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1. Big Basin Loop (05/25/96)

Hikers (4): Peter, Russ, Steve, Taylor
Distance: 4 miles
Rating: 2 difficulty, 10 beauty
Park info: Big Basin State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains

Write-up by Peter

Our first hike! We hadn't thought about consulting the hiking bible, so we just decided to go to the only place any of us had ever hiked in the area before -- Big Basin. We stopped by Togo's on Lawrence to pick up lunch along the way. The big dude at Togo's asked us if we were going to Great America. When we replied that we were going hiking, he looked at us like we were from Mars. The man may not be Nobel Prize material, but he makes a mean sandwich.

After endless twisty roads we finally arrived at Big Basin (I was the only one that had faith that we were actually on the right road). Since it was already getting late, we decided to eat first. Yeah! So we sat there in the cold drizzle and snarfed down the food.

Finally it was time to hike among the giant redwoods -- very majestic and beautful, but not much of a hiking test. In fact, the biggest challenge was to not slip on the slick muddy trails. At one point, Esteban noticed an abandoned calculator sitting on a log across the creek, so Russ, Esteban, and Taylor crossed over to retrieve it.

I (Mr. Scared-of-Heights) wimped out and kept going upstream to find a better crossing point. Sure enough, about half a mile away, there was a nice bridge. In the meantime, our other three intrepid hikers had chosen to go back downstream. The payoff for this boneheaded move was that Russ and Esteban got stung by bees, and things fell apart rapidly after that.

We eventually all met back at the car and decided to go home and get into some warm clothes. The bright spot on the way back was going through Hippieville. Like, far out, man!

Milestones:
Peter's 1st leaf
Russ's 1st leaf
Steve's 1st leaf
Taylor's 1st leaf



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