Christmas in Wegberg

Christmas in Wegberg and Greg's birthday with Elke and Andreas

Ansel Adams Wilderness: 14-18 September, 2005

4 Days Backpacking in the Ansel Adams Wilderness, Inyo National Forest

Day 1:
Agnew Meadow's (8335 ft) to Shadow Lake (8750 ft) to Ediza Lake (9300 ft), 6 miles
Ediza Lake, the Minarets, and Mt. Ritter:
Day 2:
Day Hike to Garnet Lake (9680 ft)
Resting at Garnet Lake, Mt. Ritter and Mt. Banner in the background.

Day 3:
Ediza Lake (9300 ft) to Iceberg Lake (9800 ft)

Do you have crampons? I don't have crampons; maybe we won't make it over to Minarets Lake:
Still, Iceberg Lake is a nice place for a rest:

Day 4:
Return from Ediza Lake to Agnew Meadows, with bus to Devils Postpile Natl.Monument

Devil's Postpile is soooo cool:

Chicago: July 28-31

Since Andrea had to head out this way anyway (ICBIC in Ann Arbor), Greg came along and we spent 4 days exploring Chicago. We stayed at the Tremont, just off N Michigan Ave.
We spent the days wandering around, looking at buildings in The Loop, enjoyed the Millennium Park a lot, with the bridge, the fountain, and the big and shiny bean (unfortunately just being renovated).
We went up the Hancock Tower, walked along the beach and, of course, had a lot of good food. More details about the eatings are here.

View through the Cloud Gate

Carnegie Cabin at Tomales Bay: 15-17 July, 2005

This weekend Jon organized a group trip up to the Carnegie's cabin in Inverness near Tomales Bay. There were the two of us, Jon and Cati, Steve and Dianna, Carl, Aaron and Jolie and Roswell.
We mainly hung out, started Sat. morning with BBQ for lunch and some bloody Mary's later went down to the beach to dip our feet into the water. Roswell got skunked, but luckily there was lots of leftover tomatoe juice. The 2nd night the two of us slept outside on the porch, less noise and more fresh air. Carl and us thought about doing some hiking on our way back near Stinson Beach/Muir Beach, but the traffic jam started already at the highway exit ramp, thus we just went home...

Berry Creek Falls: 10 July, 2005

Big Basin Redwood SP, Santa Cruz Mountains, 10.5 miles

from Headquarters along Skyline to the See Trail to Berry Creek Falls, Berry Creek Falls Trail up Silver Falls and Golden Cascade Falls, Sunset Trail back to Headquarters

Chris and Greg among the redwoods on the way in:

Looking down the falls:

Local wildlife:

Climb Grandfather Mountain, NC

Hike to the top of Grandfather Mountain in the Blue Ridge Mountain Range, North Carolina.
Starting from the parking lot on 105 (~3900 ft) along Profile Trail to Shanty Spring and Calloway Gap, on to Grandfather trail to Calloway Peak (5964 ft) and Raven's Roost. Back the same way.
Total ~ 7.5 miles, ~ 2000 ft up and down again.
It was misty and cool, we had some cloudy views from the top:

Pinnacles: 15 May, 2005

After another night in San Luis Obispo we stopped by the Pinnacles Natl. Monument SP on our way back to the Bay Area and hiked the High Peaks -Balconies Cave-Loop, ~8.5 miles.

Chaparral Ranger Station (West Entrance), Juniper Canyon Trail, backway around High Peaks, High Peaks Trail to Chalone Creek, Old Pinnacles Trail, Balconies Caves Trail, Balconies Trail back to West Entrance

The Pinnacles, from the trailhead:

She can see for miles and miles:

Montana d'Oro SP: 14 May, 2005

The next day we hiked in the Montana de Oro State Park, South of Morro Bay.
Possible Route: Dune Trail -> Hiedra Trail -> Ridge Trail
Andrea working her way along the Dune Trail:
ahh... the ocean and wildflowers:
There were ticks everywhere in the dunes, absolutely crazy. We played in the sand, had a crab almost bite Greg's big toe, and went back on an inland trail with nice views.

Down along the Californian Coast: 13 May, 2005

To avoid the house-showing-crowds in our flat, we escaped for a long weekend down the Californian Coast.

We went along Highway 1 by Big Sur, had a break in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, saw by accident the sea-lions beach near Hearst Castle, and stayed the night in a cheap Motel6 in San Luis Obispo, where we had a really nice dinner in a French Bistro type of place...