Portola Redwoods SP, Tip-Toe Falls and Tarwater Loop Trails

Friday: (11/22) The usual hikers breakfast of a loaded breakfast sandwich from Jack In The Box.

If you don’t have Google Earth try this link for a look at the hike route.

Nice hike with my San Jose Mid-Week Hikers Group at the Portola State Park. I had planned a nice hike to see Tip-Toe Falls and do the Tarwater Loop Trail. The park is about 27 miles from home so we had two carpools for the nine hikers to get there. That also reduces the fees since the entrance fee is per vehicle. My annual State Park Pass paid off again. The heavy rains we had a couple of days ago did dampen the park but there really wasn’t much mud and the creeks are down now. unfortunately the bridge across Pescadero Creek, really a river, had been pulled for the season so we got to dip our feet in the stream to get across. Lots of banana slugs were out on the trails as well because of the rain. Our hike was only 9.6 miles with my estimate of 8 miles but no one complained because the park was so nice.

After the hike I returned my carpool folks to the Park and Ride we started rom. One of the hikers had just bought new tires but arrived this morning with a flat. When we returned I used my compressor from the Jeep to air up her tire. That turned out to be a bad idea. When i left the park i turned on my head lights and left them on when i stopped at the park and ride. The combination of the compressor and the headlights killed the battery. Walmart batteries must not hold too much charge. My onld volks wagon could burn the headlights 4 hours and still start the car. This was only 15 minutes and a good battery seems like it should have been OK to start the Jeep later. Roadservice arrived in 15 minutes and put me back on the road.

This put my return home at after 3pm. I had not had lunch, just a granola bar so I was a bit hungry. I called Lou and she agreed to go with me to lunch. As it turned out, Dawn was on her way home on the trolley so we waited and picked her up and had dinner at LUU Noodle House with our usual chow fun noodles, pad thai, and egg rolls.