Living at Mount Hermon

As the year draws to a close, we find ourselves living in Mount Hermon while our house in Albany undergoes remodeling. Our adventure here begins on December 1st, when we drove our rental U-Haul truck up the driveway at #6 Pine Avenue in Mount Hermon.

Thanks to our daughter, Amy, we found a very cute house to rent for our stay here, which will keep us comfortable through the end of January when we anticipate moving back to Albany.

Originally, we were going to stay through December with the idea that we would take the pop-up camper on a road trip for part of January. On December 14 through, I broke my left wrist, so I no driving and thus no road trip. We could do worse than have such a comfortable place to stay in such a beautiful location here in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

We’ve been coming to Mount Hermon for over 40 years for church retreats, so we have some familiarity with the place. And our daughter and family live here as well. We are a 5-minute walk from our grandson.

On December 8th Amy hosted a gingerbread party and we were happy to participate. Cutting out dough shapes, gluing them together and decorating the resulting houses with frosting and candy.

On December 24th our son Aaron arrived with his family. We were blessed with having our whole family together for Christmas with both of our kids, our two grandkids and our son-in-law’s parents as well.

With family together we enjoyed hiking through the majestic redwoods, up to the cross on the top of the mountain and exploring the Bonny Doon Ecological Preserve.

And when the rain prevailed, we contented ourselves with putting together jigsaw puzzles. Jigsaw puzzles have been a holiday tradition in my family since I was a kid. More photos are available in an online gallery.

Unexpected Close Encounter: Broken Wrist

On the evening of December 14th, I had an unexpected close encounter with the pavement on my driveway. My toe caught a stump. Wham! I did a face plant on the concrete. When I picked myself up, I had a bloody nose, a chipped tooth, a bloody fat lip, and a sprained elbow and what felt like a sprained wrist. I am now wearing a cast for a fractured bone in my left wrist.

The radiologist interpreted the x-ray as “nondisplaced fracture of
triquetrum (cuneiform) bone, left wrist.” I’m including a photo of the offending stump and a photo of the X-ray.

The stump will have to go. It’s the remains of a coyote bush that I took out a couple of years ago, and it has been a tripping hazard ever since.

I won’t be driving for a few weeks, so probably no road trips. We are extending our stay at Mt. Hermon through January while work continues on our house in Albany. I will have plenty to do here since I brought my workstation with my complete digital archive of over 200,000 photos. I am also having fun with a speech-to-text application, Wispr Flow, since I cannot type at the moment.

Windsurfer to Paradise

It was 9:05 when I parked my car at Windsurfer Beach. Early! Way Early! I got across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge in record time. A 20-minute drive when I allowed for 45. As I climbed out of the car, I was hit by a chilly breeze with clouds overhead. I climbed back in the car to wait for my fellow paddlers. It wasn’t until later, when I suited up, I realized I had left my duffel bag with my lunch and camera case at home. I wouldn’t be using my iPhone for photography today; however, I did have my Olympus TG-5 which I usually carry as a backup camera.

It wasn’t long until my fellow paddlers showed up. Nine of us were on the water at 10:30 paddling out the channel and past San Quentin. We were anticipating very light ebb current with a slack at 1:00, meaning we would be paddling against this slight current. We had a chilly northwest wind behind us pushing us along. We headed on towards Paradise Cay. Once we approached the Cay, three of our paddlers decided to turn around. The prospect of a slog into the wind on the return from Paradise was something to consider. Six of us continued on to Paradise Beach.

At noon we landed at Paradise Beach. With the wind and the fetch coming from the north, we had a little bit of a surf landing. We hiked up the short trail to the picnic tables for lunch. Having arrived without my lunch I was able to bum cookies, candies, and an energy bar off of my fellow paddlers. No shortage of sugar to keep my energy up on the return leg. With a temperature a chilly 45-degrees we didn’t dally long over lunch. We wanted to get back on the water and paddle and warm up.

It was a bit of a slog paddling into the chilly north wind with whitecaps and chop. When every stroke into the wind is an effort it’s hard to stop paddling, pick up my camera, and capture photos. Best to keep the cadence and the forward progress. Once past Paradise Cay, we veered east and found a little protection from the wind.

Shortly after 1:00, the sun started to tease us, which felt really nice. At 2:30, we were back on the beach having logged 9 miles. More photos are available in an online gallery.

Exploring Carquinez Strait: A Kayaking Experience

This week our usual Thursday paddle turned into a Saturday paddle. This afforded an opportunity to a few people who normally work on Thursday to join us. With a club membership of some 700 people (BASK: Bay Area Sea Kayakers), there’s no shortage of people looking for opportunities to paddle. Ten of us were on the water at 10:00 launching from the gravel beach at Eckley Pier on the Carquinez Strait. We were launching on a fairly high tide, high tide being 5.9 feet at 10:00. We would be riding the tail end of the flood current.

The plan was to stay close to shore to avoid any shipping traffic in the channel. Staying close to shore though, we found that an eddy was hindering our progress, so a few of us moved out of the eddy closer to the shipping channel where we found a more favorable current. We landed at the Martinez Marina at 11:20.

We broke out our lunches and as is our tradition several varieties of chocolate were shared. After lunch several of us decided to paddle into the marsh at the Radke Martinez Regional Shoreline. We paddled well up into the Alhambra Creek, under Embarcadero Street before turning around.

On the return leg I was looking forward to paddling through the pilings near Port Costa. They provide some interesting photo opportunities as well as an opportunity to practice boat control. As fate would have it though, my iPhone battery went dead so I was without a camera for the last half mile or so. I need to make a note to keep my Olympus TG-5 available, so I have a camera handy when my iPhone battery goes dead.

On our return to Eckley Pier, we noted that the tide had receded, and what had been gravel on our launch was now broken bricks which proved to be a bit treacherous for walking and carrying boats. We logged 10 miles over the course of the day.

More photos are available in an online gallery.

Dunphy Park to Bayfront Park

With the high tide many of the beaches we like to visit were under water, so we opted for a paddle from Dunphy Park to Bayfront Park, both locations work for high water. A high tide of 4.8 feet was predicted for 12:22.

Seven of us were on the water at 10:30 with three of us launching from the kayak dock just west of the Sausalito Cruising Club and four launching from the beach. I opted to launch from the kayak dock using the slipway with rollers. This worked fine for getting on the water. Simply climb in the boat and slide down into the water. It didn’t work so well getting the boat out of the water. I tried using the roller struts as handles to pull the boat up the ramp, but the rollers would pop out of their sockets, leaving nothing to give any purchase.

We paddled up Richardson Bay, under the Highway 101 bridge and then continued up Pickleweed Inlet as far as E Blithedale Avenue, as far as one could possibly paddle. Then it was back to Bayfront Park where we landed on the bank and pulled out our lunches. As is our tradition, an abundance of chocolate treats were passed around.

After lunch we were back on the water retracing our path back to Dunphy Park. We were back at the dock at 1:30 having logged 7.3 miles. We had flat calm for our paddle, with sightings of a few harbor seals, pelicans and cormorants.

I’ve inlcuded a few photos of the kayak ramp. One has David trying to pull me up the slip with rollers. That wasn’t working so I tried the slip without rollers and that worked. This slip has slots in which you can place the paddle to pull yourself up out of the water. More photos are available in an online gallery.

Loch Lomond to Windsurfer Beach

Today we had 14 BASK members on the kayak ramp at the Loch Lomond Yacht Harbor ready to launch at 10:30. Our destination today is Windsurfer Beach, a little beach not far from the Larkspur Ferry Terminal. Maximum flood current of just under half a knot at 11:44 meant we’d be working against a slight current.

We left the harbor and headed to the Marin Islands, paddling out around the east island before heading south.

Our course took us under the Richmond-San Rafael bridge, around Point San Quentin, and then past the looming structures of San Quentin. It was noon when we landed on Windsurfer Beach, with all fourteen finding a spot to land among the gravel and rocks.

After lunch we were back in our boats at 12:50 retracing our route, although on this leg we made a beeline for Loch Lomond after crossing under the bridge.

We logged 9 miles over the course of our paddle. You can see a map that shows the track of our journey. More photos are available in an online gallery.

Emeryville to Clipper Cove

Nine of us were on the boat ramp at Emeryville Marina at 10:20 ready to launch with 10 minutes to spare for the posted 10:30 OTW (on the water). I noted that club members tend to be early, to which somebody replied, “time and tide wait for no man.” We were on the water at 10:25 with no wind and flat calm water. About an hour later we were paddling into a gentle breeze with wind ripples starting to appear on the water. Rather than set a course for our destination we pointed our boats to the north end of Treasure Island using a ferry angle to compensate for the flooding current what would carry us south towards our intended destination. The BASK trip planner showed a 1 knot current moving south during our crossing.

As we approached Treasure Island we paddled around a barge, and the flooding current was quite evident as we rounded the mooring buoy. After rounding the buoy, we turned towards our destination and make quick time for the beach at Clipper Cove.

The beach is a fine sand beach with a spectacular view to the east including a view of the eastern span of the Bay Bridge. It’s hard to imagine that in the middle of the greater Bay Area with over 7.5 million people one can find a beautiful peaceful secluded beach. After lunch we were back on the water, following the bridge for a way, again accounting for the current and eventually heading back to the marina.

Paddling along the bridge offered some dramatic photo opportunities, but the battery on my iPhone was dead at that point, so I didn’t capture any photos on the return leg. As we crossed the bay, we begin to feel the effects of wind coming from the northwest, which was starting to raise wind waves, enough to have some of our boats requiring some additional effort to manage the quartering waves and wind.

I did capture the track of the paddle with my Garmin InReach which logged 9.1 miles. More photos are available in an online gallery.

Point San Pablo to Point Pinole

Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor always feels to me like a place that time left behind, not far from the hustle and bustle of the Bay Area, but also quiet and isolated. The gravel beach makes a fine spot for launching kayaks. Eight of us were on the water at 10:25. Riding the tail end of the flood gave us a bit of a boost, but with slack water at 11:44 we found ourselves bucking a slight current when we reached Point Pinole.

We had pelicans flying overhead and a few curious harbor seals giving us the eye. Arriving at Point Pinole, we paddled around the point and under the fishing pier landing on the beach at 12:25.

Eight of us made a cozy fit around the picnic table just above the beach and true to form several varieties of chocolate candies were passed around. We were back on the water at 1:15 and with the current with us all the way we made good time on the return.

As we passed Riviera de Garbage (othewise known as the landfill near North Richmond) Alan took pride in claiming the name. You can see him pointing to the Riviera above. We were back at our launch site at 2:45 having logged 9.9 miles. More photos are available in an online gallery.

Threading Grendel’s Needle

Grendel’s Needle refers to a feature on a small island in San Francisco Bay. That feature is a slot in the rock on the westernmost of The Sisters Islands just off of Point San Pedro. When conditions are right it’s fun to paddle a kayak through the slot, an exercise we call threading Grendel’s Needle.

When we left our house in Albany, we had the windshield wipers going with dark clouds overhead. As we were crossing the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge though, we could see patches of blue sky and sun shining on San Rafael. Harbingers for a good day on the water.

Eight of us were on the water at 10:30, launching from the kayak ramp at the east end of the Loch Lomond Yacht Harbor. There was some discussion about whether wetsuits or drysuits would be the better option. For safety’s sake we like to “dress for immersion,” should we end up in the water. I opted for my drysuit. In hindsight the weather was quite mild ad my wetsuit long john would have been more comfortable.

Once we were on the water we paddled out of the harbor and headed east rounding the Marin Islands. We then paddled on to Point San Pedro where we held up for some radio communications. We had a new member in our group who had never paddled through Grendel’s Needle, so we opted to head to The Sisters to thread the needle. With hardly any current going through the slot we had no trouble paddling back and forth through the slot. Trying to exercise some boat control I even paddled through the slot backwards.

After lunch at China Camp, we returned by paddling close to shore. We were back at our launch site at about 2:30.

We logged 9 miles over the course of the day on relatively calm water. More photos are available in an online gallery.

Mendo Madness 2025

Every September our kayaking club, Bay Area Sea Kayakers (BASK), heads to Mendocino for a week of kayaking. Over the course of the week there were some 70 or so club members camping at Van Damme State Park. Joann and I arrived on the afternoon of Monday September 22. Events of the week included a number of organized paddles on the coast and on the rivers. I participated in four paddles, two river and two coastal.

September 23. Big River. The Big River empties into the ocean just south of the town of Mendocino. Nine of us were on the water at 10:00 launching from the sandy beach to the east of the highway.

This is a winding lazy river which feels the effects of the tides. Redwood trees come right down to the water, and the banks are lined with ferns and alders as well as redwoods. Paddling here is a serene and peaceful experience. Most of the group stopped for lunch at the “second culvert.” There is a dirt logging road that runs along part of the river, and the road goes over a couple of culverts that are big enough to paddle through. Rather than join the others for lunch, Joann and I opted to continue paddling up the river riding the tail end of the flood. At 11:30 we noted that the current had stopped going upstream. It was time to stop for lunch. I caught a glimpse of a river otter as we were preparing to stop. Other paddlers reported seeing a number of otters and a bear.

We found a shallow spot with a downed log, pulled our kayaks up out of the water and sat on the log while we ate lunch. As we were eating the water level was rising and our boats were threatening to float off without us. The dry log that we were sitting on was no longer dry. We hopped back in our boats and paddled back down the river. We seemed to be chasing a Great Blue Heron down the river. He would alight and fly down the river a few handed yards, only to repeat as we approached again. We were back at our launch site about 3:30 having logged 14.5 miles.

September 24. Open Coast. While the rivers are calm and serene, the coast can be quite dynamic. Some spots give you the sensation of being in a washing machine with water sloshing back and forth with the wave action. We joined a paddle led by two of our more experienced members, Tom and Ellen, launching from Van Damme Beach at 10:30. Eleven of us paddled south exploring a couple of caves and tunnels. There was plenty of dynamic water with a significant swell spicing things up. Fortunately, there are some reefs and rocks that provide protection for some of the features.

One popular feature is a pour over called Disney. A pour over is a feature where with proper timing you can ride a wave over a rock. I have watched many people execute this pour over on previous trips but never had the nerve to try it myself. Today though it looked like something I could manage, so I went for it.

I positioned myself for the ride and was holding position while watching the waves, looking for the wave that I would ride. As a wave approached all the water in the hole I was in disappeared, and then with a whoosh a wave caught me and took me over the rock. I was quite happy that I stayed upright. Having a good bracing stroke saved me from capsizing. One of the pictures above shows Ellen riding over Disney.

September 25. Albion River. The Albion river is another lazy tidal river south of Mendocino. Nineteen of us launched from a boat ramp at the Albion River Campground. There are several houseboats on this river which gives it a sense of humanity although most of the houseboats are abandoned and deteriorating which gives them a ghostly feel.

We paddled up the river and found a dry marsh where we could haul out for lunch. After lunch we continued up the river until we were stopped by a downed tree at the 4 1/2 mile mark. Several people decided to haul their boats over the logs and continue exploring. That looked like quite an exercise, getting out of the boat, climbing up on the log and dragging a boat over. A couple of people ended up in the water, or hanging onto the log like drowned sloths. You can see a photo of Deborah hauling her boat over a log. Most of us were content to call this the end of the road and we headed back down the river.

September 27. Rock Gardening 101 and Potluck. Today I was happy to have made the list for Bill Vonnegut’s Rock Gardening 101 Class. This is all about learning how to read the water and making decisions about what features to explore given conditions and skill. I opted to leave my camera on the beach, since I wanted to be unencumbered by any equipment that might be a liability should I capsize. It was actually refreshing to concentrate on paddling without my mind always looking for photo ops. One of the thrills was doing the elevator ride. Waves that come into a vertical surface such as a cliff, loose their forward energy as they reflect off the cliff. You can actually point the bow of your boat at the cliff, holding it just inches away while the waves take you up and down. It’s an amazing experience. Conditions were such today that we did not execute any pour overs or explore any caves.

In the evening the club had a potluck dinner, with more food than you can imagine. We participated in the Duch Oven Cookoff, entering our Enchilada Casserole and an entree. After dinner with our eyes drooping we were off to bed before the awards were announced. We woke the next morning to discover that we had won the best entree. The award was a bottle of Silver Wood 2002 Cabernet. What an excellent wine! Cheers!

More photos are available in an online gallery.