Sitting on a Dock by the Bay....

So today's post is being written on a fishing dock sitting on the San Francisco bay with beautiful views of the Bay Bridge, the Ferry Building, Coit Tower, the TransAmerica building as well as downtown.  It is a beautiful day, in the eighties in the City!!

That said, we have had a pretty simple last week, which included field service, loading up on groceries, and an awesome run with Beth up on Mt. Diablo.

 Now with Myles in school, she has a couple of hours in the morning to herself for the first time in ten years.  She has been keeping herself busy either in the ministry or running up on Mt. Diablo through Castle Rock.  On her running mornings, she has explored much of the trails leaving Castle Rock Regional Park and into Mt. Diablo State park.  She has taken precautions to be safe: pepper spray, whistle, charged cell phone.  Most days I get pictures on my phone of her treks.

That said, I am a bit jealous, only from the fact that she has been able to run a lot of trails with a lot of elevation; whereas I have been taking scenic runs on the Embarcadero or through Fishermans Wharf at lunch without any elevation gain.  Don't get me wrong, I run some awesome spots in the city; however, nothing beats running on dirt in the wilderness.

So it was a real treat to run with her on Sunday morning before meeting.  She took me out Castle Rock for our goal of climbing to the top of Burma Rd.  This is a about 2,000 feet of elevation gain for the total run and included views of the Diablo Valley as well as the top of Castle Rock.  We saw that morning a total of nine deer including two bucks.  While every where else in the Bay was fogged in, we had a wonderful sunny day.


I really miss my runs during the week with Beth now that I am not working in Walnut Creek.  However, I am so happy she can do this.

Castle Rock Hike and Relax!!!

So  last weekend, we had a nice hike followed by an evening for Beth and I at a baby shower.  However, I can say it was a pretty relaxing weekend nevertheless.

As usual, we began the day in the field ministry. It was a beautiful day and the temperatures had really cooled down here to the 70's.  Most of my major projects at work have ended and now we are into budget; which meant that I could actually begin to relax. That, combined with busy weekend for the past month-and-a-half had us refocusing on the simpler things. So we decided for a short hike at the Castle Rock Regional park, which is five miles from the house.

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Beth has been doing a lot of running up there now that Myles is kindergarten.  It is isolated; however, she has taken the proper precautions to keep safe.  It was one of her runs she came across a new trail and this peaceful bench that overlooked Castle Rocks as well as much of the western valley leading up to Mt. Diablo.  It is a breathtaking area and we all loved the hike.

We took the "quick way" back which meant following a steep single track to the valley floor.  The kids had a great time, with only a sprained wrist for Sophie on the final 100 feet; however, we came across a horse on the way back to the car which made up for the fall.
 
Saturday night meant a baby shower for our friends the Wells.  This was a bit more than the typical baby shower, and was designed more like a cocktail party.  While everyone had fun, this style of party wasn't our cup of tea so we left after a couple of hours.

 So that's it for this week!!  Don't forget we post more pictures on our Dropshots site!!

Why We Love This Area!!!

There are so many places to explore within 15 minutes of home.  With Mt. Diablo State Park and a dozen or so East Bay Regional Parks, as well as three Open Spaces, there is so many chances to see Jehovah's awesome creative power.  Over the last three weeks, after field service, we have hit the trails. 

Week One:  Shell Ridge Open Space to Castle Rock Regional Park

 

Week one, we decided to follow the trail from the Shell Ridge Open Space in Walnut Creek to the Castle Rock Regional park.    This trip also exposed us for the first time to the Diablo Foothills Regional Park  

This combined two of our favorite hikes; however, without any rain, the hills are not the typical emerald green for this time of the year.  It was wonderful to share this hike with our friends the Bulkoski's. 

The trail consisted of rolling hills, steep ridges, and the kids favorite, Buckeye Ravine.  From Buckeye Ravine, you drop into what has been called Little Yosemite because of the wonderful Granite and Sandstone that make up Castle Rocks.  This was a five mile hike, one way; however, we did park a car at the end point so that the kids wouldn't have to hike back.

Week Two:  The China Wall

Beth discovered this place on-line.  At the end of Stone Valley Rd, you can get to the Macedo Ranch Staging Area.  This is located in the Mt. Diablo State Park and is an easy 3 mile round trip hike.  

This beautiful hike takes you to wonderful rock formations that look like the top of the the Great Wall of China.  I am eager to get back to this place after the rain, when the hill should be a lovely green with yellow mustard.

Week Three:  Rock City

We discovered Rock City last year when we took a trip to Mt. Diablo Summit.  I really love this place!!!  It so reminds me of when my parents would take us to Joshua Tree.  This place is beautiful, with awesome pinnacles of sandstone.  There are tunnels carved out by the wind to explore.  It is just one big playground for the kids, with natural slides and places to explore.

You could spend days finding something new and rare.  Emma stumbled on this weird rock formation.  It looks like a boulder dropped in a puddle of mud then froze this way.  What amazes me even further is that the wind then perfectly ate around the sandstone to expose this treasure.  What a wonderful gift from our grand creator.

The North Side of Mt. Diablo

So beside the hiking, Beth and I are training for a 50K in April.  So a sister in our hall was gracious enough to watch the kids while we ran to the mountain from our house.  Our first 3 miles is to the Mitchell Canyon Staging area.  From there, we ran up the Back Canyon Trail, in total 2,600 feet of elevation climb.  In fact the final 1.7 miles of the climb consisted of 1,500 feet of switchback.  From there it was down 3.57 miles down Mitchell Canyon to the staging area, then back to home.   In total we covered exactly 13 miles in 3 hours 21 minutes.

The Back Canyon trail is beautiful single track and is challenging at times.  However, you get a wonderful view of the Delta and the Sierra off in the distance.  At one point a rabbit jumped out to scare us, but it was all good.  The Mitchell Canyon Trail is fire road, and makes for wonderful cruising down hill.  Both trails give wonderful vistas of Eagle Peak.

All in all, we love having such easy access to these trails.  This isn't even to mention all of the trails in the Oakland Hills, Las Trampas, and Briones that are 30 minutes from home.




 

Diablo Trails Challenge



Courtesy of Brazen Racing



So running has definitely become a family affair.  This past weekend was no exception.  Emma and Sophie love trail runs, and the latest Brazen Racing race was on a trail we are very familiar with:  Castle Rock Regional Park.  This is only 10 minutes from the house and was a very fun 5K (3.1 miles) for the family.

Myles got to spend time with his best friend Sawyer and went out in service.  We braved the rain (the rainiest day of the year) and set out.





Now, there is not enough to say on what a first rate operation Brazen Racing is.  It really made the difference in what could have been a challenging day.  The course crossed several creeks, out and back and it was very muddy.  But extremely fun!!!!  Emma and I started off at starting line.  Beth and Sophie started in the middle of the pack.  My goal was to run enough ahead of Emma so that if the creeks were too deep I could help here across.  No problem there.  The girls were such troopers.  They slopped through the mud and crashed through the creeks. 

I don't know any kids that have so much determination. Both of them bested there other 5k trail run times, even with the challenging conditions.

After all was said and done, Brazen Racing and the Save Mt. Diablo group provided a wonderful BBQ.  It was cold and wet, but you couldn't erase the smiles on the girls.