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297. Phleger Estate (12/07/02)

Hikers (9): Cal, Eugene, Hima, Janet, Mozhdeh, Roberto, Russ, Steve, Sue
Distance: 8 miles
Rating: 3 difficulty, 8 beauty
Park info: Phleger Estate in Woodside

Write-up by Russ and Sue G

I decided after the cow incident, it was time for me to pick a new birthday hike. Ok, it was a bit of a delayed reaction, but I have a hard time bucking tradition. I decided I needed someplace that did not have any cows and not too long of a hike, so I could celebrate my birthday properly. Phleger Estate seemed like a perfect choice. The surprise participation of Janet and Roberto before they left for Tucson made the event even more memorable. This write-up is mostly based on notes provided by Sue G.

1, 2, 3 . . . INCH!

This hike unveiled a couple of new pieces of equipment to INCH. The first piece of new equipment was my new walkie-talkies. This is a relatively easy hike, so it seemed like the perfect time to try the talkies out. The second (and endlessly annoying) piece of new equipment was Eugene's "Are we there yet?" Simpsons watch. INCH has been cursing Eugene (and Burger King) even more ever since he got that thing. I gave a walkie-talkie to Steve since he is almost always in front and kept the other one for myself since I would stick with the rest of the gang.

Sure enough once we got going, Steve took off to go geocaching. I think Mozhdeh was a bit surprised by the pace of an INCH hike (this isn't one of the Sierra Club's leisurely strolls) and she fell behind the rest of the group. Keep up or die! After a while, I gave Steve a call on the walkie to see if he had seen Mozhdeh. He said that he was done caching and passed Mozhdeh on his way back to the group. At least she wasn't too far behind, just out of sight. Then let Eugene put his Simpson watch to the walkie and gave Steve a "Are we there yet?" Steve really enjoyed that...not. Later I was to realize what a mistake that was. Eugene kept wanting to do put his watch to the walkie and I finally told him to get lost. This seemed like a good time for a break. We gave Cal a yell to let him know we were taking a break, and Cal responded "You are taking a break? We don't take breaks!" The guy is hard core, but he stopped with us anyway. The first time we did this hike, Steve obscured the beauty of the forest. This time it was appropriate that Eugene sat on the "grace and beauty" bench absorbing as much grace and beauty as possible for someone with a Simpson watch. Enough of this beauty stuff, time to get back to the business of hiking.

Off we went to cross back to Huddart Park. This part is always tricky and we have gotten lost for a while trying to find the way to Huddart (that doesn't sound like INCH). To play it safe, we took Skyline Blvd. for a short distance and then entered Huddart Park. The rest of the hike was a leisurely stroll through the redwoods while listening to the plans Janet and Roberto had for Arizona and what they had been doing with themselves once they left Intel. Overall a nice prelude to the party that evening.

Milestones:
Mozhdeh's 1st leaf



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