek without falling or getting my boots wet. When I reached the end of the trails I sat down beside the creek and drew in my sketchbook for half an hour. I drew one of the big rocks sticking out of the water. After a month of no hiking I’m a little out of practice and will need to hike other trails to prepare for my final hike at Grant to be 100% complete.

The weather has been cold & rainy since I got back from my trip on Wednesday. I’m so close to being done with Grant County Park.

We went to the Aloha Animal Sanctuary and fed some goats, sheep, pigs, ducks & chickens today.

We’re going to go volunteer at an animal sanctuary for a few hours Saturday morning.

We saw a snail with a funky shell on our Sunday morning walk. It looked just like me.

We came a across a busted up centipede in the middle of the sidewalk Monday evening.

A predawn hike at Makapu’u Lighthouse to catch the sunrise then a trip to Lanikai Beach for a little bit of swimming, snorkeling and laying out in the sun.