Back during my stay in California, I went on two full moon hikes organized by Sekar, who has been running an informal hiking club in the Bay Area for about 7 years. Both of the hikes, the first in April and the second in June, were at Tilden Park, a wonderful regional park just outside of Berkeley, crisscrossed with hiking trails. I used to go up there a lot when I was a wee lad - my parents and my uncle would take me on nature hikes there, teaching me about plants and wildlife, and it was there that I developed my love of the natural environment and hiking. The park occupies a special place in my childhood memories.
The itineraries of both these hikes were the same: we meet at Inspiration Point and hike along the fire road and a dirt path to Wildcat Peak, where we picnic and watch the full moon rise before hiking back, for a round trip of about 4.25 miles...a nice stroll.
The views are spectacular - from Inspiration Point you can see Mt. Diablo and San Pablo Dam Reservoir, and from the trail itself there's a fantastic view of the Bay, including San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Mt. Tamalpais.
Here we are walking along the fire road:
Approaching Wildcat Peak
The hiking group is quite a bit larger than the ones I usually hike with in Taiwan (which usually number about 3-6), so the group split into smaller groups naturally, and I had the chance to chat with a number of people I'd never met before. One of them was Michele, who I had given a ride from Berkeley... she's a student of library science. She happened to be acquainted with someone I know here in Taiwan... it's a small world! Anyway, we enjoyed some interesting chats and a week later went on another hike in Tilden.
View of the Bay
Before too long we arrive at our destination: Wildcat Peak, the second highest peak within the park boundaries.
There we had our picnic, relaxing and chatting as we waited for the moon to rise.
And then, finally, the moon began to rise out of the valley to the east of us:
And a moonrise picture from the April hike:
The entire hike is not long: we met at about 7:30pm, and had to be back at the parking lot by 10:00pm, but it was a refreshing way to get a modicum of exercise in a beautiful setting, breathe in the fresh air, and meet new people.
