Wisetrips Travel Blog

On Sunday morning, after breakfast, we decided to hike a few trails at the nearby  Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve  (about a 20-minute drive from our Airbnb home in Forestville). On arrival at the park at around 10:30, we noticed a long line of cars trying to get in, with many cars parked on the road. We decided to try parking on the road and found a spot a few hundred feet away. We started the East Ridge, Waterfal…

After many years, we returned to Felton to hike in the beautiful Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park . Inna decided to follow the river to the Cathedral Redwoods. We followed the Pipeline Road (which parallels River Trail) from the parking lot to the Cathedral Redwoods, a small grove of coast redwoods. It was a pleasant day to hike among the giant redwoods.   Here are my Strava statistics: …

After a long time, we decided to hike in Castle Rock State Park in Los Gatos. When we arrived, we were surprised by the large parking lot, which had been converted from gravel to a fully paved one with many paid parking spaces. The hike started from the parking lot, heading south toward the waterfall and westward. It was a moderate hike that required some rock climbing, but not too much. …

On Saturday, January 9, 2021, on a beautiful but chilly winter day, Inna and I decided to hike the trails of the nearby  Sanborn County Park  in Saratoga, CA. We drove to the  Costanoan Group Area  parking lot and parked there. As it was a cold winter's day, we chose a shorter version of our usual hike (about 2 miles) that still provided cardiovascular benefits and beautiful scenic overlooks. While the uphill wa…

When our friends suggested hiking at Butano State Park , I was surprised to hear about it - since I never heard of it before. It was only 80 minutes away from Los Gatos (so nearby). When we arrived, we decided to follow some of the suggestions from Alltrails.com: Start from the Park Entrance parking lot Follow the Six Bridges trail south toward the Ano Nuevo trail At the intersection with A…

After waking up at 7:00 am and quickly showering, we dressed and headed for breakfast at our Best Western Plus . I was surprised at how busy it was at 8:00 am; everyone had the same idea of getting an early start on breakfast. There was not a lot of variety at Best Western (but at least it was free), so Alex decided to make himself a waffle while I selected the scrambled eggs (which were mildly edible). The …