Stopped by Stinson Beach this past weekend with the boyfriend where we had our first not-date, and decided to cheesily celebrate our year and a half anniversary with a hike, mini picnic and wine.
Nestled in the eastern Santa Cruz Mountains between Morgan Hill and Watsonville is Uvas Canyon County Park. With Swanson Creek flowing year-round and tall hills, this is a great place for some mellow and scenic hiking away, but not away, from civilization. You can hit miles of trails and still be back in time for brunch. I met up with my longtime Instagram friend, Christian Arballo, and set off to explore some trails in this new-to-us park!
Met up with Russ the Wine Hiker & Karl from Alpha Roaming this past Sunday for a quick hike off of Skyline Blvd at Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve. The Bay Area is chock-full of these Open Space Preserves, open to hikers, bikers and equestrians. They tend to get very busy and are quite open and unprotected, so I tend to avoid them. But they all offer miles of gorgeous trails and amazing views.
If Big Sur is a popular cheerleader, Mendocino is her older, cooler, more aloof older sister. Situated four hours north of San Francisco, this North Coast destination has plenty to offer the weekend warrior. Russian Gulch State Park and the Fern Canyon and Waterfall Loop are some trails that should not be missed.
Lake Tahoe-Nevada State Park: Sand Harbor, rather Sand Harbor Overlook if you’re someone who never carries cash like me, is a section of the lake with enormous boulders dotting the shoreline and a sandy beach area. In the summer, it gets ridiculously packed with people playing in the water and laying out.