Walk on

This weekends venture led us to Pescadero Creek County Park and the Brook Trail loop. You can latch on to this trail via the Heritage Grove trail along Alpine Road, which is a good way to get going. There are some decent old trees here, and it’s only 45 minutes from home. You climb steeply to a grassy ridge near the Sierra Club Hikers Hut, contour along the ridge for a bit, then dive down into the woods. The trail sidewinds through your tanoak and madrone groves, and before long the coast redwoods start showing up. The canyon you’re in channels Towne Creek, but at this time of year the creek doesn’t show itself for some time. There is a good bridge at the lower section of the loop, and that’s a fine place for a break. The forest in Pescadero is very quiet. On this day there was no wind, so there was true silence at times. There were a few birds, but no animals and few people. We met some park personnel on lively steeds coming up the trail. And we met one other guy, who was maybe in his low 80’s, had a slight hand tremor, way out on the Brook Trail loop return. He was headed off to the Tarwater trail head, which I had done last week from this trail junction. It’s a long way. Was I concerned that he might get lost or be somewhat vulnerable hiking alone? Sure. He’d already walked a good 7 miles, and had another 3 or 4 to go, including a steep descent and stiff climb out of the Tarwater drainage. But if you’re asking if we intervened and conveyed him to safety, and I believe you are asking me this, my answer is “hell no”. I only hope that I am able to do what this awesome old guy is doing when and if I get that far.