Paul's "big" present from the twins last Christmas was a book entitled, "Best Hikes with Children - San Francisco Bay Area" as well as a Kelty Wanderer backpack that matches the one gifted to us by my Aunt Peggy and Uncle Jack way back at our babies' shower. This gift was sort of also meant to reclaim Daddy away from all the work he does with the house, etc. so he could spend more time with the kidlets and his very lovely wife (me).
Before Christmas, the girls and I went through the calendar as well as the book and carefully selected one suggested hike per month, bookmarked it with a sticky and wrote the date on which we would hike with Daddy. The first hike was supposed to be January 2nd, but since there was a giant rain storm that weekend, we changed the date to today. The hike in store, according to the pink sticky with the January date, was Redwood Creek Headwaters Loop trail, a 3-hour nearly 3-mile hike off of Skyline Road in the Oakland Hills.
It is listed in the book as "moderate hike for children." Well, perhaps this is because they are tucked safely in their parents' Kelty backpacks... We found it very steep and caught ourselves huffing and puffing frequently. However, the exercise is very well rewarded. The entire trail is full of ferns and redwoods. Creeks and streams bubble by from all directions and the trail, for the most part, was fairly dry with good footing, even considering the recent relentless rains (which fell even as late as yesterday). It was fairly cool - so much so, in fact, that toward the beginning of our hike, before the Girls' Camp picnic area, there was thick frost on the ground - and it was nearly noon! With the forest as dense as it was, we were in the well-covered shade +90% of the time. I was glad we bundled up the kids very well with hats, etc., however I'd almost wished that I'd put them in their cozy snowsuits just in case.
Picnic at Girls' Camp
When we got to the Girls' Camp (about 20 minutes into the hike), we stopped at a couple of stumps around a fire ring and fed the babies their squash and peaches in an impromptu picnic. Daddy marveled at how well Tina is opening her mouth and how often! She would have eaten the 2 jars by herself if she didn't have to share with her sister! She is interested in using the spoon herself and Mommy has even started her with finger-food because her interest seems so high. Ava used to be the more determined eater; now she has a legitimate rival.
We continued down the trail until we hit the floor of the loop where a nice bench by the creekside waterfall invited people to take a break. We found some people there doing just that and had them take our picture. Signs point out that natural rainbow trout live and spawn in the creeks and that they are common to see. They also (strangely) remind us that they are dangerous for pet dogs to eat raw. (Where did that come from??) We are also told by our friendly photo-taker friends that thousands of ladybugs congregate in the trees in late winter. Quite a site, they say and also the reason for their visit. From there we started a significant and long ascent taking us over 700 vertical feet through more redwoods and eucalyptus forests. Tina decided that she didn't want to be in the backpack any longer and started to wail terribly. She didn't stop until Mommy took her out and carried her in the front with Ava sitting quietly behind in the backpack. After a few dips and hills, we gained more altitude, found drier oak and pine forests, and finally the ridge trail, which completed our loop back to the parking area. We tried another time to get Tina to stay in the backpack, but she'd have none of it. The hike really did take us about 3 hours, but that did include a kidlet picnic. It was beautiful and very uncrowded. We like this particular hike immensely and look forward to next month's, which is in the same relative area, slated for February 11th to Huckleberry Path.
