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Mt. Tamalpais State Park: Matt Davis-Steep Ravine Loop

by Paulina Dao April 22, 2014

written by Paulina Dao

Hike: Matt Davis-Steep Ravine Loop
Where: Mt. Tamalpais State Park
Trailhead: Belvedere Ave, behind the Stinson Beach Fire Station
Level: Moderate
Duration: 4 hours
Length: 6.5 miles
Gear: Icebreaker Women’s Tech T Lite T-Shirt, Darn Tough Light Hiker Micro Crew Socks – Women’s, REI Flash 18 Pack, Arc’teryx Delta LT, and Ahnu Sugarpine Waterproof Hiking Boots
Cost of Parking: Free

Stopped by Stinson Beach this past weekend with the boyfriend where we had our first not-date, and decided to cheesily celebrate our year and a half anniversary with a hike, mini picnic and wine.

We opted to take the Matt Davis-Steep Ravine Loop and actually finish it this time with no detours to find the ocean. We followed this hike on EveryTrail, starting with Steep Ravine and redwoods and waterfalls and crossed green hills dotted with wildflowers, and ended on Matt Davis next to the fire station.

Photos are worth a thousand words, so I’ll let those do the talking.

April 22, 2014 0 comments

Gear

Sierra Designs Hurricane Pants

by Paulina Dao April 16, 2014

written by Paulina Dao

After countless soaked walks to work and sloshing around on muddy trails in the past year, I finally decided to pull the trigger on a pair of rain pants. My requirements? Petite sizing!

After scouring the web and procuring a 20% off coupon at REI, the Sierra Designs Hurricane Pants came home with me. I like them. They keep me dry; they get the job done. And they don’t drag on the floor because they come in petite sizes! (I’m five feet tall, for the record.)

The pants have an elastic waistband, keeping them securely on your body. Oh, and the waistband doesn’t give you muffin-top either! Added bonus. The pants have a pocket on the right-hand side of the pants, embroidered with a Sierra Designs logo. The legs of the pants have calf-zips and velcro closures to allow the wearer to get in and out of them without removing boots. These also work as adequate leg vents.

At 7 oz, these won’t add a significant amount of weight for those days where it just might rain. This packs down fairly small, and comes with a stuff sack, though I have since lost the stuff sack.

For 2014, Sierra Designs has updated the Hurricane pants even more with a built in belt, better waterproofing, a front fly, and it zips into its own pocket. They also managed to shave .5 oz off of the weight.

Buy through Sierra Designs, REI, or Moosejaw for $69.

April 16, 2014 1 comment

Adventures Hiking

Hiking Uvas Canyon County Park, Alec Canyon & Waterfall Loop

by Paulina Dao April 14, 2014

written by Paulina Dao

Nestled in the eastern Santa Cruz Mountains between Morgan Hill and Watsonville is Uvas Canyon County Park. With Swanson Creek flowing year-round and tall hills, this is a great place for some mellow and scenic hiking away, but not away, from civilization. You can hit miles of trails and still be back in time for brunch. I met up with my longtime Instagram friend, Christian Arballo, and set off to explore some trails in this new-to-us park!

April 14, 2014 0 comments

Gear

NW Alpine Black Spider Hoody in Charcoal

by Paulina Dao April 9, 2014

written by Paulina Dao

When you combine modern, technical alpine apparel and American manufacturing, you get NW Alpine. A simple, yet highly functional brand engineered in the United States was what Bill Amos envisioned in 2010.

After drooling over the women’s line for months, I was able to test out the NW Alpine Women’s Black Spider Hoody in Charcoal. If you’re curious, the charcoal is actually more grey than the photos on the website suggest. The Black Spider Hoody is a technical, half-zip baselayer made out of Polartec Powerdry.

If you’re counting ounces on your next adventure, this won’t weigh you down; it’s only 10 oz. The Polartec Powerdry material is incredibly lightweight and quick drying. It was dry before I even pulled it out of the washing machine to hang. However, one of the biggest downsides to using a synthetic material is the scent. It’s got a slightly strange, plastic-y odor, even after several washings. It’s not overwhelming or even that noticeable, but when you start to smell, this thing really smells.

The Black Spider Hoody is form fitting with long sleeves and a long torso. No issues with layers riding or bulking up under harnesses here. And no issues with the sleeves stretching out over time. The sleeves come equipped with thumbholes for people like me who like sleeves over their hands at all times.

The baselayer also comes with a little chest zip pocket, but I haven’t found much use for that. It’s too small to fit anything of significance, and it’s too form fitting to have it look right with something in there.

Other cons? Biggest one is the hood. The Black Spider Hoody is designed with a balaclava hood, which is totally cool when it is zipped up all the way. However, something went a little awry in the part where the hood meets the shoulders. Unless you have the trapezius muscle of Hercules, you’re stuck with pockets of airspace and loose fabric on either sides of your neck. It doesn’t lay flush with your shoulders. This isn’t a big deal if you’re wearing more layers on top or if it’s zipped all the way up, but when those layers are shed, your neck gets pretty girth-y.

All in all, this is not bad for the price. It’s functional, simple, lightweight and warm. It has all of the features that I need, and can be easily taken from trail to town. I don’t find myself in situations where I need to wear it alone with the hood up, so the weird seams there are not a deal breaker. It might be if you need every single piece of the garment to be functional, though.

Buy through NWAlpine for $110.

This was sent to me for review.

April 9, 2014 3 comments

Adventures Hiking

Russian Ridge OSP: Ancient Oaks, Charquin, Borel Hill

by Paulina Dao April 7, 2014

written by Paulina Dao

Hike: Bay Area Ridge Trail to Ancient Oaks Trail to Charquin Trail to Borel Hill
Where: Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve
Trailhead: Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve
Level: Moderate
Duration: 3 hours
Length: 8 miles
Gear: Icebreaker Women’s Tech T Lite T-Shirt, Outlier Women’s Daily Riding Pants, REI Flash 18 Pack, Triple Aught Design Artemis Hoodie, and Ahnu Sugarpine Waterproof Hiking Boots
Cost of Parking: Free

Met up with Russ the Wine Hiker & Karl from Alpha Roaming this past Sunday for a quick hike off of Skyline Blvd at Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve. The Bay Area is chock-full of these Open Space Preserves, open to hikers, bikers and equestrians. They tend to get very busy and are quite open and unprotected, so I tend to avoid them. But they all offer miles of gorgeous trails and amazing views.

We’ve been getting a wee bit of rain in the Bay Area, so the hills are currently lush, green and dotted with wildflowers. It was the perfect time to hike an open space preserve.

We started off at the parking lot off of Alpine Road and hopped onto the Bay Area Ridge Trail. Enjoyed sweeping views of Silicon Valley beginning to wake up under a cloud of fog, and then made our way over to the Ancient Oaks Trail. Hiked beneath the shade of some gorgeous oak trees and then dropped down onto Charquin Trail until it hit Mindego Hill Trail.

From there, we retraced our steps back up Charquin and Ancient Oaks. We popped up to Borel Hill which was quite windy, and then took the Bay Area Ridge Trail back to the parking lot.

April 7, 2014 2 comments