TR: Trail Run at Sugarloaf Ridge and Bald Mountain

Today I was up in Santa Clara, CA, and when I was done with my meeting I decided to check out some trailrunning up that way.  I ended up at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, which had high recommendations, and did a run up to the top of Bald Mountain (2,730 ft).

It was a gorgeous run!  I brought Linus (of course) for company.  And, you know, to fight off mountain lions.  I was actually wondering today when we were running (it was so desolate there- I only saw ONE other person on my way up!)… do you think he is more lion mountain BAIT than lion mountain deterrent?  Gotta wonder…

Photos…

The drive towards Sugarloaf Ridge was through Sonoma county- wine country.  I passed a bunch of wineries that looked interesting to come back and check out.  Maybe do a hike and then wine tasting afterwards.  Those are some grapes on the right, farms on the left, and the mountain dead ahead.

It was a beautiful day for a run

Linus finds some interesting mud.  He got SUPER dirty on this hike- enough that I actually put down a blanket for him on the car ride home, which I rarely do.

About 10 minutes running off the trail I spot off the path a bit to the right this tree with a bunch of shiny objects dangling.  I high-step through the brush and go investigate

someone’s hung a bunch of things junk ornaments wiccan charms objects from the tree

spot the glasses? cute

spot the dragon? he was my favorite.

while taking these photos I got the sense I was kind of in someone’s secret spot.  Like, someone’s secret worship spot.  I noticed some stones set up under the tree in shapes and patterns, and sticks out of the ground .  The hair kind of raised on my neck.   So I didn’t stick around long and we high-tailed it back to the trail

what are you licking? NONO EATING RANDOM THINGS, BAD DOG

the one person we saw on the way up

there were a lot of these trees. they had some funky red bark- almost looked wax-like. like the trees were covered in a wax?

close up of “wax” tree

and another view of the strange red bark. i wonder what this is? i entertained a crackpot theory for about 3 seconds that it was something the CDFFP put on the trees to prevent wildfires. But realized that was probably not likely.

passed this radiotower, which is on top of Red Mountain. Wiki-ing when I got home, I learned this tower has government communication devices on it and is a frequent sighting of secret black helicopters… whooo, creepy. from wiki:

The East peak contains an extensive microwave antenna array which is rumored to be under the command and control of the United States Government and utilized in a Continuity of Government communications system.[citation needed] Several of the dishes point directly at Santa Rosa, CA where AT&T is said to provide secure communications links for government use. This site was featured in several articles of the Napa Valley Sentinel. It has also been connected with the increasing sightings of many unmarked black helicopters flying in the Napa area.

Made it to the top!  The view was incredible- there were so many summits you could see from the top, including Mt. Tam, Mt. Diablo, Napa Valley, Sonomo Valley, Mount St. Helena and although it was not clear enough this day, apparently sometimes you can see San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Jack London quotation sets the mood.  Appropriate as Jack London Park is also visable from the summit (note- go for a run there to check it out!)

Happy Dog on the summit

You can juuuust about see the Bay off in the distance, but no GG Bridge

self portrait with Mt Saint Helena in the background- the peak immediately left of my cap brim has snow on it!
got a little tan/flushed on the run up

Let’s run down

I ran lost my footing on the gravel-y descent and fell.  I TUMBLED.  big time- hit the ground like a sack of potatoes, tumbled over myself and came to a stop.  Leg and palms took the brunt of it.

Lassie- go for help!  No, stop licking me, that’s not helping.  Go find a park ranger or something! All kidding aside, I did have my cell phone on me (and, amazingly service!), so if something worse had happened at least I would have been able to call for help.

Thought this was a pretty shot of the trail

We found some GIANT pine cones

as we get lower, the trail gets into the oak forests and becomes more green

we had to fjord a few crossings of Sonoma Creek tributaries.  because i’m doing trail races this season, i just splashed right through these, wet socks be damned.  I figured I’ll have to deal with a lot worse soon.  didn’t have any blister issues, thus far, despite wet sneaks.

as we got lower… what the heck?  apparently there is a “planet walk” around these parts

saw these three guys- they didn’t seem all that spooked by Linus and held their ground

Now about a mile later I was almost home and came across this intersection where I bore left on the way to the peak.  And here, something strange happened and… I’m not even sure I can trust myself that I saw it, because it was getting dark and they could have been deer.  But as I was coming home on this trail to the right, I SWEAR I saw four black figures going across the ridgeline above me heading to that tree, and there were other figures already standing near the tree.   They looked like they were talking to each other walking along and… I couldn’t really make them out but they were dressed in completely black.  So of course I instantly think these are some crazy worshipper people going to have a seance or something… which who knows, but… I certainly did get that creepy vibe and the hair raised on the back of my neck, which counts for something.  I tend to trust those instincts, and I didn’t have a good feeling about whatever it was that I saw.  This also corresponded with the feeling I had when I was over there checking out that tree with the stuff hanging off it on my way up.  Just… I don’t know- I felt strange and like I didn’t want them to see me.  I contemplated taking their photo for a second and realized that if they were wierdo witch worshipper people, that would be amazingly stupid… and I’m sure my flash would have gone off and pissed them off!  I don’t think they saw us, because we were coming from the side and below them, but who knows.   I’m certainly loud running and Linus was trotting along, dog tags jangling at my heels.

Anyways, I breathed a sigh of relief when we were back at the car.  There were two other cars in the parking lot next to mine, so it might have been from those “people” I saw going towards that funky tree.  Or, maybe they were campers and I imagined those shapes.   It did put an eerie cap on the end of my day, and I was happy to crank the heat, some music, and high tail it home!