Ubud Hiking: Camphuan Ridge

The alang along grass; they use this grass a lot for building materials as well as ceremonies

Ubud has a lot of lovely trails with a variety of scenery, through rice paddies, grassy plains, steep river ridges and small villages. Part of the reason why I like Ubud so much; there's just so much to see, it's very easy to spend a week or more there without running out of things to do. We did a nice 4 km roundtrip walk along Camphuan Ridge on one of our last days in Ubud.

At the top of the ridge is Karsa Kafe, where we stopped to have a refreshing lime juice in one of the three bales on top of lotus ponds

Ubiquitous stone carving shop

Muir Woods

Muir Woods is just north of San Francisco in Marin County. It's an awesome place; you feel like you are in another land with the thick greenery, towering redwoods and cool streams. We spent a morning there, hiking 2 hours on the ocean view trails (a misnomer; there are no longer ocean views from the trail), as well as walking the various paths on the forest floor. The sheer size and height of the redwoods are amazing; I wish I had the right camera lenses (and skills) to capture the beauty and scale properly.

We had lunch inside Muir Woods at the Muir Woods Trading Company Cafe. I had the famous Marin Grilled Cheese with Tomato Soup, made famous by the "Hidden Treasures" episode of Food Network's The Best Thing I Ever Ate with Tyler Florence and his adorable son. Unfortunately both the grilled cheese and tomato soup were disappointing, particularly for $14. They were both too rich and a little bland without enough acid or flavor to keep it interesting. I like my tomato soup a little more tangy and the grilled cheese could have used a more flavorful cheeses; they used very rich cheeses like Cowgirl Creamery's triple cream Mount Tam, which I love, but I would have preferred something with more zing. The bread was good though, hearty with lots of nuts and grain.

Muir Woods

Quick iPhone pic that doesn't do justice to the magnificence of the gigantic redwoods. After a weekend in Carmel, we spent the morning hiking amongst the redwoods in Muir Woods just north of San Francisco. Headed to Point Reyes for some oysters next. Recaps with better pictures to come.

Hiking with Friends

So cute, all the dogs in a row behind M (besides Floyd who enjoys leading)

I took Otis and Floyd hiking today with some friends and their two dogs up to the missile silo site up Mandeville Canyon.  Floyd managed to actually made his very first doggie friends, Kaia and Kash.  All it really took was his being off-leash.  Usually Floyd is a barking mess whenever we come within view of other dogs, but he was totally fine during the hike.  We encountered lots of dogs, from german shepherds to cocker spaniels and he didn't bark at all when he was off-leash.  Glad to see that he's not a total lost cause when it comes to other dogs.  It's so nice to be able to hike all year round in Los Angeles.  Now that we know that Floyd does better on hikes off-leash than on walks around our neighborhood, hopefully we'll go hiking more often.

A new friend

Cold War on a Hot Day

Yesterday was ridiculously hot in LA, setting all sorts of all-time record heat around town including 113 degrees in downtown LA.  Even Santa Monica reached 106, breaking an all-time record.  We turned on the AC last night for the first time all summer, not surprisingly.  It wasn't forecasted to be so warm earlier in the day, which is why S. and I went for a hike with the dogs in the morning, which in retrospect, was a little crazy.  When we left it was only 80 degrees, but by the time we got back to our car, it was 100 degrees.

We drove up Mandeville Canyon and hiked to the missile radar platform.  It's a very cool spot with awesome views, it's near the top of the Santa Monica mountains and you have a 360 degree view of Los Angeles; you can see the Valley, the eastside, Downtown LA, all the way to the beach.  It's probably about a 2-3 mile hike roundtrip and a little steep in spots.  We brought a lots of water for us and the dogs and made many stops in the shade, but it was quite hot!  We had a nice time though, and the dogs did too; they love being off-leash and I enjoy watching them explore.  We couldn't do much afterward but lounge around and watch lots of cooking shows on tv.

Downtown LA

View of the missile radar site

Observation platform with 360 degree views of LA

My favorite part of hiking; a nice escape from civilization

View towards the Valley

View towards East Valley / Hollywood

Otis trotting off towards the next shady spot

Found it

 

Day 3/4: Big Sur

 We stayed in the second cabin closest to the edge

After a satisfying dinner at Big Sur Bakery, we headed south by another half hour and checked in at the Lucia Lodge.  While it was pitch dark when we arrived, we woke up in the morning to glorious panoramic ocean views.  At $250 a night, it was more expensive than the places we stayed at the previous two nights combined, but the setting was beautiful.  The accommodations were rustic and comfortable, not the most luxurious, but perfectly fine for what we were looking for.

We had breakfast on the patio of the restaurant and spent the rest of the morning relaxing on adirondack chairs in front of our cabin and enjoying the ocean views.

We had a light picnic lunch at a picnic table perched at the edge of the ocean bluffs and had some cheese, crackers, fruit, salumi, and olives and a bottle of our wedding white wine, the 2006 Monterey Metallico Chardonnay.  A perfect wine for a nice sunny day outside overlooking the ocean.

 Our private picnic table

After lunch, we started on our way back south to Los Angeles along Highway 1.  We stopped at Salmon Creek to hike for a few hours.  It was a nice steep hike, with a variety of landscapes: waterfalls, ocean views, forests, wildflowers.  It was a great way to spend an afternoon, the fresh air was great and we even met a friendly Burmese mountain dog who loved hiking.

Stay tuned for a visit to my new favorite steak place: Jocko's!


Lucia Lodge
62400 Highway 1
Big Sur, CA  93920
(831) 667-2391