Wow, this is amazing! I can’t believe that I have been blogging for a year and a half; and now I have made it to 100 posts. For this blog, I wanted to go back to the inspiration for this blog… hiking in Sunol. The picture of the old black and white barn was taken on a hike in Sunol one and a half years ago. Mr. Awesome Boyfriend and I have wanted to go back but time slipped away, winter came and we never went back… until now! Last weekend, we decided it was time to tackle the hike again and document it. The weather was perfect and we hiked our butts off and it ended up being a 10 mile hike in about four hours. It was cool, we used our Endomando sport tracker but the GPS wasn’t that great for documenting the map. It also did not document our stats toward the end. However, I was able to get our route from the internet map search on BING. The little green “A” is our start which is the parking lot. Just a quick tip: bring $5 cash because there is a fee to get in. 😀

The first time we hiked here, we did not have proper shoes or enough water. We were prepared and had two bladders full of ice water and hiking shoes. In the bigger bladder, we brought extra socks and shirts. We knew this was not going to be a short hike so we also brought some snacks. The best part about Sunol is the diversity in the trails. There are trails that are short for families with kids or older people.  There are some trails that are a bit harder but short. There are also trails for people riding horses. Then, there are the trails for the experienced hikers. We like to mix it up and have found a route that starts off a little difficult then, gets really crazy and then, at the end; is easy as pie.

This is the beginning of our hike on McCorkle Trail and Canyon View Trail. It is amazing that in just a few feet the environment can change from super forest to bushy then grassy. Some of the hike reminds me of the Jurassic Park movies.

Hello… is there anyone out there?

We finally made it to the beginning of Flag Hill Trail. This is were is gets crazy! You are literally climbing a mountain!

We are half way there…

YAY! Made it.. the view is so worth it! This is were we take a break to rest, eat, and change. You will want to because you will get sweaty! FYI: there is a bench. On my BING big map, this is letter “B”: Flag Hill Peak!

See I told you… there are people riding horses.

We started making our way down Flag Hill Road (the easy way that the horses take) and made our way to High Valley Road. This is were the old barn is and on the  handy dandy map it’s called High Valley Camp.

This barn is really old but some Boy Scouts still use it as a camp. There is a fire pit and picnic tables.

We decided to try a different route and found ourselves on Cave Rocks Road going toward the Cerro Este Road and lookout point. This was a bit of a climb but it was gradual compared to the intense super climb of Flag Hill.

This had the best view of the park. Everything was in full bloom for spring!

We made it and luckily there was a nice little bench to again rest, eat and change socks! On my BING big map, this is letter “C”: Cerro Este Lookout Point!

We started our way down Cerro Este Road toward McCorkle Trail. Everything from here is pretty easy… and mostly downhill.

There are some may little attractions to see here that you can’t see them all in one day. This makes Sunol the best for multiple trips. Every hike can be different.

The smallest sign ever! LOL

YAY we are getting closer to civilization! We take Backpack Road to Camp Ohlone which will lead us back to the car. This part of the hike is so easy. It is a dirt road that has no up hills! On my BING big map, this is letter “D”!

I think this tree is totally WEST Coast representing!

Little Yosemite! Finally, back to the car and pooped! On my BING big map, this is letter “E”!

I would highly recommend coming here but be smart and bring water, food and clothes. I found that even though it was sunny, I still needed a light jacket.

Thanks to all my blog followers! I can’t wait to see what the next 100 posts will be!

-girl in pigtails